My Observatory

Construction
Building Bridge
Equipment
Images

Observatory

My observatory in Madison County is still Under Construction. The observatory is located on an 11 acre parcel of dense woods in beautiful Madison County, IA and has a river running through the property.
Bridge One of the projects that has sapped my attention has been building a bridge across the river in April 2004. I've never built a bridge before and my estimated width of the river was off by 50%, so it was a formiddable project. The bridge spans 80 feet, some 15 feet in the air. The first time I tried to walk across it, one of the cables slipped and the bridge tilted to the side and I went swimming. Fortunately, I wasn't hurt and I learned to overbuild it. Two weeks after it was completed, the bridge was wiped out by a freak storm and I spent the summer rebuilding it stronger -- and higher above the banks and with multiple redundancy layers to improve safety. Each piece of the bridge has at least 2 if not 3 layers of safety. If one fails, there is at least one if not two backups. The total holding capacity of the 8 earth anchors is 24,000 pounds, and the triply-redundant steel cables can each hold 10-20,000 pounds on the right and left-hand sides of the bridge.
Equipment Given my total lack of experience building observatories, I have made countless time- and money-consuming mistakes. For starters, I dramatically under-built my pier and it was useless until I rebuilt it at great expense. The CCD I originally bought was way too small and poorly-fitted for my long focal-length telescope. The new CCD, an SBIG STL-1001 large format camera, is perfect for my scope and should finally solve many of my problems.
Power Getting power out to a remote location can be expensive, so I opted for an off-grid solar solution, which has turned out to be nearly as expensive as a grid connection, but far less capable. After upgrading the solar setup to a bank of 8-deep cycle marine batteries, an Outback MX60 Charge Controller, and 500 watts of solar panels, I am finally in business.
Internet Getting internet connectivity has been a real trial too, but is required for a remote observatory. I looked at the satellite connections, but they are too expensive and slow. I also signed up for Verizon wireless internet, but it is slow and painful, so I stried US Cellular's data plan, which also turned out to be extremely slow. The solution was to order in a phone line, which the phone company has to install quickly by law and at low cost. Once that was in place, I was able to order an ISDN line which is slow, but usable.
Construction
Building Bridge
Equipment
Images


Construction Building Bridge Equipment Images		Observatory My observatory in Madison County is still Under Construction. The observatory is located on an 11 acre parcel of dense woods in beautiful Madison County, IA and has a river running through the property. Bridge One of the projects that has sapped my attention has been building a bridge across the river in April 2004. I've never built a bridge before and my estimated width of the river was off by 50%, so it was a formiddable project. The bridge spans 80 feet, some 15 feet in the air. The first time I tried to walk across it, one of the cables slipped and the bridge tilted to the side and I went swimming. Fortunately, I wasn't hurt and I learned to overbuild it. Two weeks after it was completed, the bridge was wiped out by a freak storm and I spent the summer rebuilding it stronger -- and higher above the banks and with multiple redundancy layers to improve safety. Each piece of the bridge has at least 2 if not 3 layers of safety. If one fails, there is at least one if not two backups. The total holding capacity of the 8 earth anchors is 24,000 pounds, and the triply-redundant steel cables can each hold 10-20,000 pounds on the right and left-hand sides of the bridge. Equipment Given my total lack of experience building observatories, I have made countless time- and money-consuming mistakes. For starters, I dramatically under-built my pier and it was useless until I rebuilt it at great expense. The CCD I originally bought was way too small and poorly-fitted for my long focal-length telescope. The new CCD, an SBIG STL-1001 large format camera, is perfect for my scope and should finally solve many of my problems. Power Getting power out to a remote location can be expensive, so I opted for an off-grid solar solution, which has turned out to be nearly as expensive as a grid connection, but far less capable. After upgrading the solar setup to a bank of 8-deep cycle marine batteries, an Outback MX60 Charge Controller, and 500 watts of solar panels, I am finally in business. Internet Getting internet connectivity has been a real trial too, but is required for a remote observatory. I looked at the satellite connections, but they are too expensive and slow. I also signed up for Verizon wireless internet, but it is slow and painful, so I stried US Cellular's data plan, which also turned out to be extremely slow. The solution was to order in a phone line, which the phone company has to install quickly by law and at low cost. Once that was in place, I was able to order an ISDN line which is slow, but usable. Construction Building Bridge Equipment Images