N 39.2° | W 78.9°
1120 ft EL

The new observatory is presently under construction after many delays over the past seven years. It's a 12-1/2' galvalume metal dome on a round building. When finished it will have a concrete-filled block pier base supporting a 10" steel pier. The main telescope will be a Celestron C-11 optical tube side-by-side with an Astro-Tech AT6RC astrograph mounted on an Orion HDX110 EQ-G (Skywatcher EQ-8) mount.

​Work began on the new observatory building in late summer 2023, and construction details are on the "New Observatory" web page.

​The galvalume dome was manufactured by Lancaster Domes back in the late '90's or early 2000's and I've had it stored for the last decade, waiting to find a good location to build it on. It's construction is a lot more involved than the smaller one-piece Exploradome I was using. Assembling the new dome is now well under way but I don't know yet how long it will take to fully complete since this is my first metal dome build, and I have no actual build manual for this thing.
Our new location for the observatory is at about 1100 feet elevation nestled in the South Branch Valley of the Potomac Highlands of WV. The valley's ridges, which run more or less North to South, are around 2000 to over 2600 feet high to the East and West of the new location. This is a view looking to the West. The observatory will be built out in the field.
This is a view looking East from the observatory site.
This site has borderline Bortle Class 3 skies according to online conversion charts for converting SQM readings to the Bortle Scale. SQM meter readings taken in the field and the average sky quality is reading around 21.32 so far. Once things settle down I'll be taking SQM readings on a more regular basis to get a better picture of how the skies vary from season to season.
I'm also unpacking equipment in the lab for testing and updates, and to get all the control software setup on my workstations.
The layout for the pages on this website are best viewed on a desktop PC. The mobile views usually look OK, but sometimes not so much. I've just learned to live with it, being it's a free website provider and all.
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​​Disclaimer: The information contained on this and related pages is believed to be accurate, but no guarantees are expressed or implied. Any information on these pages should be considered "as-is" and the reader is completely responsible for the way it is used.
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​The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork... Psalm 19:1
​Copyright © 2011-2024 Stephen Statts, All Rights Reserved
(Last update to this page - 09/08/2024)