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Astrophotography > photorick  > Astronomy > Observatory Construction
In my 20s and 30s I built two observatories and two observatory telescope mounts (among a number of smaller portable telescopes and mounts). The logistics of handling parts too large and heavy for one person to pick up are interesting. The photos in this gallery will give you a feel for what those projects were like.
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01. The first observatory was 5/8 of a sphere and was 13 feet in diameter. The whole building rotates except the floor and the telescope mounting.
02. There were three scopes mounted on a classic German style mounting. An 8” f/10 reflector (made in high school) is on the back side in this view. The long scope in front is a 7.5” f/10 achromatic refractor (used as a guide scope on long duration photos). The short scope is a 6” f/5 reflector used for wide field photography.
03. This is a “bore shot” of the three scopes, 7.5” at 6:00, the 6” at 10:00 and the 8” is at 2:00.
04. After a few years we decided to move south of town and build a house out in the country. I sold the first observatory and it was carted off on a car-carrying trailer.
05. It was an interesting trip to say the least, driving through the middle of Rochester NY on I-490 in the late afternoon. The dome was successfully installed at its new location.
06. Our new house was next to a county park south of town. A 40 foot high hill in the back yard was a perfect place to build the new observatory. However, that hill presented a logistical problem.
07. Using the old telescope in a portable fashion was a little bit of a challenge due to its weight of several hundred pounds. When a friend saw this photo he said, “There goes Rick with his grub gun!”
08. The hill presented a significant logistical problem when you think of moving tons of materials needed to build the new observatory and telescope. I built a dumping trailer and modified my garden tractor to take a custom built PTO powered winch with a 125 foot long cable.
09. There was about 8 tons of rock and sand transported up the hill to be used for concrete foundations. Having a dumping trailer was very useful. The car ramps helped get the materials into a higher pile.
01. The first observatory was 5/8 of a sphere and was 13 feet in diameter. The whole building rotates except the floor and the telescope mounting.
01. The first observatory was 5/8 of a sphere and was 13 feet in diameter. The whole building rotates except the floor and the telescope mounting.
01. The first observatory was 5/8 of a sphere and was 13 feet in diameter. The whole building rotates except the floor and the telescope mounting.
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