Construction of Cheyenne Mountain Observatory began on July 5, 2009 when my son-in-law Ryan Swinney assisted me in mounting a steel pier using 3/4 inch stainless steel threaded rods epoxied into a large boulder. We then mounted a Meade wedge and a 12" Meade RCX400 onto the pier. He also assisted me with electrical work. When completed, the observatory will have two electrical feeds, one for astronomical equipent, the other for heat/light/air conditioning.
Construction of the platform and 8' circular building began on July 13, 2009. Best friend Bill Goff from Sutter Creek, California flew out to give me a hand and we had the platform and building finished and the dome installed by July 25, 2009. Bill flew home on July 26th. This observatory never would have been build without his encouragement and help.
The Cheyenne Mountain Observatory is an 8' Exploradome sitting on a wooden frame platform at 6500 feet above sea-level on the east-facing alluvial fan of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. Because the mountain rises to 9000 feet immediately to the west, the observatory is essentially blind just a few degrees west of the north-south meridian. The primary mission of the observatory will be photometric studies of variable stars.
As with all new installations of this type, there are a lot of bugs to work out and outfitting continues with first light expected to occur in mid-February 2010. When fully operational, Cheyenne Mountain Observatory will be completely automated and controlled from my den.
