Limerick Astronomy Club

Dave and I were chatting today about the, ....well,
'non viability' of a club observatory.
The drawbacks out weighed the benifits as far as we could tell.
We did however think an 'observing grounds' with concrete area
and telescope pillars was a good idea.
Something along these lines:



The benifits are huge.
A solid ground.
Piers pre set so all you need bring is your OTA.
(no lugging tripods)
Groundings could be set in the concrete around a pier for
removable wind breakers.
safe observing / no tripping over or bumping into others gear.
The list go's on...

Thats basically what my club here has. We have a club house but no observatory. We have a couple of concrete slabs facing directly north/ south with a few electrical power points on each.

http://www.mpas.asn.au/_astro/gallery2/ ... temId=2710

its definitely the way to go, far more feasible then an observatory which is not going to happen given security, dewing and power issues.
Getting a suitable site is the key. I have a few ideas on that and dont want to mention them publically yet.