New Observatory Finished (almost)

[focaldepth]

I can't take credit for most of the following as I have copied most of the ideas from others. (on the shoulders of giants)

I present this as what I did and why so others can copy or at least dismiss the ideas not suitable for their build.

Why build an observatory.

I did have a go at astronomy many years ago but was put off by a few things.

1) How small Jupiter looked through my (then) 6 inch newt.

2) How wobbly every thing was.

3) The time and effort required to set things up. Wives don't understand this time does not count as observing time.

I now want to have a serious go at photography and realise that the only way I will achieve that is with a permanent set up.

At least the observatory will address 2 and 3.

First the position.

Everything is against me regarding position.

1) My garden is in a poor light pollution area

2) Neighbours love security and dawn to dusk lights also street lights.

3) We have tall trees on one side.

4) Buildings and other trees on other sides.

5) The wife wants the "ugly great monstrosity" hidden from view.

6) We get a lot of squirrels and other animals wandering the garden at all times of day and night.

I have chosen the position giving priority to hiding the shed, then best views came second.

A series of panoramic photos helped to finalise the best, non ideal, position.

So I have no east views (40 deg from zenith) and limited views to South(60 deg) West(70deg) and North(70deg).

That gives me a small but usable window through which the zodiac will pass. I will have to work with what I have got.

Shed design

I looked at many examples on the web and here on SGL and settled for a roll off roof Pent shed.

Size would be 10x6 made up of a 6x6 scope room and a 4x6 warm room.

A sliding wall separates the two rooms.

I decided on 6 foot high walls but I will raise the observing room floor by 6 inches.

Giving me a 6 foot tall warm room but a 5'6" observing room.

(At this point I am thinking I do not need to raise the floor)

I considered building the shed from scratch but a local garden centre does a range of sheds and will build to customers requirements.

He had never built a roll off roof before but had demolished one to make room for a summer house, so at least he knew what I was talking about.

I presented some detailed CAD drawings but he condensed them into a few scribbled notes. Scary.

He did however agree to do any off-site or on-site mods as required.

Surprisingly the cost of the modified was the same as a standard shed.

My one contribution to the future of observatories was the decision to not have rails running the full length of the opened roof.

I deduced that they only need to extend just beyond the centre of gravity of the roof.

The shed man assured me that his roofs were solid and did not flex (Yeah!).

I guessed about an inch of sag would be OK. If not I could always add a little steel or wood bracing.

The pier.

I considered welding one up myself or going to a local steel fabricator but in the end decided lowest risk was to buy a ready made one.

I went for the SkyShed one from AltairAstro.

On the web people tend to go overboard (IMO) with the concrete pour for their piers.

I went for a modest size of 600x600x600 footing with a 350x350x300 raised pier support on top. (2'x2'x2' + 1'2"x1'2"x1' feet in old money)

I built a simple mould for the top part and simply mixed an filled.

The 4 L bolts were pressed in to the top before the concrete went off trying to ensure a smooth and level surface.

It worked OK although the exposed block is a lot rougher than I imagined.

(Note to self, next time make sure the concrete gets into every nook and cranny of the mould).

Lighting

I tried some LED bicycle lamps for night lighting but was not happy.

Having discovered some LED lighting kits on Ebay I built my own.

These use 54 ultra bright LED 18 each of Red, Green and Blue.

Running off a 13.8V PSU I can switch them from dim RED to bright WHITE.

See other threads:

http://stargazerslounge.com/diy-observatories/137617-observatory-red-lights.html

http://stargazerslounge.com/diy-observatories/133575-obs-lighting.html

Electrics

Power comes via an armoured cable fed from the nearby pond pump supply to a 6 way extension block.

A couple of 13.8v 2A PSUs should provide power for mount, lamps and accessories.

Computer network will be wireless from the house.

A shed alarm may deter the local hoodies.

[focaldepth]

Tracks.

I ordered some castor wheels and steel angle from ebay. These were screwed on to the shed wall and roof rails and slots cut as needed.

Still to do.

There is a lot of tidying up work to make the shed weather and critter proof.

Oh and three more things,

I just have to learn my way round the sky,

and learn how to take pictures, how hard can that be,

and I need a few clear nights.

[Psychobilly]

Nice work...

As for the footings and going overboard...

My view on this is....

It's easier to make a bigger hole and pour more concrete the first time than trying to add to it later....

Billy....

[focaldepth]

Hi Psychobilly, while I did not follow your advice on concrete, I did use the Maplin matting for the floor that you suggested, it is good and cheap stuff.

[focaldepth]

Just a few more pictures for those of you who like pictures.

To reduce the risk of the roof blowing off and landing some where like in the koi pond or on next doors dog I have fitted some hasps and secured with carabiners. They have all been position so they naturally unhook when opening the roof, after removing the carabiners. Both bought from B&Q.

A simple pine board makes a desk, complete with my new laptop.

The laptop was a BARGIN in our local Tesco. Only £350 for an An Acer Aspire 5742 Laptop:

Intel Core i3-370 2.4GHz

3GB RAM

500GB HDD

15.6" TFT

DVD Writer

Webcam

Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

(Loads of **** free ransom-ware included deleted with out even looking and installed my usual open source equivalents)

It blows the socks off my current laptop Intel Core2 Duo 2.17GHz 4GB 500GB.

A quick 5 frame DSS register and stack took half an hour on my old one and only a few minutes on the Tesco special.

I think It will become my main image processing machine. It can stay in the shed and I will tightVNC into it as and when needed.

Anyway drifting off topic.

I may post a few more pictures as the build draws to a close.

[stolenfeather]

I noticed how creative you are being with the many limitations that surrounded this project in the first place. Congratulations for working around all of them and creating something that I don't think I'll ever be able to create for my own (building instruments and I are not good friends). Shine on!

Isabelle

[malc-c]

Nice build. I'm in the planning stage at the moment, and would be keen to know the overall size of the observatory and approximate cost for the guy to supply the modded shed.

I'm looking at a suspended floor so the walls for the observing area are lower to give me some chance of observing in the SE > SW region. Did you eventually opt for doing similar or are both floors the same

[focaldepth]

I found it very difficult to work out the viewing angles, because as you know the height of the scope can change a lot while rotating. Not difficult maths but deciding what was required.

I wanted a shed with 6 foot walls to allow me to stand in the warm room. Having deduced that 5.5 foot was about right for the distance from the pier base to the top of the wall, bearing in mind I do not have horizons where I live.

I then came up with the idea of raising the floor. The pier base stuck up 12 inches above the prepared ground to allow for the shed base and floor.

However when I built the shed and mounted the scope on its pier I think I am happy with the 6 foot walls. So I have not raised the floor.

You need to decide where the mount sits relative to the top of the walls and what roof clearance is needed. To some extent the floor height is just for comfort and can be added later.

The sheds are made by TGB sheds (google it) and erected by local suppliers Bluebell greenhouses.

Shed was about £700 erected. Plus I spent another £200ish on concrete, paving, wood, trellis etc. half of which (the floor) has not been used.

Then a bit more on screws and bits and pieces so I guess about £1000 is the total but I do have a lot of stuff left over for the next project.

The shed was a 10x6 Pent roof shed and I split it into 6x6 and 6x4 however these are not exact measurements. I will measure and post later.

I am happy with the sizes and have to remember that I was going to use a 4x6 shed until the helpful people on SGL suggested this would be the minimum size. It is snug and would be room for 2 people to use in close comfort.

Remember sheds are not precision things and do not have right angles. Just measured mine (in metric cm) External 302.5x180. Internal allow for cladding 1.2 and frame another 4.3.

Between the extended weight bar on the NEQ6 and the wall I have 37cm clearance. Between the tip of my ED80 APO and the roof trusses I have 5cm clearance in parked position. So you will need to mount your 200P further away from the roof.

Good luck, as it is quite a juggling act to get the dimensions right.

[msinclairinork]

Top notch mate! Well done!

Michael

[zedds]

Really nice obs there. Great stuff.

[focaldepth]

OK, last pictures just to show how it looks from a non-astronomer's view point.

Hidden away in a corner but still with a view upwards.

Wide angles do wonders for the size of a garden.

[ZEbbEDY]

strewth is that the servants quarters on the right

[laser_jock99]

Looks like a good project, well executed. I wish my obsy was completed now.

[Gina]

It's certainly inconspicuous

Nice garden

[skippyinspace]

How come every time I'm about to make a decsion about my obs some one posts pictures of exactly what I have had just discarded as an option. Showing that it works!

Now to find a shed company that wont charge the earth to Ship to AB42.

Excellent set up home it gets a lot of use.

[Foton Finder]

BEAUTIFUL!!!

Well executed job. I hope this gives you many years of pleasure. With all the work you put in, you deserve it!

I like the rugged pier and beefy mount -- there's no such thing as too much stability. The pier looks like you could easily move to a larger instrument in the future if you ever decided to do so.

I'll also add that the beautiful lattice work compliments your lovely garden nicely.

Congratulations on a job very well done.

[ncjunk]

Wonderful observatory and a great read, posts like this are why I like this Forum.

[malc-c]

How come every time I'm about to make a decsion about my obs some one posts pictures of exactly what I have had just discarded as an option. Showing that it works!

Agreed !

I think it's going to be a case of winging it as I go with my build

[Pete Presland]

nice build, great end result,you will not regret one minute spent doing it!

[focaldepth]

Thankyou everyone for your kind comments. I was expecting a few more "you didn't want to do that"s.

Skippyinspace, AB42, bet you can see the milky way from there.

Zebbedy, the servants quarters is just a conservatory but we had it built with brick corners, and it does look like a garden room at a glance.

I am glad I built the Obs as it has already made the difference between doing nothing and actually stacking some real images. Nothing ready to show off yet as I have a long list of things I know am doing wrong, starting with polar alignment........

[kris h]

Great job on your Obs build, looks awesome

[MikeWilson]

Congratulations and thank you for sharing your experiences. I really like what you've done and it's inspirational to see such a lovely obsy going up in such a tight corner.

Well done :-)

[MorningMajor]

Great post, fascinating stuff and love the pics

Hope you have hours of fun in your new home!

[mert]

That's good work, very very nice, I really hope you enjoy it, I was I had a base for my scope

[Gina]

Nothing ready to show off yet as I have a long list of things I know am doing wrong, starting with polar alignment........

Know what you mean! My mount seems to have welded itself to the tripod and won't budge in azimuth to polar align. I'll look at it tomorrow in daylight!