Dogstar45

Hi, Do you happen to know if this Steeltrack/Mewlon 180 setup would work with a Mewlon 210? Thanks.

I bought one from Pulsar. Kudos to you for actually building one!

I did. They were there to support a board that l wheeled the concrete laden barrow across.

Finally...after a dose of Covid and what seemed like endless months of rain the dome is built. Still needs fitting out - electrics and various fittings - but should be functioning soon.

Finally bit the bullet and started mixing concrete, a ton of it. Can't tell you how relieved l was when the pier fitted spot on over the anchor bolts! Many thanks to everyone who responded to this thread with help and suggestions.

Thanks for posting that Steve, I'll be attempting to do the same!

Thank you all very much for these thoughtful replies and ideas. I am now leaning towards going with a simple flat base and trusting that whatever sealants I use will suffice. Have those of you who built a flat base had any water ingress problems? Also this would require less precision, as long as the slab is wide enough, job done! Michael - the observatory does not have a base as such - at the bottom of the wall section there's a 90 degrees bend about 75mm wide that it sits on. Jim - I was not aware of flexible plywood, thanks. That has some real possibilities.

Hi Michael, thanks for your reply. Thing is the slab is going to be circular, so I see a potential problem in getting the timbers to curve. Radius approx 1.2 m.

I am about to start my observatory build. I found an earlier post (apologies for forgetting whose it is, but many thanks) showing different profiles for the concrete slab. I am going to install a Pulsar 2.1 dome. My question is has anyone here constructed a slab similar to example D on this diagram? I am having a problem figuring out how to make the former to produce this profile. Thanks for reading!

I arrived at Webbers Post on Exmoor just after sunset as a grey curtain of cloud swept over the sky from the south. This wasn't supposed to happen! After half an hour it cleared up and I stopped having terrible thoughts about weather forecasters. Seeing conditions were very good, the sky was clear but wind from the SW was a bit lively. Started as ever with the Pentax 40mm to give 18 magnification through the Tak FC100DC. Glorious views of Orion and the Pleiades. Then changed over to a 27mm for 27x mag. Same targets, similar fantastic views. Continued increasing the mag up to 74x. At this point the wind disturbance was unacceptable so back to a 19mm for 39x. This was the sweet spot on that particular night's balancing act of light v. magnification v. stability. I wanted to see E and F in the Trapezium but wasn't able to. On a less windy night with higher magnification, maybe? This was the best view I've had of the Nebula, definitely a green cast to it and much more of it visible compared to the view from my garden. Then on to Sigma Orionis again at mag 39x. Was able to split into two after some uncertainty. Pretty sure I did actually see two points of light. Next up was Auriga. I had been observing the open cluster M36, 37 and 38 at home and was eager to see more. Wasn't disappointed, fantastic views of all. M38 looked like an angry insect. Some individual stars resolved but mainly grey haze. Speaking of which I then swung around to Andromeda for a look at M31. Although all I could see was a grey smudge simply knowing what it is and how far away is all the same very impressive. Around this time I had run out of hot beverages and the chill was getting in. Packed the gear up, retreated to the car and thanked myself for getting one with a heated steering wheel! A great session and I'll definitely be going back for more.

I assume this threaded hole just below the azimuth knob is for a handle similar to those found on camera tripod mounts. Page 25 of the manual points this feature out as a M8 thread. If that is what it's for, has anyone added this to their mount and if so would you tell me where you found the handle? Thank you.

Congratulations! I am planning to build a base similar to this, so grateful to see what you have done. Your walls rest directly on the joists with the decking and interior floor built up around. As opposed to setting the observatory on top of a deck. Have you had any issues with rain water ingress? I too am in Devon so waterproofing is a prime concern. And...is that 300mm drainage pipe for the pier? Looks great. Thanks.

Last night I finally got to see some stars from here in North Devon. It has been weeks of cloudy skies and general grimness. While last night's observing conditions were far from ideal stars were visible and so I seized the moment. This area is class 4 Bortle. My telescope is a Takahashi FC100 DC and I was using a Pentax XW 40mm and then a Celestron Luminos 10mm eyepiece. Mounted on a Scopetech Mount Zero – the plan is that one fine night I will lug this lot up to Exmoor. The seeing was ok but with some turbulence rippling across. Fast moving clouds kept the session from being a long contemplative experience, but I'll take anything at the moment. I decided to concentrate on Orion as there is so much going on in that area and it is well placed at this time of year. Specifically I wanted to try seeing the Trapezium as my first target. I have done some reading so I had a rough idea of what I would be looking at. Starting off with a 40mm eyepiece for a general overall view I then changed to a 10mm in order to try to see the Trapezium in M42. With my setup this gives 74x magnification. This gave me a good view of the nebula … and there it was! The four main stars clearly visible in that distinctive form. Seeing one of those tiny points of light, BM Orionis, and at the same time realising that it is a double, between them twelve times more massive than and 100 times brighter than our Sun. OK, I'm hooked. I was finally defeated by the clouds but tonight is forecast to be similar and I will be ready. I was dead chuffed with last night's session after a very long wait during which time I did start to question the whole enterprise. I bought the telescope and accessories some weeks ago and was beginning to wonder what the point was. Well, I think I get it now. The frusrtation is more than offset by the moments of clarity and wonder.

Still have my copy! Congratulations on seeing the Dead Gerbil!