We’ve been making great progress on KPO Phase 2. Over the past 5 months I have been working on the new Rolloff Observatory. This 8′ x 10′ building is on wheels and rolls back to allow the KPO Reflector to have access to the entire sky.
The Rolloff Observatory
I am very excited to have this completed, because it is the cornerstone of KPO Phase 2; along with the new Observing Deck, it will allow larger groups to be able to attend private observing sessions at our facility.
The culmination of this building process was the move of the KPO Reflector from the main dome down to the Observing Deck.
Moving the KPO Reflector
On July 16th, my old friend Rob Conway came to help disassemble the 18″ Reflector, now residing under the observatory dome. As you can imagine, it was difficult lifting the scope components down from the concrete pier in the dome, and moving it down to the new Observing Deck. It took us several hours but everything got moved without issue, and the scope and mount received a good cleaning. It needed it because mud wasps had created nests in both housings of the mount. But it looks like new now after the deep cleaning.
Now I can start doing some critical maintenance on the dome and prepare for the mounting of the new iOptron CEM-120 robotic mount, coming in the next couple of months. I received the new 12″ Ritchey-Chretien optical tube a couple weeks ago, so all I need is the mount to get it operational in the main dome.
KPO Phase 2 Update video
I created a short video to document the building of the Rolloff Observatory building, and the disassembly and installation of the KPO Reflector to its new home on the Observing Deck.