Operations Details Page

Winer Observatory Sonoita Facility Operations Details

For each of the photos below, click on the photo for a larger version of the image.

Safety Equipment

Robotic observatories are inherently dangerous to humans. Aside from that, any facility needs safety equipment for the protection of the people who operate and maintain the observatory and the telescopes within it. There are two 20-lb carbon dioxide fire extinguishers, one in the shop near the control room and one upstairs in the observatory near the motor and its control electronics. We use carbon dioxide extinguishers due to all the electronic systems in use at the facility. There are also four large red buttons in the observatory, one on each wall, that stop the roof immediately when pressed.

Closeup of the Rainwise Weather Station

Robotic observatories require accurate, reliable weather data. Rainwise generously donated a WS-2000 weather station that obtains its power from a solar panel (to charge an internal battery) and that trasmits the data over a 419 MHz radio link instead of a wire. It has worked reliably day-in, day-out for years, and has survived numerous nearby lightning strikes.

2-Ton Chain Hoist

A working observatory needs a number of tools to support its operations. One of these is an overhead crane or hoist to lift crated items delivered from trucks at our rear gate (that is at semi-trailer height) to the appropriate spot on the observatory floor. At that point, the crate can be dismantled without disrupting ongoing operations, and the contents can be lifted into place. The hoist rides on a dolly that slides east-west on an I-beam spanning the entire roof width, and moving the roof using the manual controls (including a Jog button) covers the north-south axis.

GPS Antenna for System Time

Accurate system time is important for both robotic observatories and telescopes. An error of only one second of time is 15 arc seconds on the sky in potential pointing error. Relying only on Internet time updates at a remote site such as ours could leave your telescope observing the inside of our roof during daylight hours. Furthermore, we would not want to open our roof during the daytime, exposing your telescope to the full fury of the midday sun, then fail to open the roof at night. The Air Force Global Positioning System (GPS) can provide time accurate to 0.5 microsecond.

Cable Trough Covers

When the observatory slab was poured, metal forms were placed in the slab to produce cable troughs in the concrete. The forms were shaped to have a shoulder for a cover plate. During the summer of 2001, Greg Peisert of the Miami Valley Astronomical Society assisted our Director in producing and installing metal cable trough covers formed of 1/8-inch diamond plate steel with a "ladder" of 3/4-inch square steel tubing welded to the underside to add stiffness.

Cable Trough with A Cover Removed

A cover is shown removed to indicate the generous size of the Winer cable troughs, which have adequate capacity to supply all telescope piers.

Cleaning Telescope Optics with CO2 Snow

Each month, Winer staff clean the exposed optics of all telescopes in our Observatory using CO2 snow generated using aparatus purchased from Richard R. Zito Corporation of Tucson, AZ, the leading supplier of such equipment to the world's top observatories (Keck, IRTF, Gemini, etc.). The monthly period was chosen based on a paper presented at the August 2002 SPIE conference in Kona, HI.

Last modified: January 1, 2008.

	Safety Equipment Robotic observatories are inherently dangerous to humans. Aside from that, any facility needs safety equipment for the protection of the people who operate and maintain the observatory and the telescopes within it. There are two 20-lb carbon dioxide fire extinguishers, one in the shop near the control room and one upstairs in the observatory near the motor and its control electronics. We use carbon dioxide extinguishers due to all the electronic systems in use at the facility. There are also four large red buttons in the observatory, one on each wall, that stop the roof immediately when pressed.
	Closeup of the Rainwise Weather Station Robotic observatories require accurate, reliable weather data. Rainwise generously donated a WS-2000 weather station that obtains its power from a solar panel (to charge an internal battery) and that trasmits the data over a 419 MHz radio link instead of a wire. It has worked reliably day-in, day-out for years, and has survived numerous nearby lightning strikes.
	2-Ton Chain Hoist A working observatory needs a number of tools to support its operations. One of these is an overhead crane or hoist to lift crated items delivered from trucks at our rear gate (that is at semi-trailer height) to the appropriate spot on the observatory floor. At that point, the crate can be dismantled without disrupting ongoing operations, and the contents can be lifted into place. The hoist rides on a dolly that slides east-west on an I-beam spanning the entire roof width, and moving the roof using the manual controls (including a Jog button) covers the north-south axis.
	GPS Antenna for System Time Accurate system time is important for both robotic observatories and telescopes. An error of only one second of time is 15 arc seconds on the sky in potential pointing error. Relying only on Internet time updates at a remote site such as ours could leave your telescope observing the inside of our roof during daylight hours. Furthermore, we would not want to open our roof during the daytime, exposing your telescope to the full fury of the midday sun, then fail to open the roof at night. The Air Force Global Positioning System (GPS) can provide time accurate to 0.5 microsecond.
	Cable Trough Covers When the observatory slab was poured, metal forms were placed in the slab to produce cable troughs in the concrete. The forms were shaped to have a shoulder for a cover plate. During the summer of 2001, Greg Peisert of the Miami Valley Astronomical Society assisted our Director in producing and installing metal cable trough covers formed of 1/8-inch diamond plate steel with a "ladder" of 3/4-inch square steel tubing welded to the underside to add stiffness.
	Cable Trough with A Cover Removed A cover is shown removed to indicate the generous size of the Winer cable troughs, which have adequate capacity to supply all telescope piers.
	Cleaning Telescope Optics with CO2 Snow Each month, Winer staff clean the exposed optics of all telescopes in our Observatory using CO2 snow generated using aparatus purchased from Richard R. Zito Corporation of Tucson, AZ, the leading supplier of such equipment to the world's top observatories (Keck, IRTF, Gemini, etc.). The monthly period was chosen based on a paper presented at the August 2002 SPIE conference in Kona, HI.