The Observatory
My observatory is located at 33° 59' 50" N, 117° 33'
47" E at an elevation of 1,600 feet. I named the observatory Santana
in honor of the 40 - 70 mph Santana winds that blow through the area several
times a year.
Under the theory that telescopes
are a compromise that you look through, this observatory is a compromise that
gets used - up to 100 nights a year. It is in the worst possible place,
the middle of a light polluted city, yet the best possible place, off my family
room next to the big screen T.V. It is designed to operate automatically. I
just have to go through a start-up routine and load that night's observing
run. The results have to be monitored several times during the night for
focus and pointing accuracy, a process that only takes a few minutes.
The observatory itself started out life as a 12' by 12' patio
enclosure built by a local contractor. The walls are 2-1/2" foam with hard
siding on each side, which stand 8' to 10' high. The roof is 3" foam with
metal facing. As such, the structure met all local building codes and sailed
through the Planning Committee of Rancho Cucamonga - one of the toughest cities
in
Through pre-arrangement
with the builder, the roof was attached with only 4 screws. Let the modifications
begin!
Besides missing the fact the roof was only held on by 4
screws, the inspectors didn't see the 14" square hole cut in the concrete
pad into which I eventually dumped 600 lbs. of concrete on which to mount the
pier. The pier's foundation is insulated from the house foundation and the pier
was filled with sand and oil to further dampen vibration.
Kurt Sutton, also a member of the Riverside
Astronomical Society, helped me build the rolling mechanism that
allows the roof to roll aside onto the top of a pre-existing patio cover. The
roof rolls on 10 ball-bearing wheels locked in opposite facing aluminum
C-channel tracks. Eight more wheels keep it in place laterally. This mechanism
slides so smoothly that I can open it with one finger.
One over-riding criteria was that the roof had to hold up to
the 40 - 70 mph Santana winds that rip through the area in the Fall. I
didn't want my observatory to be featured in some remake of the Wizard of Oz!
These winds are strong enough to tip over semi-trailers and can quickly shred a
roof of poorly attached tile or single. I attached tie-downs as a sanity check
and can report that the roof has stood up to the strongest of gusts - and
I have even imaged during lesser winds with good results.
The Telescope
The telescope is a Celestron
C11 on a Losmandy
CG11 mount. The mount's electronic package was removed and retrofitted with a
SkyWalker GOTO drive system manufactured by Astrometric
Instruments.
The telescope has sprouted an electronic focuser made by Lumicon
that is controllable from the computer inside the house. It also has a
80mm finder with a .4 lux video camera sold by SuperCircuits.
This camera feeds a live image to a small 5" black and white television
mounted next to the computers. With this system, I can see 8th magnitude stars
which greatly assists in the alignment process.
I can image at the telescope's normal F/10 - 110" focal
length or at F/6.3 using a focal reducer manufactured by Celestron.
I also can image at F/5 or F/3.3 using special focal
reducers manufactured by Optec, Inc.
This telescope has been temporarily pushed aside in favor of
a Celestron C14 on a
Filters
Wanting to be able to do tri-color imaging as well as
photometry, I mounted Optec's MAXfilter 2" automatic filter
selector. This filter slider allows for the extra large filters needed
for their F/5 or F/3.3 focal reducers.
I purchase two filter holders. In one I mounted the
standard Tri-Color RBG filter set. In the other, I have mounted a Johnson B filter and a Johnson V filter in order to due
photometry.
The CCD
Camera
Previously hanging off the back end of this is an
Software
The telescope is operating using Astrometric
Instruments' SkyGuide software. This software controls
the basic functions of pointing and slewing the telescope as well as focusing
the camera. To provide a more robust database of objects including any
asteroid, for which an orbit has been determined, I use Software Bisque's
TheSky software using its LX200 interface
to talk to SkyGuide.
Brian Warner's MPO Connections is used to control the CCD
camera and to provide a software script to run an automated observing run.
I use Brian Warner's Canopus to analyze asteroid photometric
data and to do astrometric measurements of asteroid positions.
Computers
Two
computers networked together control the observatory. One, a 166 MHz, runs SkyGuide
and talks to the telescope. The other, a 450 MHz, runs TheSky, CCDSoft, MPO Connections, and Canopus.
email:
rstephens@foxandstephens.com