An Amateur Astronomer’s Tale

David B. Milles

Stacy, Minnesota, USA

As a child, I was always fascinated by science. My first love was paleontology. This infatuation began as a fifth-grader, when I found lots of "Ice Age" Bison bones in a local freeway construction site. My second love was astronomy. I saved money from doing odd jobs and bought my first telescope when I was in the 7^th grade. It was a simple 30 power x 40 mm Tasco refractor. When I was a junior in High School (1962), my Grandmother gave me a 60 mm Tasco refractor on a simple alt-az mount as a Christmas gift.  Unfortunately, I gave up stargazing during my college years, as studying and dating became my primary off-hour endeavors.

Pursuing my “first love”, I majored in geology at the University of Minnesota. During my senior year (1967-68), I took a 9-month job to manage the U.S. Antarctic Research Program Biology and Earth Science Labs at McMurdo Station on Ross Island in Antarctica. After returning to the States, I got married, returned to college and received my Batchelor’s degree in March of 1969. I went on to attend Graduate School at the Universities of Maine and Minnesota then, took a full-time job with the Minnesota Geological Survey. I tried finding work as a Vertebrate Paleontologist, but dinosaurs and "prehistoric animals" were not a big money-maker in the early 70’s. After working several years for the Minnesota Geological Survey, I moved on to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, where I put in over 20 years as a Hydrologist / Water Resource Manager. I left the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in late 1992 to try my hand at private consulting. In 2002 I took my State pension at age 55 and tried retirement. However, my retirement turned into semi-retirement when the Department of Natural Resources recruited me to accept 1-year appointments as Hydrologist Emeritus in 2004 and again in 2008. Now, I am finally fully-retired and enjoying all of my hobbies and my six beautiful grandchildren.

Back on topic... I finally returned to amateur astronomy in early 1999, after a +30 year hiatus. College, career and raising 2 kids had taken precedence. I soon discovered that the new technology available to amateur astronomers was AWESOME and AMAZING. I started off with a 4" Vixen achromatic refractor, a Vixen GP German equatorial mount and a Vixen SkySensor 2000PC go-to system (see photo).  Using this computerized “go-to” setup, I saw more objects in one night than I was able to see in an entire year of my long-lost youth. To say that I was enraptured with my rekindled “second love” would be an understatement. My interest in amateur astronomy grew rapidly and I quickly “upgraded” through several progressively larger aperture telescopes and computerized mounts.

By the fall of 2001, I was ready for the next big step... CCD imaging. The “charge-coupled device” (aka CCD) has become the Holy Grail for amateur astronomers that want to take serious astro-images. A CCD chip is MANY thousands of times more sensitive than the human eye. When coupled to a personal computer, the CCD camera allows the amateur astronomer to accumulate and combine MANY separate images to create a master image of amazing clarity and detail. My first camera was a used Starlight Xpress MX7C color CCD camera, which I began using on my TeleVue TV102 apochromatic refractor (see photo). Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be able to get observatory-quality images with off-the-shelf equipment that cost about the same as a snowmobile and a lot less than a fancy fishing boat. CCD imaging soon became my astronomical passion and my “true love” of science.

After spending many long, cold nights imaging from my "driveway observatory", I decided I had to build a permanent facility to house my equipment. Setting-up and taking-down all of my “gear” consumed too much precious imaging time. I thought about the observatory's design for nearly a year and finally, I decided on a unique barrel-vaulted, clamshell roof.  The ultimate result was Star«Home Observatory.

Star«Home Observatory

45°23’08” North Latitude

93°00’13” West Longitude

Elevation: 910 feet (277 meters) MSL

Central Standard Time Zone (-6 hrs GMT)

Star«Home was constructed during the summer of 2003 on my semi-rural 5½ acre home-site near Stacy, Minnesota (about 35 miles north-northeast of Minneapolis). The barrel-vaulted roof halves were fabricated off-site in the spring of 2003. The remainder of the observatory structure was erected on-site in just two days (June 20 & 21, 2003). The next two months were spent experimenting with several different roof operating systems, pouring concrete plinths for the piers, weather-stripping the roof and installing two custom-built steel piers to carry the observatory’s telescopes and their equatorial mounts. Final painting and installation of the electrical and communication systems were completed in October of 2003.

Construction Details

The underlying wood-framed “structure” is 8 feet wide by 12 feet long by 54 inches high. The floor joists are 2” x 6” green-treated studs, spaced 24” on-center. The floor is ¾” green-treated plywood. The sidewalls are framed with 2” x 4” studs, spaced 24” on-center and sheathed with 5/8” plywood siding. The barrel-vaulted roof has a radius of 4 feet, creating a total “unobstructed” inside height of 8½ feet. The structure is slightly elevated on 6” x 6” treated timber pilings to protect against any backyard flooding. Two concrete plinths extend 4 feet below ground level and are accessed through 1-foot square cutouts in the floor. Bolted directly to each plinth is a custom-fabricated 6¼” diameter steel-tube pier, which has been filled with several hundred pounds of “foundry sand”.

The split-semicylindrical, barrel-vaulted roof was originally sheathed with an inner layer of ¼” wood paneling and an outer layer of white vinyl sheeting. The roof structure is supported by 7 laminated 1” x 4” clear-pine ribs, spaced 24” on-center. The structural design of the roof is very similar to a wooden canoe. The roof halves are fully weather-stripped and are completely watertight when closed. The roof halves open and close independently via a 3’ long lever arm with two 25 lb. counterweights at the rear of each section and a 180 lb. garage door spring attached to a 1¼” steel tube strut assembly at each end. After nearly 3 years of faultless performance, the roof structure has revealed an intrinsic fault... torque strain during opening and closing has split the vinyl sheathing. The summer of 2006 saw the replacement of the original roof material with thin steel sheeting. An internal torque relief system will be installed during 2007 to totally eliminate any roof deformation during opening and closing.

Star«Home is equipped with 2 steel piers for mounting telescopes. The south pier carries a Meade 7” (178 mm) f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope, with a co-mounted Borg 50 mm f/5 achromatic refractor as a guidescope for imaging. The Meade setup is mounted on a Celestron CGE German equatorial mount.  The observatory’s north pier carries a TeleVue NP127 5” (127 mm) f/5.2 apochromatic refractor, co-mounted with a Takahashi FS-60C 60 mm f/5.9 apochromatic refractor. Either scope can be used for imaging or guiding. These are mounted on another Celestron CGE German equatorial mount. Both CGE mounts are navigated by Celestron’s NexStar go-to system and are also capable of being operated remotely via the observatory’s primary computer.

Star«Home was built for digital astrophotography and CCD imaging. Current imaging systems include an array of 7 different “digital” imaging cameras. Each camera has its own unique capabilities and this diversity allows me to image virtually any astronomical object. During 2005, Star«Home gained additional capabilities with the acquisition of a dedicated “Hydrogen-alpha” solar filter system and a generation 2+ night-vision system.

North American & Pelican Nebulae (NGC7000 & IC5067) Garnet Star Nebula (IC1396)

See many more pictures from Star«Home Observatory in the “IMAGES” section.

However, building Star«Home was not the end of my “journey”. After rediscovering amateur astronomy, I soon found out it was NOT a static hobby. In fact, traveling is an integral part of the amateur astronomy experience. Amateur astronomers frequently convene informal (and occasionally formal) gatherings called “Star Parties”. It is also desirable to journey to remote “dark sky” sites in order to obtain the best viewing or imaging conditions. Consequently, I found it necessary to put together a traveling observatory that I like to call Star«Home On-the-Road.

Star«Home On-the-Road is based on a Kendrick 8’ x 12’ “observatory” tent. This tent is another example of the unbelievable variety of equipment available to today’s amateur astronomers. The tent is divided into 2 separate rooms: one for sleeping, and one with a zip-out roof for observing. When traveling, I use a third Celestron CGE equatorial mount to carry a TeleVue NP101 4” (101 mm) f/5.4 apochromatic refractor co-mounted with a Takahashi FS-60C 60 mm f/5.9 apochromatic refractor. I also bring along a 2 kilowatt Honda portable generator to power the scope mount, CCD cameras and a laptop computer. Of course, I also bring a full compliment of camping gear... something that I accumulated during my many “fossil” digs.

In 2008 I also acquired several visual-only telescopes to share with visitors to Star«Home and friends at Star Parties. The large (16” mirror) Meade LightBridge reflector allows me to show guests all of the wonders of the Heavens. Since this scope was too big to “computerize”, I use a smaller 4” StellarVue ED refractor on an iOptron go-to mount to pick-out targets for the LightBridge. This is done using a 75 milliwatt green laser pointer mounted directly on the smaller scope.

Well, that’s my “tale”. Now that I’m entering the so-called “golden years”, I intend to pursue my childhood loves with all the wonder and amazement that I first felt so long ago. I figure there are enough astronomical wonders out there to keep me busy “imaging” for at least another 50 years... if not longer. ;-) Wish me luck!

Outer Limits Galaxy (NGC891) Crab Nebula (M1)

Funnies...

These “actual” photos were taken (i.e. doctored) by my Son, Andrew Milles