CITSO Blog: Installation of the Cabin in the Sky Observatory

It was both exciting and nerve wracking to haul the telescope in its shipping container off Paul Dumoret's truck and down to the observatory, but his clever idea to slide it on some heavy plastic, as if on a tobaggan, made a snap of the transport.

IMG2768a

I used a compass reading, corrected for local deviation of magnetic from true north, to determine an approximate polar alignment of the telescope pier. At this point, we discovered that we had turned the observatory structure itself in the wrong direction to compensate for the magnetic deflection (note the pier's axis in relation to the concrete support slab)! Oh well, everything turned out to fit anyway, so no worries!

Figuring out how the telescope's mounting dovetail was supposed to bolt to the top of the Parmount ME, and actually raising the telescope (weighing about 95 lbs) on top of the mount, were non-trivial and especially nerve-wracking challenges. Loula and I raced back into Osoyoos so I could call PlaneWave to make sure we were doing it right. When all was said and done however, the installation was successful, with many thanks to Jack (in the back, who did a fabulous job on the observatory carpentry for me), and Brian!

Here I am the next day, opening up my glorious new observatory on a stunningly blue-sky morning! Too bad I had to wait until May for first light, blast! That's my mother-in law, Georgia, enjoying the new gear!

CITSO Blog: Installation of the Observatory,
February 22 2010!