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Father's Day weekend in the Seattle region brought a good amount of sunshine (YAY, FINALLY!!) and I took advantage of the weather to paint the observatory. I made very good progress but there still is work left to do - you can see the top panels are still bare and should be red, along with some of the trim. The observatory was painted to match the outbuilding and the house.
Today I was able to complete most of the remodels to the observatory - the new roof rails are in place and the roof was fully retracted today (despite the rain); external outlets were installed; the building was trimmed in cedar (which is now WAY expensive ... ); and it was wired into the house security system. The only things left are rebuilding the door with a stronger, solid door and painting the exterior. Woohoo!
After having the property logged, enough sky was opened up that the observatory had to be redesigned to allow the roof to retract further. Where only the southern ecliptic was visible before, the zenith and even Polaris might likely be in view now, provided the roof fully retract. Work is underway to extend the rails to make that possible.
With the completion of the pier and electrical installations, I've finally hung the sign my father-in-law made for me ... right over the inside door to the observatory. :)
At risk of falling into the same trap Ronald Reagan fell into with this word I do knock on wood and declare that the ST. WIGGLES OBSERVATORY is operational. This weekend, I finished running power to the observatory. Now the telescopes, computers, photography equipment and more have power and are ready to go! Here is a picture of the trench dug across my garden (sniff sniff). As much as I hate defacing great garden soil, I did have to suck it up to get power out to the observatory. Now, if only the Seattle-area weather would cooperate so I could actually use the observatory. I figure that will come in May or June. Of next year. :)
The home-built observatory project continues, and nears completion. Still need to build and hang a door and patch up some holes in the structure, 3-tab shingle the back roof slope, skirt around the bottom, paint, and add a few cosmetic delights before working on the inside space. This weekend, I was able to get much accomplished - including the retractable roof, the fold down front wall, and more.
This is my own design - it took about a week to draw up the plans. I had originally estimated the cost to be $1,000 but I am over-budget by more than $500. Perhaps I should go get a government job!!! At any rate, there are pictures in this entry of the roof mechanism and more if you click below to continue ...
Continue reading "12/03/2006 - OBSERVATORY NEARS COMPLETION"
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ST. WIGGLES OBSERVATORY:
Here is where I had to leave off before a historic winter storm covered everything with several inches of snowfall and frigid temperatures. Today, the high never hit 30 degrees, and that's just weird for Seattle. Already, my observatory has been cursed by our weather. Here, you can see the window and the rails that will enable half the roof to retract. No sense making the entire roof retract as I can't see the zenith or to the north at all. This observatory is strictly for lunar, planetary and solar viewing.
The front wall will fold down (the part not yet completed) completely opening the southern exposure. And when not in use, the observatory will be locked up tight. The construction is very solid and very heavy duty. I've actually done more work since this photo was taken (completing the T-111, additional framing supports, 4x4 supports for the roof rails, etc.) but have been unable to get a photo as I worked out in the falling snow - until it became unbearable.
As I said in a previous blog entry, I have finally settled on a name for my observatory: St. Wiggles Observatory. St. Wiggles is the patron saint of the 2Fellers. The name is carried over from Mt. St. Wiggles, a Cascades-range volcano that grew in my front yard on Yukon Harbor Drive in Port Orchard, Washington. My kids grew up hiking the flanks of Mt. St. Wiggles - and the rednecks down on the beach envied what I had.
(Click below to continue reading and to see a photo of Mt. St. Wiggles.)
Continue reading "11/25/2006 - ST. WIGGLES OBSERVATORY"
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I think that one thing I'm thankful for on this Thanksgiving is the huge erection taking shape out in the woods. Here, the observatory walls go up and finally stand erect. Now, to start shoring up the erection so it stays up indefinitely and building the infrastructure to support the retractable roof. The erection has an opening on the top, one which faces south and is aligned with the equatorial plane, averaged for seasons.
Continue reading "11/23/2006 - A THANKSGIVING ERECTION"
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The side walls of the observatory are built and lying down on the floor, stacked atop one another to ensure the measurements are exact.
For the flooring, I'm using a double layer of OSB boards, screwed to 2x4 floor beams set 15 inches to centers. This will make it difficult to do deep sky work as the act of walking will likely cause the floor to flex sufficiently to move the telescope off-target. It will mean sitting perfectly motionless during exposure time or, more likely, exposing while standing outside the building. I am working on a plan to make that possible. And should I ever decide to put in a permanent pier, it will be fairly simple to remove part of the flooring to set one in. The pier is the preferred way to go for most people, but not in this case. More on that later as the observatory project continues ...
UPDATE:
Now, nearly a year later, I'm planning on ripping out the floor, augering a deep hole and constructing a permanent pier for the telescope.
It is becoming clear that in the Pacific Northwest, where rain can be constant and one can wait patiently to take advantage of a one-hour break in the cloud cover, an observatory structure is important. Here is the start, several hours after initial groundbreaking (which was more like back-breaking ground CLEARING :)
Continue reading "11/19/2006 - OBSERVATORY CONSTRUCTION BEGINS"
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