[gregbradley]

I plan to start construction on a new observatory soon.

I was wondering what to consider with it. The observatory I built at my dark site is simply an 8 inch 5mm thick walled steel tube bedded in concrete after I dug an 800mm hole.

Then I put pavers around the pier and made a pine frame and colorbond
cladded room. The roof is flat and rolls off on 2x 100mm zincalume steel channels with a frame to support it.

I was wondering if I should do a concrete slab with the pier section separated with an expansion joint and make the centre section that will be holding the pier about 1 cubic metre of concrete for strength.

If you used a concrete slab would that create thermal issues as the slab cools off after dark? And if so is it better then to use pavers?

Greg.