Wow Factor Setting In

Great strides last week,

Lester helped out early in the week with framing and siding which helped stiffen the structure and we also installed 2 windows.

Jim arrived Friday afternoon and Pat Friday night, so Saturday was a big day that started with re-installing the telescope to it's pier (never a fun job). We finished out the daylight hours with siding, roof sheeting, ice dam placement and site clean up.

After dinner we attempted another polar alignment of the telescope which we had tried a few times before with no success. Since then we had read more and felt more confident, however that confidence was quickly replaced with disappointment and the feeling we would never get it right!

To salvage something out of the night Jim went with the point and hope method, it didn't take him long and Jupiter was in the eyepiece! I have to say that looking at Jupiter exceeded every expatiation I had, it was absolutely beautiful. We then spent time looking at the moon which was also stunning.

The construction continued on the warm room throughout the weekend and right into the start of this week with great results.

The weather continues to hold and we're just a few days away from being sealed up.

Custom glass block window just for fun.

Monday night, after even more reading and I'm sure a few prayers from Jim, we finely got the polar alignment right, (goes to show even a blind squirrel finds a nut ever now and then). Thanks to Sam's work last week it took just a small wedge angle adjustment and with the proper set-up sequence it now works very well.

I also forgot that a few weeks ago Murmur Creek Observatory was added to the Amateur Astronomical Observatory site

This site was very helpful with our early research and is just fun to see all the different observatory builds, we thank them for adding us and if you get a chance have a look.