Bukko

Thanks all for the interest...

Tony, the planning requirement was highlighted by the estate agent handling the house, so I made getting permission part of the purchase requirement. France is totally different to the UK and being in the middle of nowhere "surrounded" by farms, my little project was simple. The only stipulation from the local mayor was I needed to form an astronomy club...

There is a lot of local interest, the track behind my house is used by locals taking a short cut and they often stop to talk... Such a challenge, as my French is about remedial GCSE level and they talk so fast here!!

When I get some time later, I will post some more pix...

Gordon

1 minute ago, JamesF said:

I'm intrigued to see what they look like with the wrapping off

James

They look nice...

And big....

Quite an upgrade from a Skyshed, for sure!!!

More pix to follow...

Gordon

Catching up with the timeline now...

Exciting day, the two domes were delivered from the factory in Poland. The driver said it took 20 hours of driving to get here so glad I did not decide to collect them myself !!

One of my friendly neighbours has his tractor with a forklift attachment and it cost me a bottle of single malt to have him come round and unload for me. A bargain, for sure.

Shocked at the size of the pallets, we used some scaffold planks to extend his forks to lift them off. I am sure we were a straw away from it failing, but we got away with it and now they are ready for the build to continue...

Gordon.

I also remember the great "Creme de Menthe" sketch from Mr. Connolly - they really don't make comedians like him anymore..

Frogbite is a new one on me, though, there was many others in my younger daye of the late 70's... Cocktails for beer drinkerss, I think... Mine was a Rum and Black, with a pint of bitter and lime... Oh, those were the days...

Anyway, catching up a little more with the build, I am aware the Scopedomes really need a flat and level base to work from, so after a lot of effort to make sure the bricks were really flat and level, I painted the structure white. The bricks inside the bases are for a raised floor.

The pictures show the southerly views available and the last one was a trial fit of my OO VX12 on the NEQ6. A final check the height will be OK before the domes arrive... And yes, the pier has one of those rats nests. When the pier was built some years ago, the need of the NEQ6 to secure it through the centre bolt forced the move. But it is secured as short as possible and has never been a source of instability. And yes, the pier will be levelled when it is finally bolted and grouted down..

My reasoning for levelling will be to make sure the weight loading goes directly down the pier, rather than required for PA...

1 minute ago, Gina said:

You have green beer in SW France???  Or is it lime juice?

Haha no, not in France. I was working in Singapore and my hosts invited me out for a meal and they served a special beer they make, which uses seaweed.. The taste is pretty much the same as regular beer, but its green. I think the place is called Red Balloon and there are a couple of them on the island.

Gordon

Just now, Gina said:

Hope you haven't forgotten the entrance doorway!

No worrys Gina, the Scopedome has a door...

4 minutes ago, JamesF said:

I'm intrigued to see how you get inside it now

James

The plan is to use the scopes inside for imaging, remotely from the warm room, with little need to enter.... Its a plan and if I can avoid fitting steps, then it makes another barrier for any tea leaf...

17 minutes ago, Gina said:

Looks great - coming on nicely ?   I could have done with a digger too when I built my observatory and we too have clay 20-30cm below ground level.

You are lucky - 20-30cm to find clay... Mine starts from the surface and seems to go all the way to the centre of the earth..

So... The higher off the ground we can mount the scope the better. We get away from the humidity and atmospheric disturbances present. However, the higher we go, the more difficult to keep everything rigid.

I was allowed up to 3.5m off the ground in the planning consent, so wanted to do the best I could.

I went through lots of ideas on what type of buulding to use, the roll-off roofs, even a simple cover. But I am on th etop of a small hill and the wind is pretty high, so I decided a dome was best to give shelter. Then which dome? 

I had previously had a Skyshed Pod, but with a 12" Newt, the space was extremely cramped. Something bigger was needed and of the alternatives (such as the Baader clamshell.. too expensive and still suffer in the wind; the 2.7m Pulsar or the 3m Scopedome. In the end, the Scopedome won out, it was not much more expensive than the Pulsar, but included a bigger shutter and really well thought out control system. 

It also made it easier to build a support wall and look good when done. I sketched out the full height Pulsar with an additional wall and it didn't look right.

In France, they sell big bricks. I got some at 50cm long, 30cm high and 20cm deep. They are hollow so keeping the thermal mass a bit lower and being so big, it is quick to put together. Every brick needed to be cut and it takes 18 per layer.

They also work out perfect for the Scopedome base ring, not too big, not too small. The top layer looked like a home for wildlife, so needed sealing....

We needed to dig something like 50m of trenches for cabling. French rules pushes it a bit too deep for hand tools, especially as it is clay...

The little digger was great, but there was such a mess to re-level afterwards. I managed to get some bird food (I mean grass seed) down, so the ground is recoving now.

These pictures are a couple of months old now, so I am catching up...

Gordon.

2 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Looking very nice so far.  I love the cab on the digger, too

James

Thanks, James, The builder owns it and when he left the site, he took the keys with him !!

It was really useful, as we needed to clear quite a bit of ground. The warm room base is 4m by 4m and the domes are around 2.9m diameter each, plus the separate pier bases. We also ran underground cables for the power and ethernet to the house, so trench digging is a breeze.

But restoring the land afterwards has been so much hard work!!

The warm room built really easy, but bad weather (cold) stopped the roof tiles being fitted until more recently. I also needed to put a second coat of wood protection on before heavy rain hit.

All the ground is on clay and water does drain well, so gravelling the area helped make it good to walk on, as well as a small path just in case heavy rain waterlogs the site. I got a little weather station to help monitor air conditions, especially the humidity reading!! All in French, I have another incentive to keep my head down and study...

I wanted a warm room plus, if I have to form a club, somewhere to host a few people.

I found a local supplier of garden rooms and got it delivered. About 4m wide and 3m deep, plus an overhang to keep the rain out. Once the concrete base had hardened, I started on a raised floor. Then for my buuilder buddy back to put the thing together.

It took a lot of thinking how to prepare the base for the domes, in the end, I made up a jig for a quarter circle and formed the shuttering by laminating two sheets of thin plywood and joined them into a circle.

The pier base was poured earlier and I used some polystyrene sheets to isolate it from the rest of the footings. It just needed careful pouring so the polystyrene didn't get damaged too much. I also ran power and data cables back to the house and between the dome bases.

One thing that kept me motivated over the last few years I was working was my plan to find darker skies and build a proper observatory. Near the New Forest, I suffered from a lot of light pollution, from Southampton to my North and a huge petrochemical facility to the South

The whole retirement plan started when I turned 50, with the intention of retiring before my 60th birthday, so with that in mind, what to do and where to go started a decade long project to retire. Mrs Bukko and myself have ended up in SW France with a house surrounded by woodland and fields and wonderful views of the night skies.

My last working period finished last year, at the end of June and we sold up our UK home and moved to France. I needed planning permission from the local Mayor for the build and had to promise to form an Astronomy club when all is working. We got a British builder involved and have been constructing since last November.

Now, my last project was in Singapore and Mrs. Bukko agreed I could spend all my ill gotten gains from the project on myself. The project in Singapore ran on longer than expected, so I did better than planned.

Here is the first of a few pictures showing us clearing the land and putting down the concrete bases.

The really nice UPS driver dropped these off last night...

Just need the scope, mount, camera, OAG and filter wheel to go with them. Oh, and somewhere to house the whole lot. Still, need to start somewhere...

Could not get a Chroma Ha filter, so had to go with an Astrodon, otherwise wait forever I think.. Hopefully it will be more-or-less parfocal otherwise there might be one going cheap someday

Gordon

I have replaced most of the original focusers on my scopes; the older 2" OO focuser with a Feathertouch, the 60mm Lunt with another Feathertouch and lastly my SW Equinox 80 with a Moonlite.

I really wanted to fit another FT, but the focuser would cost the same as the scope, so I hesitated. I would have liked the Steeltrack, but at the time, they were not available. FLO offered a Moonlite with the right Equinox adapter, so I bought it.

Firstly, compared to all the others, the Moonllite is heavy. On the Equinox, it has pushed the CofG back so far, I struggle to mount it now, without placing extra weights on the scope. It is certainly well engineered, but lacks the finesse of the FT. (But then it's half the price)

With a 2" diagonal and big EP, it tends to slip a bit. The locking screw is up against the dovetail, where the CofG is so far back... I have considered going back, but the Moonlite is smooth in operation and still a lot better than the original, so a mixed review from me..

If anyone is interested in the Feathertouch, here is a link to the patent. http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US6069754 It is clever, a subtle variation of the steeltrack, but the same principle, you should find out all you need to know about the brake.

Olly, I agree with your opinion of Crayfords for imaging, especially once a significant load is applied (Corrector, OAG, filter wheel and cooled CCD is a LOT of weight). Both my FT's are Crayford's, but as you say, well engineered is the key. And I know you are not anti - Crayford design, as, basically, your favourite mount is just a big version of the same principle !!

Gordon.

Hi, James,

I have just taken a look at my OO VX rings.

They do not have radius bars fitted as standard; if I remember correctly, these rings are normally part of the Dob mount and I had to ask for the radius bars. (It was all done in conversation with OO, so I knew exactly what I needed)

Anyay, I then marired the rinds and radius bars to an Altair Astro Losamdy bar and did not need to line the rings with anything. They are a few turns short of fully tight and the OTA is going nowhere.

Would I mount this on an HEQ5? probably not. I have the 12" version and needed 3 counterweights and the extension bar on an NEQ6 to take it, so would expect the 10" to be overloading the 5, but nicely inside the 6's capability..

MIne also lives on a pier and would not be keen to try it on the tripod, but a 10" woudl probably be OK, especially as you use the "Imaging" word...

Anyway, last time I looked, the price difference between the 5 and 6 was not so great, considering the cost of the iaging equipment likely to go on it. The only issue is the added weight of the NEQ6 if portabiity is a consideration.

(The NEQ6 is "Luggable", rather than portable.

But good luck with your choices.

Gordon.

Hello, Dave,

I used to have an LX90; it was pretty fair holding objects, say, 250x magnification, it would take quite a while to drift out. But it still drifted.

You didn't say how much drift you are experiencing; is it slight (trying to image and getting dashes) or does it drift out of an EP FOV in quick order?

Having also mounted it on the Meade wedge, I wonder if your drift is because it thinks it is so mounted?

Possibly expecting too much from the mount?

HTH

Gordon.

Bad news on the car, good news on the book.

Read the book, leave it for a few weeks, then read it again. Spend time, not money working out what you want to do, then, when you are ready, you can move forward.

Depending on what you want to image and how well you want to do it will set your limits. As most agree, the mount is the key and if you can work out what will be a good system for your needs, aim your purchasing for that goal..

But, if it really clicks with you, expect your needs, wishes and aspirations to evolve.

But be warned... I have a workmate who owns a horse and he now thinks Astronomy is almost as big a money pit...

Good luck with the car and the book !!

Gordon.

Hi, Carl,

can I offer another idea...?

You have a Canon EOS5D, with a 120-300mm zoom.

It is easy to get an adapter to use the 5D as an imaging camera, but as you say, this is a heavy camera and I would not want to hang it on the focuser off a small scope.

The 120-300 mm FL willlet you image some of the larger DSO;s, such as M31 Andromeda galaxy, M42 in Orion and many more. If your interest is to develop imaging and DSO's in particular, I woudl suggest spending your budget on the mount. A short dovetail and a 1/4" UNC/Whitworth screw gets you locked onto the mount with what you have.

Then you could practice controlling the mount, polar aligning and the better you get, the longer the exposures can be.

You can then include image aligning and stacking as well as dark and flat field correction. Get all the essentials sorted out before actually investing in a 'scope.

This will get you some experience with DSO imaging. When you get to the point where you are frustrated in not being able to chase after the more challenging targets, you will have a much better idea what you need and will hopefluuy have saved up enough for an OTA for the mount.

FLO have a Skywatcher EQ5 PRO Synscan on offer for £515.00 Yes, just above your budget but would cope with an 80mm Apo refractor and your camera with ease. I know it's GOTO, but it will help you get round the skies and with DSO's, many are really faint and really difficult to find without a lot of experience.

Anyway, just my thoughts...

Gordon.

Hi, Jesper,

I think SX mean that the electronic noise os so low that darks are not needed. My SBIG uses the Kodak CCD and the noise is a lot higher, so darks have been required from new. I guess this will be true for all the 8300 chip based cameras.

My saviour is the integraded shutter, allowing me to automate the darks and have the software do automatic dark subtractions.

I no longer really notice the problem.

I got a Lodestar last week for guiding and the noise from the Sony CCD is certainly a lot lower than my SBIG. I am sure SX will be pretty straight with you, but will probably want to investigate the hot pixel/column. Possibly their definition of a column defet is different to SBIG's.

Yes, I have also seen the $9k cameras, they will have to wait 'till I retire and cash in my pension plans, I think.

Good luck with SX.

Gordon.

Hi, Jessun,

that looks just like a defect I got on my SBIG ST8300. Mine was lower and about a third in from the left.

Mine developed at about 6 months old.

I emailed a cropped section of the image to SMIG and they checked it.

It turned out it was a single hot pixel, about 75% on. The column was an artefact from this single pixel (Note the lines does not go to the top)

So no warranty.

I asked if it was anything I had done - cooling, heating up, knocked it ? They had no answer to explain it, just one of those things.

Good luck with SX, maybe they will have a different view of this than SBIG did.

Gordon.