Soil and sod are ordered for my next day off so the landscaping will get done that day. Next, I need to build the frame of the observatory and mount the telescope (probably on the tripod) so I can confirm the size of big enough and to determine what height the pier needs to be cut to. The current length is suitable for using a refractor or Schmidt-Cassegrain (high, in other words) but since my 10″ Newtonian needs a much lower pier to minimize the height of the building, I’ll need to cut a section off the pier to accommodate the new telescope.
There’s two options for the pier – one is the adapter plate from the Skywatcher Pier extension on my tripod, which appears to be the same diameter as my existing pier (but may have thinner walls) and the other is re-use the existing brake rotor based pier adapter, which will need to be cut off the current pier in any case and potentially, re-welded to the lowered pier.
