Built on the property's 50 wooded acres is a 9,025-square-foot Palladian-style estate, with an inlaid compass rose in the entry, five man caves and its own rotating observatory and telescope.

After removing the observatory dome shutter, sheet metal workers, including supervisor Kevin Holappa (left), lower it to the ground at the home of former UMD planetarium director Glenn Langhorst ...

With unnerving precision and skill, the three-ton steel dome was lowered into place and anchored to the masonry. With its aluminized coating to prevent corrosion, this new shelter now sits atop ...