My Home made backyard "domed" observatory!



With failing health issues I wanted a place where I did not have to worry about lugging equipment out to an observing site, setting everything up with great detail for photography, and then at the end of the night taring it all down again. After searching the backyard for the perfect location I found several, some would give me access to only the western sky, some only the eastern sky and then this location that gave me the largest chunk of Eastern sky with a good view of the Southern sky. Trees to the North and Trees to the West but any sky is better than none at all!

The next three images show the observatory and its "dome" in operation, The radio astronomy dish antenna, and some other construction material scattered around I never picked up.

The land has a slight incline to the west which had to be leveled off, this was done in just over a day using a shovel and a bit of sweat. An extra day to dig a five foot hole for the concrete pier. Then came some 6 mil plastic sheeting for a moisture barrier eight treated 4x4 posts cut at 22.5 degrees at each end and laid end to end to create an Octagon for a foundation. Next were 2x4's and plywood for the base walls and dome. Some fixed direct caster wheels to alow for dome movement which was done manually by walking outside, grabbing the handels (one on each flat) and turning.