Gina's Observatory - The Build

[spaceboy]

Looking good now it's almost finished Gina. The contents of the obsy don't look to bad either

[Gina]

Today's Progress.

Weather has been a mixture today. Very cold, occasional sunshine and wintry showers - rain, sleet, hail.

During a fine spell this morning I moved the mount from the tripod back onto the pier extension. Apart from trimming off some more of the vapour barrier and applying some silicone sealant, all today's progress was in the obsy.

1. Moved mount back into obsy.

2. Pulled USB extension cable through cable duct from pier to warm room.

3. Added cable duct pipe from bottom of pier to near the top and fed cable and pull string through it before pushing it into the elbow.

4. Cut some sponge neoprene to fit round pier and cable duct and cover gap between pier and floorboards.

5. Stapled neoprene to floor. See photo below.

6. During another spell of fine weather I noticed that the moon was out (still daylight) so I set up the scope on the mount and pointed it at the moon. The view through the supplied 28mm eyepiece was superb - very sharp detail

7. Set up DSLR in place of diagonal and eyepiece and took some images of the moon.

8. Removed DSLR adapter and put in 1.25" adapter with extension tube and 2.5x Barlow and took more moon images. With the extra FL the image almost filled the frame.

Clear skies permitting I might go out to the obsy again later and see what I can see.

Now to the photos. Several standard DSLR photos of what I've been doing plus scope images of the moon.

Mount back in it's place with cable duct finished and USB cable plus pull string threaded through into warm room. Also to be seen is the neoprene "shirt" at the bottom of the pier and cable duct to fill the gap between pier and floorboards (stops draughts and things falling down gap).

Detail of neoprene "skirt". Not the tidiest job but adequate

Image of the moon taken with DSLR directly at prime focus, cropped and scaled to standard size (longest dimension 1024 pixels).

This is how the moon appeared in the full frame, not cropped, just scaled.

Another moon image cropped and scaled.

Full frame of above.

This final moon image was taken with the DSLR and 1.25" Revelation 2.5x Barlow. This image has been only slightly cropped, then scaled.

Finally two DSLR photos showing scope as it was earlier (before I closed the roof and flap) pointing at the moon, with extension tube (Barlow minus lens), 2.5x Barlow and adapters to take DSLR camera. I couldn't show it with DSLR attached as that was what I took these photos with

[Gina]

Tonight.

Been out to the obsy, but it's not really practical to do much until I have the lighting done (should be getting the bits tomorrow). Also, my power pack battery has gone down too much to properly power the mount - the power light flashes. Seems the battery voltage doesn't have to drop much for the mount to be affected. The other power supply - jump starter - doesn't seem to have enough voltage even when it shows full charge. That's why the hand control doesn't work with it. With the smaller power pack with only a 6AH battery, the hand control works mostly but won't cancel the warning message. Once that's finished you can use it. I really want a mains PSU but can't afford the Maplin one this week.

The frac is easier to use than the Newt but still needs a certain amount of contortion. Once I get my mount properly powered I can use CdC to point the scope and remotely adjust the fine pointing. With webcam on scope I'll be able to see the image without getting down to look in the viewfinder of the DSLR. However, I think I'll do some visual as the optical quality of this scope seems really superb.

Using the 28mm supplied 2" ep I could clearly see Jupiter's moons. The diagonal makes viewing so much easier than looking in the DSLR viewfinder or even the ep on the old Newt. Another night I'll try some of my shorter focus 1.25" eps but I need tracking before that becomes practical. I think I might want some better eps and maybe Barlow - the Revelation 2.5x seems rubbish. Low contrast and noticeable light dispersion.

Although I know a DSLR is pretty useless for planetary imaging, I had a go anyway. The camera is nowhere near as good as the 28mm EP and my own eyesight. I took a whole series of exposures. I think it needed a bit more to pick up the moons - only 3 of the 4 really show in the image whereas I could see all 4 very clearly in the EP.

The results follow - improved in GIMP.

Much lower exposure and the bands show

Even less exposure.

[GJBC]

Someone starting to enjoy themselves.

and You deserve it Gina it has and still is an excellent project and you are so nearly there now.

i really like the third and forth Moon images much crisper without the barlow.

[Gina]

Thank you Grahame Yes, it's coming along quite nicely. And yes, I'm very pleased with those moon shots. That Barlow is definitely not up to it. I have two other Barlows to try - a 2x Celestron and a 3x something else. When my funds recover I'll look into a better Barlow and maybe EPs.

[Gina]

The Screwfix stuff has arrived Door furniture for outer door and electrical stuff for lights and power. And... the weather is fine ATM so should be able to put handles and lock on door this afternoon if it stays fine. Couldn't get the 75x22mm wood for the door while shopping this morning

[Gina]

Hmmmpf... As soon as I'd posted the above it started raining, so a quick dash out to close the obsy roof and flap. Stopped again now I think Anyway, plenty to do wet or dry!

[Gina]

Today's Progress.

Fine morning most of which was taken up with shopping and afternoon of showers. Quite cold too. Didn't get the door furniture on or the electrics done but I did get the other two insulation panels in the warm room roof. Apart from that just some measuring up. Hopefully a virtually full day on it tomorrow.

No photos today. But tonight could be a possibility The webcams are working during the daytime though (and obsy webcam if I do anything at night).

[Gina]

Last night was no good for obs. I think tonight might just be better - clear skies forecast.

A few showers this morning and some sunshine. Been doing the wiring for the lights.

[Gina]

Lights in scope room connected up. Now waiting for the red filter material to come and I can line the bulkhead fitting to make a red light. That is fitted with an 18w halogen candle bulb - the white light has a 60w bulb in it (just as it came out of the lounge ). Next job will be lights in the warm room. I think the white lights could do with 2-way switching with a switch just inside the outer door and dimmer on the dividing wall.

[Gina]

And that concludes today's work. Tried to put latch on door but will have to wait until the mud dries up. The door has to be open to do it and I've just found I can't stand on the slippery muddy slope in front of the warm room

[Gina]

Went out to the obsy tonight but I'd missed most of the clear sky. Mainly cloudy with small breaks. Still, I did manage some observing - not enough time to set up imaging. I dug out some of the bits I bought for the Newt plus one of the supplied EPs. Lined up the moon in the finder and checked with the SW 28mm EP, then put the 1.25" adapter in and the Celestron 10mm Plossl. Great view of the moon's mountains and craters So I went a stage further and added the Celestron Omni 2x Barlow to give effective 5mm FL EP. Craters on the terminator were crisp and sharp. Very impressed

So those Celestron optics that seemed less than perfect on the Celestron Newt now seem pretty good. The Celestron 2x Barlow is most definitely better than the Revelation 2.5x. I also tried the Celestron 4mm Plossl without Barlow - hopeless, non-existent eye relief! Didn't try with Barlow as the clouds closed in completely. I'll try it with the 2x Barlow another night as I gather Barlows improve eye relief.

While there were gaps in the clouds I pointed the scope at Jupiter and tried the 10mm Plossl and 2x Barlow. Quite good though rather small. The moons showed clearly and I could see the banding on Jupiter itself. The finder scope is very good in itself - I could clearly see the moons as well as the disc of Jupiter.

The light in the scope room made an enormous difference - I could actually see what I was doing! The build is really coming together now and getting quite usable Now looking forward to a clear night to get polar alignment set up and do some imaging.

[Aoraki]

Nice to hear things are working, I'm not too far behind you!

[Gina]

Thank you Yes, it's nice to actually be doing something that I've been working towards for 9 months or more! Been a long job All the time spent on the design and almost interminably long build time seems to have paid off Quite a number of relatively small jobs to do before it's actually finished - I have a ToDo list of what's left and gradually checking them off.

Yesterday afternoon I checked how low I could see through the scope and I can see almost everything that I could see without the building. Just one small part of the sky to the west is obstructed by the roof to about 30 degrees above the horizon whereas the house next door and trees would give just over 20. So I'm quite happy with that

[Gina]

Not a lot of time to do much today as I had to go out twice and now it's pouring with rain with little chance of clear skies tonight.

Just one job on the obsy build today - put the latch/lock and door handles on the outer door. And one job towards imaging - cut hole in pipe end stop thingy and attached SPC900NC webcam ready for polar alignment. A couple of small steps in the right direction

[Yendor]

A couple of small steps in the right direction

One Small Step For Gina, A Giant Leap For..........

[Gina]

Had some breaks in the cloud last night but not enough to see Polaris and do polar alignment. But I did manage some webcam imaging, mostly on the moon (see the Lunar-Imaging forum for the best image). I had the mount lunar tracking which made a big difference BUT I have something wrong with the mount positioning. After setting the PARK position with the weight down and scope horizontal pointing east I unparked and set it to slew to the moon in CdC. It ended up with the scope pointing towards the floor! So I tried withe the scope pointing west when parked but it then pointed too far north, some 50 degrees out. I'll post about this later in the Mount forum where I think I've seen something similar.

Fine weather today with sunny spells and the odd shower but I'm working inside the "shed" anyway. Doing the power wiring ATM and probably do the warm room lighting today too.

Now having had a nice warm cup of soup I'm off out again to carry on.

[Gina]

Well, not done the warm room lighting wiring yet but have finished the power wiring and also fixed the RCD/CB unit onto the warm room wall and wired the power circuit into it and run a power cable from RCD to a 13A plug, plugged into the extension cable. Thought I'd do the RCD before doing the warm room lighting to provide maximum protection ASAP.

[Gina]

Did a bit to the warm room lighting wiring tonight. Also, some lunar imaging with DSLR, directly and with Celestron 2x Barlow. I'll write a report with photos tomorrow.

[Gina]

Yesterday's Progress.

Jobs inside building yesterday so weather not a problem. Mainly sunny spells and showers. Some clear holes in the cloud at night and a very nearly full moon. With such a bright moon only lunar observing and imaging was practical.

1. Fastened socket boxes to walls.

2. Drilled holes through uprights and threaded power cable through and into boxes.

3. Connected sockets.

4. Screwed RCD/CB unit to warm room west wall.

5. Ran power cable into RCD unit and connected up.

6. Connected a length of power cable to RCD and 13A plug to connect to extension lead. (Temporary supply.)

7. Connected lighting cable supplying dimmers into RCD.

8. Ran lighting cable for 2-way switching of warm room white light across warm room roof, through holes in framework and down to where switch is going.

9. Ran cable for west end white warm room light through roof frame holes down to light switch position.

10. Fastened switch box onto wall by door and fed cables into it.

11. Connected switch and screwed into box.

12. Lunar observing and imaging with DSLR.

EDIT - Lunar images are now up in the Lunar Imaging forum

[Gina]

Today's Progress.

Mainly fine today with some sunshine but quite cold. A few showers and raining this evening. Indoor jobs today.

1. Put bolt on fold down flap to hold it shut.

2. Cut and fitted insulation for south side of partition wall.

3. Cut plywood panel for warm room south side of partition wall.

4. Added backing strip of wood the fix plywood to.

5. Drilled hole for cable and fitted white light for warm room.

6. Same for red light.

7. Cut red filter material and glued it into dome of light fitting to make a red light.

8. Screwed red light to panel, connected cable and attached dome top.

9. Screwed switch box for dimmers to panel and drilled hole for cables.

10. Connected up lights and dimmers, fitted dimmer unit to box and panel to frame.

11. Cut and fitted insulation into outer door frame.

12. Cut and fitted insulation in warm room south wall either side of window.

A few DSLR photos of today's jobs.

[Gina]

A few more photos from tonight. Insulation in the outer door, the scope setup tonight (less camera), and another moon image, taken when the clouds thinned a bit. Enhanced in GIMP.

[Gina]

Today's progress.

Weather was fine with some sunshine this morning but turned very wet and windy this afternoon. Fortunately, I got the sheets of polystyrene and plywood I had cut to size, from our big shed to the obsy before the wind became impossible and the heavy rain started.

Bit of a milestone today - the mains wiring is all finished except for running the armoured cable from the house

So... in detail, today's activities.

1. Cut and fitted polystyrene insulation sheets into warm room west wall.

2. Cut plywood panel for west wall.

3. Drilled hole for cable for white light in panel and screwed on light fitting.

4. Unplugged RCD power input and finished wiring lighting circuit.

5. Removed RCD unit from wall frame.

6. Temporarily screwed wall panel onto frame.

7. Screwed RCD unit onto wall and drilled holes for cables in panel.

8. Removed RCD unit and panel, only partly undoing RCD screws leaving RCD attached to panel.

9. Threaded cables through holes in wall panel and RCD unit and connected up.

10. Screwed RCD and wall panel back on.

May have a photo or two to post later - thought I'd taken a couple this afternoon but found I hadn't put the CF card back in the camera, so my photos got saved to fresh air!

[Aoraki]

As long as there's a card in when you start imaging!

[Gina]

Yes, that would be a real waste! (If there wasn't.)