Observatory Titahi Bay Building Dome Pukerua Bay Building Dome Instruments Control KPO Home		The Building (Pukerua Bay)
		The observatory was built by Gordon in 1989 purely as a private observatory for visual observing and astrophotography. The automated observatory sort of happened by accident a few years later. In 2006 this building was dismantled for relocation in Titahi Bay. The finished building by night (click for larger view). The building has a 3m x 3m floor area on two levels. The upper level is the observatory and the lower level is a photographic darkroom. The pier sits on a base of 3 cubic metres of concrete and rises 3m through the lower floor to appear about a metre above the floor of the observatory. It is a concrete pipe filled partly with reinfored concrete and partly with sand. The sand provides some good damping characterisitics which is essential in the tall structure. View of the darkroom

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