Update of New Construction: Completed July 2019
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As of November 1, 2018 signed permits were issued and construction began on November 2, 2018. This construction project included two large 30 x 40 foot multi-telescope observatories and one additional private 10 x 12 foot observatory at SRO. The two large observatories were completed in July of 2019. The new private observatory was recently issues permits and will commence. The larger observatories house 12 telescopes (including larger aperture telescopes, such as the Planewave CDK 700 or 24" RC telescopes on equatorial mounts). Contact us at [email protected] for questions or availability. Also contact us if you wish to place a larger one meter class telescope, for which a dome or roll-off roof observatory can be constructed.
In addition we recently placed an on-site machine shop. We also acquired a on-site headquarters for SRO with client facilities. SRO is now a complex of incompassing16 acres and continues to grow. As part of our continued commitment to infrastructure improvement we have added a back-up generator on-site. Currently our clients and all SRO systems have UPS battery backup, however, even in the unlikely event of a sustained power black-out, SRO will continue to operate. We understand the importance of keeping power available so that our clients can continue with uninterrupted data collection, even during these rare events. There is also built in network systems redundancy and internet provider back-up, in the unlikely event of a fiber optic system failure. These and other additions will help bring SRO to the standards we envisioned when we first founded the observatory in 2007. Our Site Plan: |
As construction progressed we inserted images periodically.
November 3, 2018: Breaking ground. Area for building 11 and 12 bulldozed and clear.
November 9, 2018: First row of foundation piers being dug for Building 11. These are 6 foot in depth.
November 10, 2018: All the 6 foot holes for the building foundations and telescope piers were marked and dug. Next the foundations were poured. Later, the 6 foot deep telescope piers were poured after the floors were built.
November 12, 2018: Preparation of the foundation for pouring cement. Work came along very quickly.
November 16, 2018:
Foundation and telescope piers were readied for concrete. Concrete forms were completed for building 11.
November 18, 2018: First steel studs were placed via crane. The final structure ws designed to be 30 x 40 foot and the steel greatly added to its structural integrity. Note the pouring individual foundation piers designed to support a wood floor, and not a single solid concrete slab. This was done to decrease the release of heat during the evening, which in turn helps preserve the local seeing conditions.
November 20, 2018: Steel wall studs were placed for building 11 and will soon after for building 12.
November 20, 2018: Close-up of steel struts. Floor height can be seen by steel joist attachments.
November 24, 2018: Floor shown under construction for building 11 and foundation preparation for studs at building 12. Construction moved along at a good pace.
November 27, 2018: The floor joists of building 11 are completed and stud foundations for building 12 are ready to be poured.
November 29, 2018: Even SRO had a foggy and rainy winter day now and then. Fortunately the stud foundations for building 12 were poured before the rain. The floor joists for building 12 were up shortly thereafter.
December 2, 2018: Our first snow. Just a dusting. Predictably, we did not see enough to slow the project down.
The project movdc ahead of schedule. Walls went up and construction continued throughout the winter months.
December 12, 2018: Walls ent up for building 12. Rails up, off to the east, for the roll off roofs, as well. Note that the floors are wooden with no concrete slab, to decrease evening thermal contamination. Also, floors build off the ground for the purpose of clearance for air circulation.
December 12, 2018: View of steel beams for the roof rail system. The walls are up in building 12. The two original multi-telescope buildings, buildings 9 and 10, in the background.
December 12, 2018: Steel beams and framework for the roof rails. Original 8 private telescope observatories in the background.
December 20, 2018: Top of the East-West walls being prepared for the roof rails. Telescope pier sites prepared for pouring of concrete.
December 31, 2018: The 12 base plates in place for building 12. These are each affixed to 6 foot deep cement piers. They are leveled, pointed to true north and have both a Software Bisque and SRO proprietary 5/8th inch threaded bolt pattern.
February 3, 2019: The rails were welded in place. The roof and wheels attached. This is the largest roll-off roof we have built at SRO to date, and one of the largest, perhaps the largest, roll off roof observatory yet made. The roof base is 30 x 40 foot in size.
March 26, 2019: The roof is up on both buildings. The weather cleared and the pace of construction picked up significantly. Trenches for power and internet were completed.
April 2, 2019: Roof and walls completed. Electrical being run and ethernet to follow. Project on track for completion late Spring or early Summer. Power lines currently overhead of buildings 11 and 12 will be moved by PG&E next week. A few tree's in the field of view of the buildings will be removed as well. This will result in unobstructed views to better than 20 degrees.
April 28, 2019: The main structures of Buildings 11 and 12 completed. Conduit for electrical and ethernet lines completed.
May 9, 2019: Painting of the observatories underway. The south walls will be painted with a special highly reflective paint which will significantly decrease heat absorbance. This will help decrease the minor cool-down times in the summer months by decreasing the daytime heat load sustained by the observatory.
July 28, 2019: The first few telescopes being moved into Building 11. Included are a few smaller telescopes as well as 20" PlaneWave CDK on an L-350 and a 24" Planewave CDK on a Paramount Taurus fork mount.