First meeting report
开云体育All, a meeting took place today at Kartchner Caverns State Park regarding the construction of an observatory (tentatively named HAASP observatory). Present at the meeting was park ranger Ritch Rummler (the driving force behind the idea), Kyle Riesterer, supervisor and assistant park manager, Sidra Sutton, the park’s education coordinator and Lorie Lyons who does all the IDA reporting at the park, and me. The park is very eager to make this happen.? The more we (HAC) can help the sooner we can break ground. Since the dome that was thought to be available in the park system did not materialize, we are definitely leaning toward a roll off roof. As it stands right now, David Roemer is going to donate a Meade 14” SCT and the idea is to build an observatory to house it.? We think the majority of the construction can be done “in-house”.? The scope is on a tripod and can be transferred to a pier as is, but we think the mount should be upgraded as soon as funds are available to do so. There are two potential sites to locate the observatory but the most likely site is shown in the attached map. Step one is to decide on the characteristics of the observatory so we can build a cost estimate to work with.? Most of the construction can be done “in-house” – the park has its own crew to do construction.? The major costs will be materials. Funding is an unsettled question.? The club may be able to help raise some money by soliciting donations and there may be some limited funding already available. By the way, if anyone wants to take the major financial burden – we can name the place after you!? David Roemer is already working on sketching out a workable observatory, and from that we should be able to get a good estimate on what it will cost. Then we can determine if there’s enough money to get it done.? Now is the time to submit your ideas and suggestions.? If anyone has construction drawings of your roll off observatory that you can share, please scan them and post them here.? If you have any funding suggestions, please share them now. We need to organize an evening trip to the park to evaluate the selected site after dark. We will schedule a second meeting as soon as we can establish the observatory characteristics and can reasonably estimate the costs. Ted ? |
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If there isn't going to be a dome, then there is more flexibility for many "roll off" solutions.
One issue is space, that is, the number of people who can be "around" a telescope. A roll-off roof for a single scope isn't going to provide any more space than what we have for the Patterson.? Scaling a roll-off roof to be big enough for addition telescope(s) isn't that much bigger and leaves the space to have an additional people. My example is only for 2 scopes, Room for even 4 should be considered.?Is the solution only going to be a scope room or are their thoughts about having a adjacent warm room or even a class room? So the ideal characteristics?of my facility is for at least 2 piers, an ante-room for scope control and item storage, and a room that can be used for indoor public classes, presentations, or special events. Vince |
Ted Forte
V Sempronio