I'm tangentially involved in the planning of the fourth of four observatories across the US that will be used primarily for education. The third, to some extent, but primarily the fourth will be used for real science as well as education, articles to be published in the Astrophysical Journal, and will have full remote capability with broadband at the observatory. The observatory is under construction, scope, dome and mount already here in storage.
My task is to find plans for a concrete scope pad that will be near the observatory to give club members a place to set up. It should be large enough for 6 to 8 scopes with power to all, hopefully two or three locations with piers (looking at Le Seur AstroPiers, same as in the observatories). Anyone have any experience or could point me in a productive direction? We don't know if it would be more economical or more functional to have a large rectangular pad, something like a boat pier with smaller pads off a central walkway, hexagonal or circular pads interconnected, just don't know. We'd like to keep the cost down, concrete is being done by a commercial concrete company, but it's more important to do it right.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Paul Gustafson
My task is to find plans for a concrete scope pad that will be near the observatory to give club members a place to set up. It should be large enough for 6 to 8 scopes with power to all, hopefully two or three locations with piers (looking at Le Seur AstroPiers, same as in the observatories). Anyone have any experience or could point me in a productive direction? We don't know if it would be more economical or more functional to have a large rectangular pad, something like a boat pier with smaller pads off a central walkway, hexagonal or circular pads interconnected, just don't know. We'd like to keep the cost down, concrete is being done by a commercial concrete company, but it's more important to do it right.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Paul Gustafson
