Installation of the most powerful teaching telescope in Siberia. Installation of the observatory with my participation.

I remembered about one project from a previous job, which is to some extent related to construction. Then I was engaged in the supply of scientific and laboratory equipment. Basically, all the work went through competitions (tenders). My responsibilities included preparation of all documentation, work with suppliers, receipt and delivery of equipment to the customer.

One of the won tenders in 2007 was a project for the supply and installation of an observatory for one of the local universities. The customer included devices of the well-known brand MEADE (Mid) in the technical requirements. The equipment is American, then more or less affordable (at the dollar exchange rate ~ 30 rubles).

The telescope itself, the mount and the dome were on the road for three months. In early December, everything arrived for installation. Winter is not the best time for such work. But what to do? Completion of work under the contract - until December 31. It's good that there was no frost yet. I will try to convey these few days from memory and photographs, during which the installation, installation, commissioning of the equipment lasted.

First, it was necessary to dismantle the old dome and the old telescope from the roof of the educational building.

This is the height of 6-7 floors. A long boom crane was ordered. The dome is wooden, lightweight, but until the end it was not sure that the length of the arrow would be enough to reach it.

But we were lucky. This "Ivanovets" reached out and did not have to look for a larger crane of the KATO type. They fenced off the territory with a signal tape, left one person to watch below, the rest began to dismantle the old dome.

They cut off the fasteners with a grinder, hooked the dome (wooden, upholstered with tin) and lowered it to the ground.

The old telescope was manufactured by the German company Carl Zeiss. The teachers joked (or maybe they were telling the truth) that the institute got it as equipment for reparations after the war. Later he left for a branch of the university in another city.

All new equipment was already inside the educational building and was waiting for installation. On this day, work with the crane ended. Arriving at the facility the next day, a new fiberglass dome was already installed there. The installation was supervised by a specialist who had specially flown in from Moscow.

The lifting of the sash and the rotation of the dome are controlled by the automatic equipment synchronously with the rotation of the telescope mount. The dome body is lightweight and durable fiberglass. The dome arrived disassembled in segments - it was assembled on site very quickly and I did not have time to film the process.

A mount (column) and the telescope itself were installed inside. The column was lifted immediately on the first day with a crane.

The telescope itself weighed more than 100 kg and the four of us, as I remember, carried it in the dark along a narrow staircase on the roof of the building, checking every meter of the path.

What kind of telescope? This is a mirror-lens refractor telescope Meade LX200 with lens diameter 406 mm (16 "is the largest in this line). With an increase from 68 to 950 times. The focal length is 4064 mm. GPS system for positioning on the ground and with automatic tracking of the object. Because when the Earth rotates, celestial bodies quickly leave the field of view of the telescope, then it is necessary to simultaneously rotate both the telescope and the dome. These parameters depend on the latitude of the location.

You can read briefly about the telescope at the link: https://www.4glaza.ru/products/meade-tele-16-f10-lx200-acf-uhtc

In the United States, telescopic observation is a popular activity due to the greater availability of this equipment. There, craftsmen install such powerful telescopes even on trailers for field observation and roll-out platforms. Photos for comparison with the height of a person:

An additional option in this educational observatory was the ability to remotely point at the object from the office, monitor it and record the data stream to the computer:

This is achieved thanks to the CCD camera. The program was installed Autostar II with database on tens of thousands celestial objects. You select the desired object, the system aims at it and you observe it on the monitor screen. If the object is available, if it is above the plane of the ecliptic and the horizon, as well as if the weather conditions permit.

The weather station was also included in the kit. It was even possible to build a small weather forecast. In conclusion, a couple of photos with picturesque views from the roof of the educational building:

After commissioning, I asked for an excursion to see the capabilities of the most modern and most powerful telescope at that time in an educational institution beyond the Urals. And, perhaps, one of the most powerful to this day. But the tour did not take place.

I remembered a curious incident. Learning that an educational observatory with such a powerful optical characteristics is being assembled in a neighboring city, some ufologist from Novosibirsk came here. Tried to penetrate the object in the hope that he would be able to look through the telescope.

I know that telescopes with mirrors 600 and 800 mm in diameter are installed at the Sayan Observatory in the Irkutsk Region. But there they study the IR spectrum, the Sun and space debris. And this is a purely scientific observatory with its own programs. A little later, in 2009. at SibGAU they also installed an observatory and even conducted excursions.

News note about this observatory: https://ria.ru/20080206/98480361.html

Unfortunately, I have not heard about any of the observations made on the equipment, in the delivery and installation of which I took part. And, in fact, the delivery also included Meade mobile telescopes on tripods for field observations of the city, where the sky is not so illuminated by the city lights. I found only news that an astronomical circle was working for schoolchildren.

If these lines are read by one of the specialists of this university (he will definitely recognize his observatory), invite them on a tour. After all, you have something to show. Not too long ago I showed yourdorm cluster.

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