Love's Observatory

A life long dream is a reality eleven years into Jerry's retirement. The observatory resides in a cluster of trees which provide a wind break but partially obscure low angle views of the sky.

Recent photographs of the observatory will be uploaded to this site soon.

The observatory is 16' in diameter and houses a Meade 16" Starfinder newtonian reflector.

Located 16 miles East of Albuquerque, NM, the Sandia mountains shield the site from the lights of Albuquerque. The 6900' elevation provides cool clear nights for deep sky objects.

The observatory is mounted on fourteen concrete pillars and has four foot high side walls. The telescope pier is isolated from the floor. The size of the observatory can be judged by Jerry standing beside the observatory and alongside and the telescope.

Under construction. Jerry built a pivoting fixture to guide the 3/4" thick plywood sheets through a band saw to cut the curved pieces for the dome and base. The base ring, dome ring, and ribs for the dome were cut in 4' lengths. Notice the stack of cut pieces. It took 10 seconds to cut each piece.

Waterproof glue was used to laminate the curved pieces. The skin of the dome is 1/4" tempered masonite protected with rubberized roofing compound. The dome rotates on 12 hard rubber casters and is driven by a gearmotor.

Love's Observatory

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