DaveS

Not quite that bad, I hope, though I'm in some dread as to what else is lying in wait for me. Oh yes, I had to get plumbers in quickly a while back, as the booster pump for the two showers refused to shut down when the water was turned off.

Yeah, the engineer thinks it might have been a poor DIY (BIY (Bodge-it-yourself)) job. As an example, the pressure tank was installed upside down, and had no vent pipe from the pressure relief valve to the outside, so if it *had* blown, I'd have had a flood. The electrics were / are in just as parlous a state, the 45A cable to the garage comes off a bit of 2.5mm square twin-and-earth, and goes direct to a couple of sockets and a light switch, and is running loose along the ground. A new distribution board is in order. *sigh* more money....

Thanks for the reminder, yes mellons need netting support, cucumbers might wel be an idea. Possibly the greenhouse is a bit small to take a vine. Funds have taken a beating lately, as I've just had a new boiler and oil tank installed, you can just see the tank in the second photo. I hoped we could have "accidentally" killed off the palm, but I may need to take an axe to it. I'm a bit frightened about the size of the final invoice, as the engineer had to put right a complete bodgit-and-scarper job on the old boiler installation, and the roof over the boiler house and shower room was just as bad. I had the roofers in to make good where the old flue was taken out, but hey've had to replace some dodgy polythene sheeting under the tiles with the correct breathable membrane, scaffolding comes in tomorrow, then the roofers come on Tue to put back the tiles the ols roof had maybe 2 nails holding the entire roof .

Hope so. It's quite a good greenhouse, I'm looking forward to putting it to productive use. Toms, and possibly mellons.

Another quick update. I've had a landscape gardener in to quote for major garden work, he also does hard landscaping / building, so he's also going to quote for two platforms, the big one to go in later, but a small one to go here The big Bay tree next to it Will be getting a short back and sides. This platform will just have a pier and the small rig under a Telegizmos cover. Local computers and ethernet connections are already planned.

Actually, according to the map, down the road a bit (Not saying how far or what direction) the West Bexington beach car park hits 21.72, or Bortle 3 with a deep sea-horizon

Map says 21.66 and Bortle 4 where I am now. Will have to buy a SQM to check, but it does get quite usably dark, unlike Ruislip. The nearest artificial lights (Not windows) are on a farm building about 1/4 mile away, but they're only visible from my bedroom, not glaring, and not on all the time. I think the nearest streetlights are in Bridport, about 4 miles away. Unfortunately there are a lot of them!

No comparison. SQI 21.66 vs 18.6-ish in Ruislip. On Tue 31st it was clear, the Milky Way was visible as soon as I went out on the patio. Some LP visible from Bridport to the west, but not too horrendous. Main downside is the sky is not as open as I have in Ruislip. Trading quantity for quality. One reason to lose the tree.

A couple of photos of the offending tree. And closer

Quick addition. No TPO, but as it's a conservation area, I'll still need planning permission. Email I got back suggested a tree surgeon should be able to handle the paperwork.

Something to remember is the cost of filters. 1.25" aren't too bad, (Though 3nm Astrodons are ruinous in any size) but when you get to the 2" or bigger that you need for APS-H or larger the costs become crazy. Regarding resolution, the measure you need is "/px, not number of pixels, that just gives you the FoV. As an (Extreme) example the camera on the Liverpool telescope (2m f/10) has 4096x4096 15micron pixels. Even binned 2x2 it's still working at 0.30"/px. Now planning the network in my new house. Will include at least 2 external cat6 links. My next camera is likely to be one of the 16200 variants. Debating between Atik, Moravian, and SX in order of cost.

Following this with some interest as I'm planning on remote control for my (As yet in planning) obsy. I'm expecting the computers at either end to be Win7 Pro. I'm also planning to control my small rig from the conservatory as well. Hmm...two computers with two screens each in there, with remote computers at each telescope. I may be using a 55" Panasonic OLED TV for the final colour grading of my images, due to its very good gamut (They're used in pro grading suites), rather than just resolution.

To resurect this thread with some hard facts. Here is a photo of the likely area And this is looking down on it from one of my terraces. The bricks outline a 2.5m square, 2m in from the boundary, for planning reasons. Will have to enquire Re: TPO on the big tree in the west. There are planning clinics in Bridport and Dorchester, but I won't be able to make an appointment until I finally move. A 2.5 x 2.5 x 0.5 m concrete base will be shielded by the obsy from direct heat.

I have my 130mm triplet set-up on the DDM60 on a Rigel pier bolted down onto a concrete block under the patio under a Telegizmos 365 cover. The cover was £195 from The Widescreen Centre, but FLO do them now.

Oh dear. This looks like a candidate for Es to QC. At some point I'll be on the lookout for a 6"/150mm f/8 'frac for imaging. Think this one might be a write-off.

Exposure, yes I've split it with my 130 f/7, but can you hold it while showing depth on the Flame and HH? Thinking of the images posted by @ollypenrice.

Very interesting read. What I'd like to know is, will it split Alnitak in LRGB? That's a real imaging test. We know that the TEC140 will. But for imaging I'd want to put a better focuser on it, a 3.5" Feather Touch as a minimum.

Ah right, I was thinking about sealing ducts etc.

Good idea. How about those stainless steel pan scourers?

Thanks James. Yes, it was looking at your obsy build thread that put me in mind of a platform on blocks rather than one big block.

I'd probably order some ready mix, as my plans call for upward of 5 cubic metres, 2.5x4x0.5m. Gonna hold a lot of heat. I think the platform idea might be easier to get past the council planning dept, as the house is in a conservation area. Part of the situation is being able to see over some high hedges.

Just a quick post to show that it's not dead yet. I'm thinking that a big concrete platform will hold too much heat, and will be too much of a job to pour, so will plan for a wooden floor on pillars, hight TBD, and a custom cast concrete pier in the form of a truncated pyramid, with ca 1m burried as a foundation. My only question is about animals using the space as a den. Maybe mske it high enough to be too open for them.

Thanks Vlaiv. Been looking at 12" / 30cm RCs. The CFF one is light enough to go on my DDM60, but the GSO RC will need a heavier mount, probably a DDM85 (I do like DDM mounts!), which is more than the cost differance. In either case I'd be looking at a FT focuser.

I've been looking at their RCs and asking myself if I can justify the cost difference between CFF and GSO.

http://cfftelescopes.eu/reflectors/ If you want an f/20 classical cass.