telescope techniques

A Do-It-Yourself Dome Observatory

Heres how to construct a professional-looking telescope housing at modest cost.
few years ago my wife, Barbara, and I purchased 37 acres
of land 7 miles north of
Laramie, Wyoming. Located
in a wide valley 7,200 feet high near the
Laramie Mountains, our site is blessed
with dark, pristine skies and steady seeing. Since my main interests are deep-sky
observing and astrophotography, it didnt
take me long to decide
1 to build a permanent home for my 12 2-inch telescope.
In choosing the plan for the observatory I considered two factors: access to a
full 360 horizon and protection from
Wyomings notorious winds and long
winters. For access to the horizon, my
telescopes design limits the wall height
to about 40 inches. (Although popular
among amateurs, a roll-off-roof observatory with low walls would offer little protection from wind for my scopes more
than 8-foot-long tube.) The housing also
had to be roomy enough to accommodate guests and future equipment upgrades. As a result, I decided on a conventional dome observatory 19 feet in
diameter.

for the telescope pier. I also dug a 50foot-long trench for the observatorys
power lines. A piece of Sonotube 24
inches in diameter was used as a concrete
form for the lower pier. This was reinforced with 40 feet of steel bars. Four additional holes 10 inches wide and 4 feet
deep were dug and fitted with rebar
loops to serve as the buildings tie downs.
Two cubic yards of concrete were
poured into the pier form and tie-down

Laying the Foundation

Although I dont have a background in architecture or engineering, the design and
construction of the observatory proved
relatively easy and straightforward. My
equipment consisted of a few hand tools
(hammer, bubble level, T-square, screwdrivers, and tape measure, to name a few),
as well as common power tools (jigsaw, reversible drill, and circular saw).
Construction began in early autumn
with the excavation of a hole 4 feet deep
Comet Hale-Bopp rising above Curtis MacDonalds Mountain Skies Observatory in Laramie, Wyoming, last year. Completed in March
1992, the observatory features a homemade
dome 912 feet tall and 19 feet in diameter. All
photographs in this article are courtesy the
author.
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May 1998 Sky & Telescope

1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

By Curtis D. MacDonald
holes, as well as the 5-foot-wide pit
around the form. Four 34-inch anchor
bolts for the upper piers steel base plate
were set in place and the concrete was allowed to cure.
Using concrete blocks and slabs as
support, I constructed the observatorys
girder frame using paired 2-by-6s. Upon
it I built an 18-foot-wide, 12-sided floor
with 2-by-6 joists. This was leveled and
decked with 34-inch plywood. (I left a 12-

Left: MacDonald working on the observatorys 18-foot-wide, 12-sided foundation. The floor is made of 2-by-6 girders and joists and 34-inch plywood, while the walls consist of 2-by-4s covered with wooden siding. The telescopes concrete pier extends to floor level. Right: The 19-footdiameter dome and base rings made from several layers of 34-inch plywood. Notice the 5-inch, heavy-duty support and guide-wheel assemblies.

inch gap between the pier and floor to

prevent the buildings vibrations from
traveling to the telescope.) Finally, I
erected a 28-inch-high wall made of 2by-4s and covered the entire structure
with wooden siding. Since the floor is 28
inches above the ground, I added a 3step staircase that leads to a low but
comfortable doorway.
Constructing the Dome
After the foundation was completed the
slowest and most tedious stage of construction started the cutting of the
dome rings and ribs. Additional lighting
and portable heaters were installed in the
barn where the cutting was to take place
over the next two winter months. To mark
the various curves on the 34-inch plywood
I designed an arc-making table. It consisted of an 8-foot-wide flat surface and an
11-foot-long arm with holes drilled in one
end for the different curve radii.
For each set of identical arcs, one
piece was marked and carefully cut out.
This was then used as a master pattern
for the remaining arcs. This method
proved to be a lot faster than marking
each piece individually with the arc arm.
The base ring consists of two layers of
plywood 10 inches wide and 19 feet in diameter. I placed sections of the ring on the
building walls and carefully fitted them to
within 18-inch of a perfect, level circle.
These were then fastened together and secured to the building with dry-wall screws.
Next the dome ring was cut. It is made
up of four layers of plywood 9 inches
wide and 19 feet 2 inches in diameter. To
support the dome itself, I attached eight
heavy-duty caster wheels to the base

ring. These wheels, made of hard rubber

5 inches in diameter and 2 inches wide,
have a load capacity of 650 pounds each.
A ring of 14-inch tempered Masonite was
fastened to the dome rings underside to
serve as the bearing surface for the
wheels. (Although flexible, Masonite is
very hard and resists compression. After
years of use it has shown very little
wear.) I also added six lateral guide
wheels that run on the inside surface of
the dome ring and prevent the dome
from falling off the base ring.
The domes slit frame, made from
three layers of 34-inch plywood, was
raised into position using a 12-foot-high
scaffolding. The slit opening is almost 5
feet wide and passes 212 feet past the vertical to allow access to the zenith. Starting from the back and working forward,
I attached the ribs one by one at 212-foot
intervals. A total of 21 ribs were used,
each one 4 inches wide and two layers
thick. These were secured to the dome
ring and slit frame with screws and metal
connectors. I also added interrib braces 8
feet up to serve as extra support for securing the dome skin.
I made four more arches, each about
18 feet long and three layers thick, for
the dome shutters. I also cut out a 16inch-wide skirt of Masonite, which I fastened to the lower half of the dome ring.
This skirt extends 4 inches below the
base ring to provide good weather protection. In the end, I had cut a total of

195 arcs of various sizes, resulting in

three burned-out jigsaws and about four
dozen dull or broken saw blades.
Attaching the Dome Skin
Up until now I had done all of the work
myself, with help from my very understanding wife, Barbara, and my ever-helpful 2-year-old daughter, Tegan. The time
had come, however, to attach the domes
skin and I needed extra help. A request for
assistance to my fellow members in the
Cheyenne Astronomical Society (CAS)
quickly produced some eager volunteers.
On a very chilly weekend in midwinter, my hardy crew gathered. We hauled
the no-longer-needed arc-making table

MacDonald with his custom-built 1212 -inch

f/7.5 Newtonian reflector and 5-inch f/8 refractor. He has plans to replace the instrument
with a telescope in the 20- to 25-inch range.

1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

Sky & Telescope May 1998

111

telescope techniques

out to the observatory site for use as a

work platform. Although looking like triangles, the spaces between the ribs are
actually sections of a hemisphere and, as
a result, have two curved sides. To mark
each section the 14-inch Masonite, which
I had chosen for the skin, was laid in
place and the desired shape was traced
along the ribs from the inside.
Cutting the Masonite with a jigsaw
proved rather slow and sloppy. Fortunately, one of my crew suggested using a
circular saw it was able to make
quick, smooth cuts. With one person on
the saw and three of us marking and securing the gores to the ribs, we finished
the job in two days. The skin was attached to the dome framework with
decking screws and ribbed nails.
The observatorys twin curved shutters
roll on a pair of 10-foot-long steel tracks
bolted to the dome opening. Each shutter was reinforced with 2-by-4 crossbraces and then covered with Masonite.
With Laramie experiencing eight months
of snow and freezing temperatures annually, it is important to keep the shutters
operational all year round. Thats why I
added covers to the tracks to prevent
snow and ice from accumulating on
them. Opening and closing the 130pound shutters are done with a system of
cables and pulleys described in Amateur
Telescope Making Book II.
The dome can be turned using a 34horsepower reversible motor. The motor is
coupled to a reduction gearbox, which
turns a 10-inch go-cart wheel pressed
against the inside rim of the dome ring.
Weighing about 1,700 pounds, the finished
dome can make a complete rotation in

The completed dome framework with all 21 ribs fastened to the nearly 5-foot-wide slit frame.
The slit extends 212 feet past overhead to allow telescope access to the zenith. The 2-by-4
crossbraces in the dome opening were removed after the dome skin was attached.

about one minute. To prevent any voltage

drop that might affect the telescopes drive
when the dome motor is engaged, the observatorys 220-volt, 30-ampere power line
is fed into a circuit-breaker box that splits
it into two circuits. One serves the domes
drive motor and interior lights, while the
other handles the telescope drive and electrical outlets.
As temperatures warmed up in early
spring, I sealed the seams of the dome
skin with acrylic latex caulk. The dome
was primed and painted white with exterior latex; gray paint was applied to the
floor, and the rest of the interior was
painted black.
Mountain Skies Observatory
My telescope setup is entirely homemade.
The main instrument is a
1212-inch f/7.5 Newtonian
reflector on a massive German equatorial mount.
Riding piggyback on it is
a 5-inch f/8 refractor built
from a Bausch & Lomb
aerial photo lens. The
drive is based on the double curved-bolt design featured in the July 1989 issue
of Sky & Telescope, page
100. Everything had to be
disassembled and stored
for the duration of the observatory construction.

Finally, after six months of part-time

work and a cost of nearly $2,500, the
telescopes steel pier was welded to the
base plate. It was eased into position on
the lower concrete pier and bolted down
a perfect fit! My telescope was quickly
reassembled, and on March 25, 1992, we
had first light.
Our new facility, christened the Mountain Skies Observatory (MSO), was now
operational. Since then it has been used
nearly every clear night. Members of the
CAS and Laramie Astronomical Society &
Space Observers have hosted public star
parties at the site. The observatory has also
been used to teach astronomy to students
enrolled in the University of Wyomings
noncredit programs. For further information about the MSO and its construction,
visit my Web site at http://www.lariat.org/
LASSO/mso.html.
Rubber Paint
The dome has been made weatherproof
with Masonite flashing and foam seals
along the shutters, as well as rubber strips
between the base ring and dome skirt.
These barriers proved to be effective
against blowing snow, yet rain leaks gradually began to appear. Close examination
revealed tiny cracks between the caulk
and the Masonite, especially after the observatory had been used on nights experiencing subzero temperatures. Apparently there is enough flexure in the dome to

Cheyenne Astronomical Society members Rebekah Zumbrunnen and Marty

Curran (first and second from left) and Robert Asher (top), help the author fasten a gore of 14 -inch-thick tempered Masonite skin.
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May 1998 Sky & Telescope

1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

cause the caulk to come loose when it

stiffened in the cold weather. Recaulking
and repainting the seams slowed but did
not halt the problem.
Fortunately, an elastomer-like roofcoating product known as rubber paint
can be found in hardware stores. Since the
paint and the seam tape for it are available in white, I decided to give them a try.
First I applied a coat onto the seams; next
the tape was laid along the seams and
smoothed out. I then applied another
coat to seal the tape down. After drying,
two more coats were applied and the entire dome was covered with rubber paint.
This has proved to be very effective the
interior has remained dry ever since.
Although building the Mountain Skies
Observatory required considerable investment in time, money, and effort, the results have exceeded my expectations. With
a permanent site sheltered from the elements and a telescope that can be readied for use in just a few minutes, my
observing time has more than tripled.
Last October Curtis MacDonald found a
new job in Mountain View, 250 miles west of
Laramie, and had to relocate his observatory.
You can contact him at P.O. Box 1024, Mountain View, WY 82939; deepsky@union-tel.com.

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The finished framework of the dome shutters

ready for covering with Masonite. Extending
on both sides of the shutters are covers to
prevent snow and ice from accumulating on
the shutter tracks. A large C-clamp holds the
shutters tightly closed in bad weather.

1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

Sky & Telescope May 1998

113