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My Portable Observatory
The idea of a portable observatory came from the early members of the Eagle Observers. They traveled to a dark site every new moon and camped there for the weekend. This happened even in the winter, so an observatory to keep the wind off of them, while observing, was needed.
This Observatory was built in June 1991. With the help of Tim Bennett's welding, and a lot of other skills, this observatory saw first light in July. The dome was Tim's originally. He bought material and made a new one so I used his for about two years.
This observatory is ten feet in diameter and currently houses a Celestron C8 Telescope. I use a computer only as a star map. I do intend to have the scope computer driven one day.
My new dome at Starfest
My dome at home in my front yard.
In 1997, I decided to make a hard top dome. Built with aluminum and flat steel, it has endured the strong winds that prevail across the fields.
Inside....
