Observatory Systems

02/03/2023

As part of the upgrade we took the existing RCOS 20” and retrofitted the backplate with custom adapters to turn it into a Planewave backplate so we can use their Series 5 rotator and focuser and their controllers. We are adding a perseus port for multiple cameras.

02/03/2023

It’s been a minute. I am back where my journey into observatories all began. at the .edu to upgrade the last upgrade I made here almost 17 yrs ago. The last time I sat in this dome alone late at night iPhones didn’t exist. I spent many many many nights of my college years here. Tomorrow a fully refurbished RCOS20” goes in on a L600 mount.

07/08/2019

It’s great to see friends doing amazing things in astronomy. I’ve known Ryan M. Hannahoe since he was in high school. We are proud to have been a part of making this observatory project a reality.

At the Montana Learning Center, on the shore of Canyon Ferry Lake, two new buildings may not seem notable from the outside. But the roofs are on motorized tracks, and they can open up to reveal two brand-new telescopes.

07/03/2019

We had a fantastic view of the eclipse down in Chile yesterday.

06/19/2019

Brand new ACP scheduler setup and testing on a 1m CDK1000, fresh windows install and testing on a CDK700, and a new tpoint model running on a Optical Guidance Systems RC20. Busy night. Nice to have sole monitor real estate.

06/13/2019

Soka International University’s new Observatory. We should have first light in a few days.

06/13/2019

CDK14, L500, and our Observatory Management System all in a 12.5ft Astrohaven dome.

06/13/2019

L500

06/13/2019

L500 install

06/13/2019

L500 “unboxing”

06/13/2019

L500 Mount being delivered by a comically large fork lift.

06/13/2019

Our weather stations use Alcor all sky cameras, boltwood cloud sensors, Davis weather sensors to keep the observatory safe.