Dome Installation - February 9, 2001

At last the dome is safely in place! The Gifford once more looks like an Observatory. At 7am on Friday 9th February 2001, a typically calm Wellington morning, the new, 4.8m diameter fibreglass Astrodomes dome took flight under the skillful hands of Helipro. Less than 10 minutes later it was happily nestled into it's final home, perfectly fitting onto the ring that the lads had spent so long ensuring was level and circular.

The highly professional people from Helipro did a fine job and made the whole process look pathetically simple. Those watching were more than a little apprehensive as the lift started but the dome flew level and steady all the way with only slight movement in the fairly crude temporary internal bracing.

Once in place it rotated easily, much more easily than the original, much heavier, dome ever had.

There remains a great deal to do including attaching the back of the dome and the shutter (brought up by hand last Tuesday), hooking up the drive (rotation and shutter) motors, finishing of the internal constructions and the external painting. But, it now looks like a real observatory again and that is very satisfying to those who saw it last used in the late 1970s.