The following photo was made on (April 25th 1993) when Debbie and I made a trip to Bird Mountain Observatory, located in Landrum, SC.

The primary telescope in the dome is a 7-inch Astro-Physics refractor. The observatory has a meeting room, with a handicap ramp to access the telescope, and full living accommodations.

However today (April 15th 2025) I would “by-chance” see a photo online of the now deserted observatory and from 2009!

April 27th 1993: Debbie is sitting in front of an enlarged photo of the Veil Nebula East, using film. The telescope that was used for the photo was a Takahashi Epsilon 180 astrograph f/2.8 telescope.

For comparison to the “film photo” behind the couch: My pencil sketch of the Veil Nebula East from my suburban backyard, using a 10-inch Newtonian. This is one of my favorite deep-sky objects!

An update from yesterday: April 16th 2025

When Debbie, myself and Sophie drove to the entrance of the Bird Mountain Observatory we found the locked gate, but despite the locked gate, we had a fun day.

Leaving Observatory Road: April 16th 2025

The three of us still had fun, doing and seeing other things in and around the towns of Tryon, Saluda and Landrum: April 16th 2025