The Anza Observatory began with a small 8 X 8 wooden
shed with a roll of roof in 1989. This housed an older
11 inch Celestron on a fork mount. The pier was made
from two 50 gallon drums welded together. It was then
buried and concreted into the ground with only one
drum above ground for the pier. The drums were then
filled with rock and concrete and a 1/4 inch steel plate
was welded on top. The steel plate was drilled to fit
the C-11 wedge, this made for a very solid mount.
 
 

In 1991 the observatory had an 11 X 11 foot room addition.
This was to house the new 17 1/2 inch Dobsonian reflector.
The telescope was set on a concrete pad 6 inches below the
raised wooden floor. This was to make the scope's eyepiece
easy to reach at the zenith with only a two step ladder.

Another nice thing about this new set-up was if you wanted
to do deep sky work could roll off only the Dob's roof
and leave the C-11 covered. Or if you just wanted to do Lunar
or Planetary work you could roll off only the C-11's roof.

After 10 years with the above observatory I was able to view
nearly the entire Deep Sky data base contained in the Sky Atlas
Catalogue 2000.0 with the help of the 17 1/2 inch Dob. So it was
time for another up grade. The new Anza Observatory now has as
its primary telescope a 28 inch F/4.1 StarMaster with GOTO.
The optics are by Steve Kennedy and perform great. With this
telescope it will be possible to view every object in the NGC
catalogue and even go deeper into the great catalogues the are
on the Mega Star computer star atlas. A life time will not
suffice all the views this scope can deliver!

The instruments that round off the Observatory are the older
orange tube 14 inch f/11 Celestron upgraded with Argo-Navis
digital setting circles. This scope is mainly used for
Planetary and Lunar observations. But with the powerful
Argo-Navis computer it is able to locate any bright Deep
Sky object and give very pleasing views of these too.
 

A large pair of Vixen 20 x 125 mm Binoculars on a
heavy duty fork mount are used for sweeping the
Milky Way. In these binos you can see most if
not all of the objects in the Messier Catalogue.
They give awesome views of large objects like
The Great Galaxy M31 in Andomeda, the Double
Cluster in Perseus and The Orion Nebula just to
name a few.
 
 

Through the observatory's 17 year evolution it
has brought into view the most amazing events
that could have never been imagined! In July of 1994
it was a front row seat for the view of Comet SL-9,
Shoemaker-Levy-9 crashing it's 22 fragments into
Jupiter! Then the two Great Comets: Hyukutake and
Hale-Bopp that were both bright naked eye objects
with awesome intricate tails. So in the years to come
the observatory will be ready for the next unimaginable
events that will make are astronomical history.