My Heavenly Bodies:

During the past 5 years we've been very busy. The entire scope was disassembled, and put in special shipping containers constructed by myself. The optics were shipped to California where they were stripped and recoated, then forwarded on to Jim Riffle in Aguila, Arizona. There Riffle completely rebuilt the optical tube assembly, upgrading where needed, such as filtered ventilation of the Schmidt corrector plate and primary baffle. All parts were powder coated, painted or anodized, and reassembled with stainless steel fasteners.

The major improvement and upgrade to the already incredible telescope was the replacement of the German Equatorial mount with the custom fork mount with dual friction roller drivers, Swiss dual planetary stepper motors, controlled by the German-made FS2 computer control by Astro-Electronic. This allows stand-alone operation with slewing at 1200 x sideral rate .

All software was upgraded to the most recent versions of Software Bisque's "The Sky", CCDSoft and T Point, SBIG's CCDOPS and Technical Innovation's ROBOFOCUS. Included in the upgrading was the laying of fiber optics for the local area network, upgrading the CAT5. All computers were upgraded with Windows XP Pro. All this will allow complete remote control from the house up to 400 feet away, or eventually via the internet.

While waiting for the fork mount to be completed, and the telescope to be upgraded, the dome also had to be prepared for the arrival of the new mount. A second concrete pier 2'x3' was poured south of the original 4' square pier that supported the centered German Equatorial mount, to accommodate the south offset new fork mount. Both piers stand from the ground to the second story floor of the observatory. Also in preparation of the new mount and homecoming of the scope, my wife and I stripped, cleaned, painted and re-carpeted the entire observatory, inside and out. Finally, the azimuth and shutter assemblies were rebuilt and updated with the help of Ash Dome to allow remote operation of the slit and dome rotation, etc.

The scope boxed to be shipped to AstroWorks in Arizona, 1200 miles.

Renovation of the dome and the second pier going in.

We wire brushed and painted the entire dome. Sandra and I putting in the welded steel pier for the new fork mount.

Sandra and I and our then 21 year old son, Michael, flew to Arizona and rented a truck to haul the new mount and scope the 1200 miles back home. Jim and Janet Riffle were gracious hosts. The two men have known each other through the 24" scope for 25 years. (notice the 2 gray heads)

The 24" at Riffle's shop waiting for darkness to test it.

Preparing for the 1200 mile drive back to Kansas......slowly, carefully.

Back home, it's installation day. The men from R & R Welding out of Girard, Ks., who made the welded steel pier, are there to help install the mount and scope.

The crew preparing the scope to be lifted by the crane.