Albireo Observatory

Albireo Observatory is housed in a 3.5 meter diameter dome located in a wide, picturesque valley of the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia. We are at an elevation of 1120 feet with parallel ridges of 2000 feet or greater to the east and west, which are part of the Appalachian Valley and Ridge Province. And beyond the western ridges rises the Appalachian Plateau.

The observatory consists of two buildings, the dome is on a round building with an elevated interior floor, which is connected via a LAN to another, larger building about 300-feet distant. This building serves as a “warm room” with computer access, a library, and workshop space.

I am currently working to automate most functions of the observatory so it can be remotely operated. But achieving 100% remote control is not an absolute necessity since I live onsite. The main purpose of automation is to be able to control the telescopes and cameras from a classroom environment as part of an outreach program.

The main instruments for the observatory are a modified Celestron C-11 XLT 11-inch f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, and an Astro-Tech 6-inch f/9 Ritchey-Chretion Astrograph for deep sky imaging. Both instruments are mounted on an Orion HDX-110 (Skywatcher EQ-8) heavy duty equatorial mount.

Other instruments available include a Vixen ED80sf refractor, a Coronado PST solar refractor telescope, a Celestron Ultima 8 SCT with tripod for field use, and a 152mm f-8 Kepler Achromatic refractor, also for field use (at present it doesn’t have a mount or tripod capable of holding it).