This column was provided by San Benito resident and amateur astronomer David Baumgartner as part of a local series on astronomy. Lea este articulo en español aqui.
Ever since my mother, I mean Santa Clause, delivered my very first telescope and that was some seventy years ago, I have worn myself out packing up my gear and scope, loading them into my truck, driving to a dark sky location, unloading and setting up ready to view the wonders of the night sky. When finished viewing, or just plain tired, tear down my stuff, load it back into my truck and make a quick stop at the local donut shop on the seven hundred block of San Benito Street. There is nothing better tasting at four in the morning than a fresh warm eclair and a glazed donut, or two. And then home just around the block to unload and take my stuff back into the house.
One thing our group did was eat well. You need to keep your body nourished and hydrated on those long and important outings. Being we were not of drinking age at the time; we would limit ourselves to only a couple or maybe three beers. Hey, this was a long time ago, besides; now that I’ve matured, it’s Bourbon and Water.
Moving ahead some sixty years and tired of all that loading and unloading, my wife, Joanne and I, finally located a 17 acre lot a few miles south of town that we both liked. You have to know that the first thing we both thought of was; let’s build a backyard observatory. Okay, it was my idea, astronomy was the last thing on her mind. So we had to give and take as a good marriage would do. In order to get my observatory she required extras in our new home, like running water and an indoor toilet. Sounded kind
of extreme but being the good husband that I am I gave into her needs and even threw in an ice box and a used wood stove. I know what you are thinking; what a guy.
So the time has come to start thinking about what type of unit my backyard home away from home will look like. Even though I went overboard with JoAnne’s needs I still had to be careful with the cost of the project. Lots of options here; roll off top, rotating dome, roll out telescope, or turn an old outside shed into something useful. Most of these options could make use of the same foundation design. So after long deliberation I decided, excuse me, she decided to go with the rotating dome. Once again we worked together and decided to let her make the decision. That wasn’t very nice; she actually let me
make the decision. At times friends would ask us “what do we contribute our sixty four years of successful marriage to”. I would reply; “That’s simple, we go out a lot. She goes out on Friday nights and I, well I go out on Saturday nights. JoAnne would answer “We’ve been married for sixty four years??
I originally was going to write this story about the construction of my backyard observatory, in hopes it would help anyone thinking about building their own. So I better get to it.
So now I’m getting excited looking for a back yard observatory kit and I find a boat maker in Australia who makes; you guessed it, rotating observatory domes. I gave them my measurement needs and they shipped it to my front door.
First I started out by deciding where in the back yard would be the best overall location for my Swan Hut. Oh yes, I named my creation the Swan Hut, named after the Swan Nebula, my favorite object in the night sky and for the fact that I raise swans. But that’s another story. Once I decided the location I started digging a 14” diameter by six foot deep hole for the pier that the telescope mount and telescope would rest on inside the dome. Then filled the hole with rebar and cement. It is important not to let the pier in any way touch the decking material, for any vibrations even from your footsteps could mess up a whole night of photography. It’s great to have the advantage of an AC line feeding your final construction, therefore no need for batteries running out on you in the middle of your photo shoot or star party.
Finally the kit shows up. I was fortunate to have my, now, very good friend Michael come over and help me set it up. Without him the walls and dome would still be lying, or is it laying, on the ground. I should mention you have the option of building a larger unit to hold not only your scope but a place to kick back with your computer and equipment while you are taking award winning photos of your favorite nebula. Better yet; build a separate building right next to your observatory to kickback in and be warm, which is what you don’t want to do to your telescope, that should be the same temperature as the outside.
I would have Ms. Carpenter’s 4th and 5th grade classes come out for a star party to look through my 14” telescope. One night while viewing the planet Saturn, a 5th grader looked into the eyepiece, backed off and said; “Wow. That’s Saturn, it almost looks real”. For the first time in my life I had no response. After a moment I said; well it sort of is real. I don’t think he still believed me for he looked at the end of the telescope to see if I tapped a picture of Saturn to the end of the scope. It was great working with the students; they were like sponges, absorbing all the astronomy knowledge they could. But you know I think I learned more out of our get-togethers than they did.
I must add, a few years after we moved into town and built another observatory. This time, thanks to my brother-in-law, built a roll off roof type construction. Thanks Bob. (See pictures of both above).
I barely scratched the surface here hoping to help you build your own observatory, so if anyone is interested in looking into a backyard observatory, you should go online and look up “David Arditti’s book “Setting up a small observatory” to help you design and construct your own backyard observatory. David takes a whole new approach on planning and building a new home for your telescope.
If that’s not your thing then contact me and I’ll see if I can be of some help.
Good luck with your telescope’s new home. Clear skies.
What’s up this month?
July 02 First Quartier Moon
July 03 Earth is at aphelion (94.5 million miles from the Sun)
July 03 Moon passes 0.8° south of Spica
July 03 Venus passes 2° south of Uranus
July 04 Moon is at apogee (251,423 miles from Earth)
July 07 Moon passes 0.4° south of Antares
July 10 Full Moon
July 11 Moon passes 0.02° north of Pluto
July 13 Venus passes 3° north of Aldebaran
July 16 Moon passes 3° north of Neptune
July 16 Moon passes 4° north of Saturn
July 17 Last Quarter Moon
July 20 Moon passes 5° north of Uranus
July 20 Moon is sat perigee (228,890 miles from Earth)
July 21 Moon passes 7° north of Venus
July 22 Moon passes 5° north of Jupiter
July 24 New Moon
July 26 Moon passes 1.3° north of Regulus
July 28 Moon passes 1.3° south of Mars
July 31 Moon passes 1° south of Spica
July 31 Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower peaks