Welcome to the Dry Creek View Observatory!

The purpose of this Amateur Observatory near Oak City Utah, is to introduce the budding Astronomer to the wonders of the Universe.

The page is laid out with the following tabs:

Astronomical Viewing Blog

This section gives my insights of the evenings viewings. This is a running Astronomical Blog telling what I viewed, the viewing conditions, and essentially the highlights of the evening.

Here you can see the images that have been captured. It will be broken down into "Solar System, Stars, Nebulas, Galaxies and other Celestial objects.

Observatory

An Explora-Dome Observatory showing the construction and tips telling what to do and what not to do. I will explain why I chose a dome and give the pros and cons between Domes and Roll Off Roof designs.

Here I introduce the heart of the observatory. Celestron CGE Mount, Guide Scopes, StarShoot Autoguider Camera, PHD Autoguiding software, Stellarium scope control and more.

This tab starts out with the "How To" in basic terms of setting up the scope. Here you can watch videos of how to do, "Rough Polar Align, "Precise Polar Align", Autoguiding with the Orion StarShoot Autoguider Camera, PHD Autoguiding Software and More. I have also provided PDF instructions for those late night setup sessions.

If you have any suggestions on how to improve the web site, or items you wish to have on a tutorial, please contact me by using the "Contact Us" tab at the bottom of the page. Remember no question is a silly question. I will do my best to answer the questions if I can. If you want to know about why I got into astronomy, visit the "About Me" Section.

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank my wife Jayne and her encouragement without which this project would not have been possible.

My son Brent the photographer and engineer, who encouraged me to get a "Big Lens" for his camera.

Mike my son in law who helped me in developing this web site.

Dr. J Moody for his technical advice

Enjoy and have fun.

Travis Smith

Dry Creek View Observatory