Wishing Star Observatory

00,00,00 N 00,00,00 W

Pekin, Illinois 61554

Construction of Wishing Star began in October 2009 after a year of planning, scraping plans and starting over. It is not finished as of this writing, but the journey down that road continues.

Wishing Star received its name because this observatory is the fulfillment of a dream that I have had for many years. As a ten year old boy I received my first telescope as a birthday present. The small refractor was just enough of a telescope to make this space happy kid want more.

After many years a much, much older kid (grey hair and all) once more acquired a much better telescope and discovered that the old fascination with star gazing was still there. As the evenings passed gazing on nebulas, clusters and planets the inevitable winter weather arrived with its crystal clear skies - but also with its very cold upper mid-west weather.

Around the time of this first winter with my telescope, I became aware of the burgeoning hobby of astrophotography. Since I had been a very serious photographer for many years the idea of joining these two loves was just too much to ignore. This was also the same time that digital photography was making serious inroads into photographic circles, quickly eclipsing the use of film for astrophotography.

My darkroom had sat unused for a couple years as I finished a couple degrees at Bradley University, one in photography and one in Ceramics. By the time I had my sheepskins in my hand digital was firmly established as the photographic method on the future and my unused darkroom became a monument to old technology. There has to be some social statement about living through the technological advances we have seen in the past twenty years, but it is not the purpose of this thesis. Suffice it to say that I built a fabulously equipped darkroom to spend my retirement in, went back to school to hone my skills, and graduated obsolete.

I was ready for something that would not change - the stars seem pretty stable...ya, I know, - anyway,

So here I am, this highly educated, trained, experienced photographer (got the diploma to prove it) who loves to star gaze, who has lots of photographic equipment, a real nice darkroom - with an outside door and room for expansion of my workshop.

Hummm.... a little concrete,  a little wood, a little steel, got a box of V groove wheels and I just could have a real observatory to get my fanny out of the cold and still be able to use my telescope.

The concept of Wishing Star Observatory is born.

Equipment Planing the Build Astrophotography