BigMisterP

On 20/03/2019 at 21:36, souls33k3r said:

Hi All,

I'm getting super serious about putting a pier in the garden, yes just the pier and no shed structure around it.

I have two concerns;

1) My back garden is exposed to the back street so i can not leave my kit out under the covers all the time but i can potentially leave the mount head if clear nights are in succession. How do you (if you have an exposed garden like mine) cover your mount so it doesn't look obvious as to what is underneath it

2) Got to keep the wife happy. So rather than a metal tube sticking out in the middle of the garden which will take up the kids playing area, what can be done to make it part of the garden and looks not out of place (maybe this might tie in with the concern above).

Examples by a way of pictures would be super helpful.

Thanks in advance.

shower tent? 30 quid, on a lawn, in garden with trees, and green - to blue, fairy unobtrusive.

Put that over the 365 cover.

Plus a couple fo LogiCircle cameras, already present to cover the garden, but, synchronicity, also looking over the pier, and another under the covers

6 hours ago, Gina said:

The plastic grids are doing a good job even though the ground isn't very level.

I have some, they can get slippy tho'

On 21/07/2016 at 15:50, Gina said:

ATM I have no proper path from my house to observatory.  I've looked at various ideas and had planned to cart gravel from a heap in the yard round past the house and garage to make a path to my observatory that wouldn't be a quagmire in wet weather.  Currently, there is just grass on top of clay soil that doesn't drain very well.  That idea was all very well but I now feel it might be a bit much for me.  I guess something to stop weeds growing up through any sort of path will be required and I gather a sort of plastic mesh will allow drainage but stop weeds.

I don't know if there's any getting away from digging the turf out - I'm not a gardener though I have watched the odd gardening programme on TV.  I'm really looking for ideas that could reduce the amount of physical work involved.  Would paving stones work?  Or would they be too slippery in the winter?  Is there anything that would provide a safe walkway that I can use in the forthcoming winter nights?  I could provide lighting.  As for cost, a couple of hundred pounds would be alright, or possibly more to help me safely carry out my astrophotography.

Oh - and the distance is around 15 metres on pretty much level ground (that's why it floods).

how about the rubber grids that you can get, rather than plastic, set an ground level, and let the grass grow through

fair unobtrusive, you can run the lawn mower over as well to see lawn looking good

Paving stone often, in my experience in central belt, get a moss which gets slipped - products to clean usually are not life enhancing for grass.

While you are doing, how about digging down, at least under the patch, and put drainage in? it may help generally.

I go north - Orkney has plenty of places

On 04/03/2020 at 14:52, wimvb said:

Thanks, @RAR_MI_USA.

The roofs are operated by one winch each, 12 V, 2000 lbs. The East roof will slide down on its own accord, but the West roof doesn't run as smooth, and needs help opening. During summer recess, I'll need to check that. I'll probably install rails and V groove wheels to make it smoother. In the future I may install an electric fence system to automate the roofs. 

Just to confirm,

The winch will let the cable down, but, the roof may need manual "assistance"to open?

But, closing is fine as the winch deals with it.

Do you have sensors to stop to winch pulling too far, or did you just measure what you needed.

I have limited, albeit not recent, experience with imaging.

An existing fixed pier is available, as are a number of OTAs including Celestron C8 SCT and Skywatcher 10" newtonian, as are CGEM-DX (tuned by DarkFrame) and an AVX.

This is a pre-retirement purchase, so, I am looking for something I will not need to consider upgrading in the reasonable far future.

An observatory is in planing stages, well, I am comparing dome vs ROR, with a preference for the latter.

I have a budget that would allow purchase of the iOptron CEM120 C2

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ioptron-mounts/ioptron-cem120-ec2-center-balanced-equatorial-goto-mount-with-ra-and-dec-encoders.html

Am looking for equivalents, or better, in the price range.

I'm going to stick with my Equinox ED80 Pro - not seeing anything here that convinces me otherwise...

yet

Do yourself a favour - 

listen to these with ratings Main Sequence level and above, they have years of experience with a wide range of equipment, and really know what they are talking about..

On 03/01/2020 at 21:30, FLO said:

Also found this poster of the new Sky-Watcher Evolux 82ED 🙂 

 

I have to ask

Praised by who, if no-one knows anything about it?:P

Although, the English is a bit flaky...

but I want one