Sara's observatory in Spain

[swag72]

I hope you don't mind me taking this opportunity to chart my progress on my Obsy build in sunny Spain!

The location came down to a flat roof area on top of a kitchen complex that isn't used during the evening hours. Happy that it was strong enough to take the weight and after much deliberation and concerns over thermals, we decided on a brick build and roof still to be fitted!!

Here is where it is going to be built with pretty good all round views.

[swag72]

The concrete being laid was the first job, to get a nice level base as well as extra strength for the walls. The conduit is for the cabling as the pier will be roughly in the middle. As you can see, it's not square at this time, but I have a plan!!

[swag72]

Next onto the walls. Sorry about my smiling builder!! Now everything will be pretty square. The walls are to be built to approx 155cm high. This allows for a 150cm door, the pier has also been built to such a height (80cm) so as to get a nice park position when the roof is on.

[swag72]

So, onto the next day and squaring it off to make the roof easier - I've now got a nice small, but perfectly formed area for my PC and other bits.

[swag72]

Needs to blend in a little, so has been rendered and a secure galvanised door put in. It has been rendered inside as well.

[Gina]

Looking good

[smoggy]

At least you get it done and dusted without procrastinating about it for years asking pointless questions

I realise you have thought about thermals but is there anything that's not immediately obvious that you have done to lessen the effect? Intrigued to hear the results you get from it anyway as it's certainly not a bad place to have an obsy you wouldn't have thought.

[Pat Dunne]

Super job.

Just back from a week's holiday in Majorca and the clear skies were breath taking.

Note to self, must buy a good quality travel scope for future holidays.

[ncjunk]

Looking good sara!

just in time for the winter as well ;-D

[swag72]

Cheers Folks.

@smoggy - Regarding the thermals, I've not made any modifications to try to combat them. Where I have been imaging for the last 8 months or so is smothered in concrete (Paving, pool, and buildings) so I decided that a bit more probably wouldn't make a massive difference.

[Coco]

I have satellite dish envy

seriously tho.... are you making a pier? is there some sort of wall under the roof to support it? by that I mean from ground vibration and flex, when I'm doing an imaging run and PHD is in graph mode I can see the graph change slightly when I walk around the tripod on the drive way with 2 inch thick block paving and 6 inches of crushed and packed stone, this causes egg shaped stars as PHD tries to counter the movement, this doesn't happen when the mounts on the pier with 3/4 cubic meters of concrete in the ground.

.

[swag72]

Unfortunately the satellite dish, at 1.9m, is just a necessary evil out here to pick up UK TV!!

Pier all made and positioned - Will get a pic of that later. There's no support under the pier though. I will have to see how it goes. I can always leave it with a delay when I walk away and there will be no reason for me to be bimbling about outside / underneath. Can you see the effect on the PHD graph or just on the stars themselves?

[swag72]

Here's the pier in an positioned - Need to wait for another week for the concrete to harden before we fix it. There's enough room all around for the scope to move freely, albeit a little snug in places. You can see the inside as well, and the brackets on the wall ready for the worktop that I have spare to go in there.

The pier is a total monster!! The fabricators made a good job of it (I hope that it works as well!!)

I understand about the vibration issue, but sometimes I guess we just have to work with what we have!

[jgs001]

Looks great Sara, very nice job

[Chris Stacey]

I'm envious of that pier...and the build in general....nicely done!

[r3i]

Looks fantastic - not sure which I'm more more envious about: the observatory or the blue skies above.

Just out of interest as I'm completely ignorant of regulations in Spain, did you have to have any planning permission for the build?

Have you thought of leasing that dish to SETI?

[swag72]

Thanks for looking all.

@r3i - Planning permission - Mmm, now there's an interesting thing. No one knows!! I went to the local town hall to ask, and no one (including the architect or Mayor) could give me an answer!!

It's funny how you guys think that my sat dish is so big! I fail to even notice them these days, my Dad has a 2.4M dish, even that doesn't look very big really!!

[Coco]

Here's the pier in an positioned - Need to wait for another week for the concrete to harden before we fix it. There's enough room all around for the scope to move freely, albeit a little snug in places. You can see the inside as well, and the brackets on the wall ready for the worktop that I have spare to go in there.

The pier is a total monster!! The fabricators made a good job of it (I hope that it works as well!!)

I understand about the vibration issue, but sometimes I guess we just have to work with what we have!

Sara you should be fine if you delay before leaving the obs, better still set up a cheap netbook with a remote desktop app on it, you can then remote it from another location

That pier looks very robust so standing well clear should be a good idea.

Here is a good example off pier construction..

.

[msinclairinork]

Great build Sara!

I'm loving the render; looks very professional!

Look forward to seeing the finished article.

Thanks for sharing,

Michael

[swag72]

@ Guy - Great video, hadn't considered using glue in the drilled holes. I have seen some rather thick (2 inches) rubberised square tiles that look like they are for playgrounds. I think I'll get some of those, that will help with the vibration as well I would imagine.

[pete_l]

Sara, if you're concerned about thermal gain you can get special paint (I think it's called "solar reflecting paint", or similar) that is loaded with aluminium poweder to reflect away sunlight. It might be useful, if not on the walls due to its colour, then on the flat surfaces to keep them cool.

So far as a building license - you're lucky: where my place is you need a licencia de obras menor for pretty much anything. Probably because the Ayuntamiento (town hall / local council) takes a 3% "tax" on the value of the work.

As for satellite dishes you can always spot an ex-pat a mile away. (At least all the thieves can )

Enjoy

[swag72]

Sara, if you're concerned about thermal gain you can get special paint (I think it's called "solar reflecting paint", or similar) that is loaded with aluminium poweder to reflect away sunlight. It might be useful, if not on the walls due to its colour, then on the flat surfaces to keep them cool.

As for satellite dishes you can always spot an ex-pat a mile away. (At least all the thieves can )

Enjoy

Cheers Pete, will look at the paint. You're right about the dish - Hence mine is tucked safely away from view. It's a dead giveaway though!

[Merlin66]

That's a nice dual bar set-up you have there ;-)

Good to see it back in use.

[swag72]

Cheers Ken!! I'm looking forward to getting the Equinox 66 APO to hang off it! Just out of interest - Is there a reason why one long side of the bar is marked as 'front'?

[Merlin66]

Hmmm - yes!

This was the alignment I used to get both clamps parallel - I was using a Ha scope and a white light scope - wanted them both to be aligned with the same point on the solar surface.

Now that the clamps are aligned, it's academic.