Was this off Highland Dr. about 60th south? On May 1, 2015 5:32 PM, "Seth Jarvis" <SJarvis@slco.org> wrote:

I was recently contacted by a Salt Lake County resident about an observatory with a telescope in it that was part of the back yard of a home they'd recently bought. They had no idea what the telescope was or what condition it was in, but now have a child at the age that having a nice home observatory could be a good thing.

I visited with them today and found in their back yard a two-story dome of ~10' in diameter, within which was housed a 12.5" F/8 Cave "Observatory Reflector" on a massive EQ mount attached to an even more massive concrete pillar. Looks like early 1970's equipment.

It's been under a plastic tarp for what looks like 30 years. Electric drives but nothing digital, and the primary mirror is very dusty and somewhat out of alignment with the secondary.

The dome is in need of a lot of work by someone who can handle carpentry and re-rigging the cables that control the sliding panels that expose the telescope to the sky.

The OTA is in good shape.

Do any on you know who might be able to handle giving the primary mirror a good cleaning?

Most importantly, who might this homeowner contact about sorting out the 40 year-old motor drive system?

They need to get a handle on the costs and time they're looking at to determine if bringing this instrument back into working order would be better than getting rid of it and installing a more modern go-to instrument like a C14 or a Meade 16.

Comments or suggestions?

Thanks,

Seth Jarvis _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy

Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com

The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club.

To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".

Seth, I'd be happy to evaluate the telescope and observatory, and make recommendations to the owner. I own 2 Caves and am very familiar with them. I am also involved with the Classic Telescope group on Cloudy Nights and have done many telescope restorations. There is also a Cave telescope and mirror registry and I would like to document and add this telescope to it, if it's not on there already, with the owner's permission. If they decide to replace it, I can also help them sell it in a proper venue and avoid scams and ripoffs. I'll send you my cell number off-list if you think they would be interested in my help. -Chuck On Fri, May 1, 2015 at 5:32 PM, Seth Jarvis <SJarvis@slco.org> wrote:

I was recently contacted by a Salt Lake County resident about an observatory with a telescope in it that was part of the back yard of a home they'd recently bought. They had no idea what the telescope was or what condition it was in, but now have a child at the age that having a nice home observatory could be a good thing.

I visited with them today and found in their back yard a two-story dome of ~10' in diameter, within which was housed a 12.5" F/8 Cave "Observatory Reflector" on a massive EQ mount attached to an even more massive concrete pillar. Looks like early 1970's equipment.

It's been under a plastic tarp for what looks like 30 years. Electric drives but nothing digital, and the primary mirror is very dusty and somewhat out of alignment with the secondary.

The dome is in need of a lot of work by someone who can handle carpentry and re-rigging the cables that control the sliding panels that expose the telescope to the sky.

The OTA is in good shape.

Do any on you know who might be able to handle giving the primary mirror a good cleaning?

Most importantly, who might this homeowner contact about sorting out the 40 year-old motor drive system?

They need to get a handle on the costs and time they're looking at to determine if bringing this instrument back into working order would be better than getting rid of it and installing a more modern go-to instrument like a C14 or a Meade 16.

Comments or suggestions?

Thanks,

Seth Jarvis _______________________________________________