My First Observatories
My very first attempt at an observatory was way back in the 1970's and consisted of a 10'x10' metal storage shed from Sears to which I added a hinged roof hatch. Inside was a 6" steel pipe pier, and power came from an extension cord. Mounted on the pier was my orange-tube Celestron C-8 with its 60Hz clock drive along with a SBIG ST-4 autoguider and my Celestron 5.5" Schmidt camera. It wasn't much of an obs building but it did provide shelter from the elements for my scope, and I could leave everything hooked up, ready to go. I used this shed for a couple of years until I moved on to a new job, and I did not have another observatory for nearly 30 years.
My other prior attempt at an obs came in 2002. After returning from an overseas assignment, I bought a plastic storage shed to house my Celestron Ultima 8 in my backyard. The Ultima was mounted on a concrete pier and I viewed the sky by popping off the roof panels on one side. Not ideal but again it kept the scope dry and and I could keep the scope polar aligned and didn't have to set up and tear down for each observing session. The down side of a plastic building was how hot it got inside on a summer's day.
Page created 12/27/2021
Last Updated 7/24/2022
Last Updated 7/24/2022
