Here are the details of building my backyard roll off roof observatory to permanently house my telescopes. I can be ready in minutes to start taking images.
I’m hoping to get more of the interior finished this summer, I’ve started on the walkways to the door, and to my new shed. The roof motor is working great! a video of the roof opening. The roof motor is from Backyard Observatories.
This is a pictorial history of the construction of the roll off roof observatory. I’ve wanted to build something like this for a very long time! It was very exciting to get to working on it.
The observatory is in Shingle Springs, which is about 30 miles east of Sacramento, California, up in the foothills at an elevation of 1,650 feet.
If you have any questions on the building details, use the Contact Me page and I’ll see if I can answer your questions.
Many thanks to my neighbor for being kind enough to turn his porch lights off while I take pictures!

Old Pad and Trees
This is the old newtonian mount pad, and two Locust trees, that spray sap all summer (not good for expensive optics), drop thorny twigs (not good for my dog’s feet), and block the view to the south.

The Pier Hole
Approximately 24″ x 24″ by 44″ deep. I’d almost reached my target depth when I hit a huge rock covering the entire bottom on the hole, so the whole thing is sitting on the rock now.
Cut down trees
Several problems solved