WWIN Observatory is owned and operated by Keith Yohn. It is located in Cabot Arkansas about 30 minutes North East of Little Rock. It was constructed over 5 days during Thanksgiving 2007.

The Observatory is a 10 x 16 foot roll-off roof structure currently housing a 10" Meade LX200GPS SCT. The building contains a 10 x 10 foot area for the telescope and a 6 x 10 foot control room with a plexiglass window. The control room is fully climate controlled and the plexiglass window allows monitoring of the telescopes movements without having to leave the comfort of the control room.

The pier and the foundation were poured separately. The pier goes 3 feet in to the ground and is reinforced with rebar except for the top 12 inches of the pier. A 1 inch gap filled with foam then separates the pier from the concrete slab to decrease vibration in the slab affecting the pier.

The observing room has a false floor that sits about 3 inches off the concrete slab. This was done to make it easier to run cables to and from the telescope and pier and keep them from being a hazard. 

The observatory has un-obstructed views to the North, East, and South. The roof rolls off to the West and therefore obstructs the Western sky. The tree line would have obstructed the Western sky regardless. Light pollution is evident to the South and South West in the direction of Little Rock. 

So, what does WWIN stand for? Well, during the planning and design of the building a diagram was created for the concrete slab. This diagram showed the orientation of the slab as well as the the location of the pier in the slab. The plans called for the pier to be offset to the South by 18 inches. Unfortunately, when the plans were drawn, the label designating North was on the wrong side of the diagram. So, instead of offsetting the pier 18 inches to the South, the pier was offset 18 inches to the North. For this reason, WWIN (Which Way Is North) was born.

Latitude / Longitude: 34° 53' 43.30" N     91° 57' 30.20" W
Elevation: 280 Feet