Installation and Operational Notes
This is the largest telescope I’ve ever owned—and I’ve never personally touched it. It lives at Obstech’s Observatorio El Sauce in the Atacama desert in Chile (one of the premier astronomical observing locations in the world). It was manufactured in Michigan by Planewave and shipped directly to Obstech in the southern hemisphere. The excellent team at Sea West Observatories installed it on site—and all that has been a real adventure.
Sea West completed installation and commissioning on July 13, 2026 and handed it off to me. I got about three hours of data that night and then the storm of the century blew into the west coast of South America, washed out the roads to the observatory, and took down power, water, and internet access. The observatory didn’t come back online until September 4, 2026.
Once everything came back up, I had the job of learning how to operate a completely new mount. After a few bumps in that road, I’ve really warmed to Planewave’s mount operations. I love the fact that with an alt-az mount on a wedge, there is no longer a meridian flip to worry about. The tracking has been very good. Slewing and plate-solving is very efficient. Overall, I’d give that gear and the installation an A+.
I also love having the Moravian C5-150 camera on that rig. Even though the focal length is almost four meters, the expansive sensor on that camera provides a large field of view that the optics seem to support very well.
I hope my efforts can live up to the names engraved on the gear I have procured. You can be the judge.