The idea for the Union Hill Observatory first came about in 1998, after I took delivery of a Meade 10” LX200 telescope. The LX200 is a computer controlled “go to” telescope on a rock solid mount. It’s also big and heavy, add some accessories like a camera and electric focuser and it can be a bear to set up. My first approach to the problem of long set up times was to put detachable castors under each tripod leg; I could wheel the scope out of my garage, remove the castors and be set up in about 15 minutes.The addition of a  equatorial mount made the castor idea pretty much unworkable, mainly because of the length of time it took to polar align (align to the Earth's N/S axis) the telescope.

I started to research my options to house the telescope – a classic observatory dome, a roll off roof or a dog house, and decided that I really wanted something that would blend into the garden my wife and I were developing. The ability to blend in to the garden pretty much settled it, the observatory should look as much as possible like a standard garden shed, so it would have to be a roll-off roof design. Then there was the cost, and to my surprise I found an ideal kit from a local hardware company that produced an 8x8 garden shed. All I had to do was to cut the roof supports just under the roof, install a 16 foot track (barn door rails placed upside down) and place the barn door sliding wheels under the cut off roof trusses. Now my roof slid easily off the shed and I had my perfect nightime getaway – hey it keeps me off the streets!

Then in August 2008 the telscope blew a fuse and then another. Taking the scope apart I found that one of the circuit boards controlling the declination motor (the one that makes it go east/west) had fried. Unfortunately, because of the telscope's age (10 years) there were no parts to fix it, so with some help from OPT in California I bought a new LX200, 2" bigger at 12" across. The new scope has improved optics over the old one, and those 2" translate to about a 30% bigger scope.

About the author

I'm Paul MacAree and I've been interested in astronomy ever since I can remember. For my 11^th birthday my parents bought me a 60mm refractor telescope, and for all its faults I loved it! As I got older my interest in astronomy never died, though the pressure of jobs, long commutes, and a young family, conspired to keep me away from the eyepiece.

My wife was well aware of my slumbering passion, and for my 40^th  birthday gave me a Russian made 6” Newtonian telescope. Under the light polluted skies of middle England it served well enough. About 1995 I was given the opportunity to move to the Pacific North West in the USA. The skies, compared to the ones I was used to, were amazingly dark, even from suburban locations. On a visit to the Table Mountain Star Party, I met up with members from the Squak Mountain Telescope Gang.

It’s hard to believe the difference that the Squakers made to my enjoyment of the hobby. I learned so much that first night under their easy guidance. I still go back every year to Table Mountain, and I’m now an active Squaker.

Sometime though I must have caught aperture envy, for my trusty Russian 6” was replaced by the Meade 10", and most recently upgraded to a 12" LX200 ACF.

The pictures that you see on this site have been taken by me since 2002. I’m constantly working at refining my techniques and improving the images that I take.