The Dome

We selected this area to build out house because of the very dark skies available. It's cowboy country in this part of N Calif. so there is no dust or smoke either since no crops are grown within 20 miles of us. We call this area Jefferson since it is more closely related to S. Oregon than to the rest of Calif. That name comes from a fictional state that combines S. Ore with N. Calif. We are in rolling hills dotted with large oak trees surrounded by many tall, and at this time of year very white, volcanoes. Mt Lassen is 30 miles east of us and Mt Shasta is 50 to the north. Others are to our west towards the coast which is ~ 90 miles away. So you can see that I had a problem in the foundation design. After much thought, I decided on a pier type foundation in order to keep the floor off the ground. This keeps it out of water in winter and allows aeration in the hot summer so that is can cool off by evening. I find that it is never warmer inside the dome than the normal shade temperature outside on hot days. Even though it could be 105 on a given day by evening the temp is down to < than 90 or so which makes for comfortable viewing. By the way when it is that warm the humidity is about 10%. I have kept the use of concrete to a minimum to keep the night radiation low and have it over 100 feet from the house for the same reason. Naturally the telescope pier is in concrete and the 12 outside and 3 inside piers are in concrete but that's about all. I built a wooden deck on the piers using 3 quarter inch plywood. The dome walls are bolted to the floor and the joists below. The wooden piers are redwood and in the ground to about 30 inches in concrete. Inside there is a desk for the notebook computer, dome drive, clock lamp and plenty of cabinet space for parts, etc. I have everything sealed up as much as possible with silicone. Only a few drops of water come in on the south side during severe storms and everything is very dry that needs to be.

I put a large cover over the telescope/camera that ties at the bottom. The dome drive works very well and actually is faster and easier than by hand. I use a hook on a long pole to open and close the shutters. It usually takes me about 20-30 min. to open up and get everything going and operational before I am going to objects and taking images for record. I think a dome is a good idea since it allows easy set up and avoids stray light from cars, etc. You never have to worry about polarizing again. It's ready when you are. It took me about 3 months and $7,000 to do the dome including the foundation, pier and mounting plate, welding, etc. I've had as many as 10 people in there at one time, but that is somewhat crowded. 3 to 4 is just right. The dome makes astronomy  much more fun and productive.

As far as security, we have no problems in this area since in cowboy culture you don't walk on other people's land, especially at night. It can lead to a quick funeral if you know what I mean. There is always the possibility of a problem with an outside person so I use a motion detector-alarm system for that. By the way, it is very useful to have power in there for the equipment and for a heater in the winter. Since our dome is about 100 ft. from the house it was easy to put in a permanent line all zoned, etc. We didn't need a permit for the dome itself since it was smaller than 12 ft. The dome drive makes quite a bit of noise, but since we are in a rural area that is no problem.

Go to Technical Innovations and check out their entire line of Home Dome and Pro Dome Observatories. 

Copyright ©1998 Oak Creek Observatory, All Rights Reserved.