N 39.2° | W 78.9°
1120 ft EL

The original Morning Star observatory was built in 2009 in Virginia and was an 8' diameter Exploradome with a small warm room attached to the main structure. It housed a Celestron C-11 and an Astro-Tech AT6RC astrograph with one of several CCD cameras. It was dismantled in 2017 when I retired and moved to West Virginia.

​​I've been planning for a new observatory, but things just seem to keep getting in the way. First it was delayed by work on what was supposed to be our retirement place from 2018 to 2021. There wasn't time or money to start on the new obs, but in the end this turned out to be a good thing because we sold that place and moved again in 2021. But I did learn quite a few reasons to never buy land in a development again.
​
We bought several acres of land in 2021 and started over on a new retirement place, but his time we found land that is unrestricted, with no outside, self-serving interests with their hands in our pockets. We've been working on that ever since, but I'm about caught up on it and hope to soon get back to work on building the observatory dome.

​​Since it's winter now construction of the dome won't start until it warms up enough for the field to dry out and I can get a backhoe in there without making a muddy mess.

​While waiting on spring I'm unpacking equipment for testing and updates, and to get all the control software setup on the 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.
​

​​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.
​
​The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork... Psalm 19:1
​Copyright © 2011-2023 Stephen Statts, All Rights Reserved
(Last update to this page - 2/12/2023)