Shane of the desert digs….
He’s got about another foot to dig and we are ready to put the sono-tube in the hole for the concrete pour.
Good diggin weather. 79 degrees with humidity hanging around 30%
The pour is scheduled for next Friday….anyone want to come help?
Here sits the sono-tube that will eventually serve as the form for the concrete that will support the telescope pier.
This piece of “cardboard” tubing is three feet in diameter, and will be sunk in the hole and then filled with re-bar and concrete. That’s one hefty support!
It’s required if you want to make astro-images that have no jiggles, streaks, or blobs in them.
Currently the hole is about a foot deep….. just three more to go.
The direction we are looking in this photo is toward the southeast. Scorpius clears this part of the sky all the way down to the area below the “False Comet”. We can also see Omega Centauri from this spot for about 20 minutes when it is up. It’s a wonderful view!
Turning some dirt for the 4 foot deep hole for the pier that will sit in the new observatory!
I’m grinning so hard I have a headache!
Scroll down a few entries to see the building, which we moved here this past weekend. Some diggin, some pourin’ some assembly required….
Stay tuned for updates. Hope to have first light before the end of September!
The observing deck in the background is the one we built 4th of July weekend several years ago, so it’s time for an upgrade–that pier will stay as is.
Talk about morning rush hour! Imagine the Sun beeping it’s horn in order to make it through this morning’s traffic jam?
Well of course the Sun isn’t driving a car, but you get the picture.
Venus is the brighter speck just above the tree line, Taurus is the sideways-V-shaped group of stars, Mars is just below and right of the lunar blob, while the Pleiades are at Luna’s upper right.
Sunday morning the Moon will be below Venus so rise and shine!
Nikon D70 on tripod
ISO 200
13 seconds f/4
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Thanks for the visit!
Comet Lulin is a showoff! It was a beauty as it zoomed past Regulus tonight, Feb. 27. Clouds tried to thwart making a decent image of the duo, but perseverance paid off and my results are above.
Clouds were blowing through the field as I shot this image, so Regulus had a halo.
Ten minute shot through a 4 inch refractor telescope.