Introduction

I, like many of you who are reading this, have spent many long hours at the eyepiece of a telescope. As my astronomy interests turned more serious, I began to spend very long sessions at the Peoria Astronomical Society's wonderful observatory. It was, however 35 miles from my home, and while a nice observatory to visit, it was not a nice place to overnight, as my photometry interests required. My interest in building a remote observatory was born on a very cold night one January.

The road to building a remote, robotic observatory is a long one. I have been working on this project for about 10 years. Fortunately, you all have my experiences to guide you through the more difficult parts of the project. Do not expect to finish your observatory in 6 months. Take your time, do good work and you will be rewarded.

I urge anyone interested in building a robotic observatory to read and understand everything that I have done, and then make modifications to suit your own specific needs. If you want my opinion on any part of your project, or just need encouragement, just e-mail me and I will respond to your request.

I have tried to be accurate in all my drawing, schematics, etc. But I am sure some mistakes will surface. Let me know when you find my errors or omissions and I will correct the documentation. I can assume no liability for any damages or any other problems related to the information supplied on this WWW page.

Good luck with your observatory.

Jerry Gunn