The Graham Observatory

Linneus, Missouri 64653 USA
39' 52" 26.148N - 93' 10" 57.288W - 249m

*** Observatory Overview ***

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Planning for the observatory began in the summer of 2005. Many different designs were evaluated. And with the information obtained from friends Joe Wright in KC, and Robert Edwards in California, the final conclusion was "Simple is better". (Thanks guys!) So I settled for the simple 'roll off roof' design. Well, almost simple. :P Drawing is one thing, building is another...

The foundation is 6 bag concrete. The concrete pier foundation is 7' deep, and 5' square. The top of the pier foundation is level with the top of the floor. The round pier on top of this is 18" in diameter and 28" high. The entire pier foundation and pier are steel reinforced. The pier and its foundation were poured at the same time. An 18" x 28" Sonotube was used for the round pier. (I have extra if you need some.) The mounting plate was set into the concrete about 30 minutes after the pour. The orientation of the plate was determined the night before using a 6' level and a green laser pointer. The floor footing consists of a 8" wide x 4' deep steel reinforced perimeter. The floor was poured on top of this footing and power troweled as smooth as possible. (Watch your step if its wet!) After all that work... Can't build on this! Darn thing is 1/16" out of square... LOL

The observatory is large in comparison to most I had investigated. The building is 32' long, 16' wide, and 7' tall at the top of the wall. Why only 7'? I like to use the equipment visually also, and didn't want to use a ladder to do so. With this setup, When the scope is fully raised above the wall, I have a clear horizontal view of the southern sky. The structure is divided into two 16' rooms. The scope room, and the control room. The control room is 16' square, fully insulated, wired, furnished, and will have heat/ac. The observatory will be covered in the same color Morton steel as the other 2 Morton buildings on the property. The steel is scheduled to arrive on site 4/10/2006.

The control room will have from 2 - 4 PC computers running software such as: TheSky v6, MaximDL CCD, CCDOPS, Internet Astronomy, ACP, etc. From here I control the pier, mount, telescopes, cameras, etc. Please see the 'Equipment' page for equipment details.

The carriage track sits on top of the walls. This is constructed of 6" x 1/4" steel plate holding 1.5" x 1/4" angle iron staggered and welded so the vertex is up. (staggered meaning the joints of the steel plate and the angle are offset.) The angle on each side is held to the inside of the wall. The remainder of the plate hangs to the outside of the wall. This is so that the sheet metal can butt up under the plate to help weatherproof the structure. The trim metal that will mate with these surfaces will create a water tight seal. Because the weight of the roof structure is substantial, the choice was made to use steel instead of wood for the out rails. Besides, I purchased 4" x 6" CCA timber for the outrails... they were straight when I bought them, but now they are dog-legs. I don't want to deal with the structure moving, or track out of whack due to moving wood. The out rails are 4" x 6" x 1/4" square steel tubing. This tubing is mounted to the sidewall of the observatory with lags, and extends 18' to the NW. HD Stops will be installed on both ends of each side of the track to stop the carriage at either end. The out rails are supported by 4 - 3" x 3" x 1/4" steel posts. (2 each side, 8' from the wall and 8' between them) These are mounted to concrete piers poured 18" diameter and 4' in the ground. The out rails are also braced with 2" x 2" x 1/4" steel tubing from side to side. The entire steel structure is welded solid. The rails have almost no movement even with the roof sitting on top of them. By the way, it's hard to MIG in a strong wind.

The roof is constructed from scissor truss with a 4/12 over 2/12 pitch mounted on top of the two piece carriage assembly. The scissor truss along with the 12"H carriage assembly actually gives me almost 10' of head room at the center (like a vaulted ceiling). The carriage assembly consists of 8 - 4" steel v-groove wheels with high precision ball bearings (4 each side, 1' from each end). These are mounted to a pair of built-up 2x6 rails with 1" plywood sandwiched between to give the needed mounting width. This assembly has a 2" x 12" mounted on the outside that is flush with the 6" steel on the outside (you guessed it, the carriage is 12" tall). The metal fascia on this 2" x12" will insure a weather proof seal both above and below. The entire roof assembly is secured with HD 3/4" hook/hook turnbuckles. (6 total, 3 each side) Large eyebolts are mounted evenly across each side of the structure. (4 each side, spaced so that 2 turnbuckles can be moved to the end of the out rails to secure the roof when its open and still line up with the other 4 inside.)

To answer the question of will it open? Yes, it does! Smoothly! The roof assembly can be opened by hand; however, the wind load is such that it is very difficult to do so in even a mild wind. So, the roof will be equipped with a 3K push/pull 17fpm dual drum AC winch with machined drum assemblies from Allied Power (800-248-4896) The winch is assembled from genuine WARN components. The winch will be installed on the center partition wall, and will have a separate cable running to pulls on each gable end of the roof. Switches will be installed that will stop the winch in either direction when it has reached the end. I haven't completely worked the details of the power roof yet, but will keep you posted...

As you can see from the following photos, weather permitting, the observatory is under construction.

As of May the observatory is complete aside from decorating and landscaping. It has been raining since the observatory was operational! How fun! NOT!

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Looking North East. The rectangle hole is where the PTAC heat/ac unit will reside.

A Telrad is speed tied to the top dove plate for the time. Did not want to stick it on the tube.

Also you may notice the AP 0.75x telecompressor (TC) coupled between the focuser and the camera. This reduces the magnification for initial mapping.