OHIO UNIVERSITY OBSERVATORY OPENS TO THE PUBLIC

The anticipated observatory at Ohio University (OU) in Athens opened to the public last Saturday, May 6th with an evening grand opening ceremony at The Ridges Auditorium. According to an article on ohio-forum.com, the observatory has been under construction since 2016 and houses a “10-inch Fecker telescope in a 22-foot-diameter Ash dome, as well as a utility building and outdoor observation pad for portable telescopes.” According to the OU physics department, the observatory will provide ready access for students and the Athens community to experience astronomy away from sources of light pollution.

A quote from the OU Forum website states:

“’The new facility will significantly increase the prominence of astronomy at the university and in the community,’ says Dr. Joseph Shields, Vice-President for Research and Professor of Astronomy. ‘We’re thrilled to enhance our formal and informal educational programming about the cosmos.’”

Dr. Joseph Shields

With the collaboration of BDT, structural engineers from SMBH, and OU’s Architecture, Design & Construction, the observatory went from concept to execution. BDT designed the the 22 foot diameter dome base surrounding the telescope as well as the storage shed next to the observatory to house supplies.  SMBH provided structural engineering and marked up BDT’s building envelope drawings. According to one of the SMBH engineers involved in the observatory project, together “we detailed a fairly large concrete pier to support the refurbished telescope. There is a small circular structure that surrounds the telescope. It has a pre-fabricated dome with an operable opening to allow the telescope to point into the night sky. There was some coordination required to ensure the site built structure would be compatible with the pre-fabricated rotating dome.” The contractor used a monolithic pour method for the concrete slab around the telescope pedestal. The pedestal is not attached to the slab; it has a ½” border around it so that it is isolated from the floor to reduce vibration

Ohio University’s Architecture Design & Construction got things underway by acquiring the prefabricated dome that would sit atop of the bent-plywood sheathed base designed by BDT. Based on meeting a target completion date, the order to Ash Dome had to be placed prior to designing the structure. Once design was complete, building the base ahead of the domes arrival became a construction  challenge. Since the dome would arrive on site just as the base was completed, the diameter of the two components had to match with little room for error. Otherwise the rotating dome wouldn’t move as effortlessly as it did at the Opening.

The new observatory is located at The Ridges in Athens between the Konneker Research Lab and the water tower. Please see below for some awesome images and captions provided by Doug Shafer and Jean Andrews of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Ohio University. The images and captions really take you through the process of what was accomplished during this project. We at BDT are very proud to have been a part of making this contribution to the Athens community.

Now that the observatory is open for public use, there are public Telescope Nights scheduled throughout the summer.

Have you been to the OU Observatory? Let us know what you think!