Yesterday, we felled a large red oak tree that was blocking our view of Polaris from the outside pier. (If you can’t see the North Star then it becomes very, very difficult to align your telescope for imaging.) Since the observatory was built in the 1970s and 1980s a lot of trees have grown a lot taller, and we’ve had to cut or trim several of them. This one apparently sprouted in 1940, by my count. Fortunately, one of our members heats his house with wood, and burned about 7 cords last winter. This tree is not even one cord.

The very first picture was taken just as the tree began toppling. I have a video of the tree falling and crashing, but WordPress doesn’t allow movies.

Timber!!!