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06/14/07

Our site mascot, a Red-Tailed Hawk.  photo by Clarence Noell

06/10/07

View looking West.

06/10/07

View looking North.

05/27/07

A good night with sub-arcsecond seeing.

05/20/07

The site looking East showing most of the observatories and the sensor tower.

05-20-07

The top of the sensor tower is shown here.  The SRO All Sky Cam (DSI Pro I and fish-eye lens) is under the acrylic dome in the top left corner with the Toshiba IKWB 15-A PTZ site cam below it.  The SBIG seeing monitor is the gray box in the center pointed at Polaris.   The Boltwood Cloud Sensor II is at the top center and the Davis Vantage Pro II weather station is on the right.

05/20/07

The roof quick release is the red handle.  The springs work well to control the roof acceleration and deceleration during starts and stops.

05/20/07

This shows the T1 line loop back unit, T1 router, APC power back-up, switch and patch panel to each observatory for the LAN located in observatory 7.

05/20/07

Observatory 7 with the roof closed.

05/20/07

Observatory 7 with the roof open.  Note the 25 wire pair Telco Demarc on the North wall.  Also note the conduit exiting the building into the ground.  The bunch on the left is for power and the bunch on the right is for data communications to each observatory.

05/06/07

The first All Sky Cam image from the site.  North is up and East is to the left.  The field is about 170 degrees corner to corner.

05/05/07

 

View of the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains from near the site looking North.  Ritter Peak and the Mineretts are dominant near the center of the image.

05/04/07

Time to get the white metal roof finished.  The exterior is painted.

04/28/07

The interior gets painted black.  The roof is shown here in the open position showing the pulley.  The exterior has not yet been sealed or painted.

04/28/07

First light with the SRO Site Cam.  Note the full moon.

04/28/07

The SRO Site Cam, a Toshiba IK-WB 15 A, gets installed on the sensor tower.  The SRO All Sky Cam will be mounted on the plate just above the site cam.  Can you figure out where the seeing monitor will go?

04/28/07

Jon gives the sensor tower some paint.  Five instruments will be attached to the sensor tower.  This is the same color the observatories exterior will be painted.

04/20/07

The roof motor enclosure.  The Web Relay (lower right)  is how the roof movement is controlled via the web.

04/20/07

The first computer controlled roof movement takes place.  Mel likes how the roof motor mechanism works.

04/15/07

The first few roofs go up in the mist.  The sensor tower is seen on the left.

04/06/07

Roof construction has officially started.  Time to get all the holes drilled for the wheel bolts.  Each roof will have 12 wheels.

04/06/07

These wheels need to go..............here......

04/06/07

There be wheels here!  These are V-grooved glass-filled nylon wheels, they won't rust and will run quietly on the steel rails.  They also weigh less than cast iron wheels too.

04/06/07

The Main breaker box is done.

04/06/07

Each pier will have its own 20 amp breaker.

04/06/07

Time is getting close for power.  Compare to 01/24/07 and 12/24/06.

04/06/07

Okay, the sensor tower needs; one coax cable, 4 cat-5e, ground, hot, return and oh yes, the Boltwood Cloud Sensor cable.  By the way, Mel needs bigger bolts to hold his scope in place, don't you think?

04/06/07

Now let's see, that's power, no, that's data, no... that's power...

03/31/07

The conduit to the sensor tower is laid.

03/31/07

Most of the conduit is on site.  There will be a couple of miles of wire to pull.

03/30/07

The roof trusses have arrived.

03/30/07

The stairs are going in.

03/23/7

It looks like there are observatories here.  Time to get the roofs up.  This view is looking North.

03/23/07

The floors and walls are up.

03/10/07

The concrete footings and piers are poured.

03/09/07

The form boards and sonotubes are ready for concrete.

02/04/07

The observatory footings and piers were dug today.

02/02/07

Marking spot #1.

02/02/07

The observatory position and layout was finalized.  The piers and footings were marked with chalk.

01/27/07

The driveway is done.  Conduit has been placed under the road for power and data lines.

1/24/07

The data and voice lines are in the ground.  This view is looking West.

12/15/06

The first burn pile.

12/13/2006

Ground Breaking has officially started!  Tractors have extended the driveway out into the observatory area.  This view is looking East.

12/24/06

The site is cleared.

11/20/06

The order was placed with Ponderosa Telephone today for the installation of voice and data lines to the site.

11/10/06

The application for power with PG&E was completed.

11/09/06

Grand opening of this website.

11/09/06

Property acquisition completed.  Escrow closed on the property.

10/28/06

Site selection was finalized.  This view is looking North.

 

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