Brain Freeze. Mistakes.

[sabana]

As the winter nights draw in over the United Kingdom the Astronomy becomes more difficult for older veterans like me. But its still fun but the cold has a bad effect over long periods.

Mistakes in calculations due to what I call Brain Freeze. (Cognitive thoughts slow down due to mild hypothermia).

When your cold the fun doesn't have a capital F.

The amount of time outdoors is limited which is a real shame.

So I know wrapping yourself up like a Christmas turkey is one solution.

But what about a self build observatory? Hmm the older I get the more this appeals. The benefits to me are enormous. (Self build Dob project already underway, so a permanent house).

My question to this fab group is:

Does the cold effect you in any way for your enjoyment and error of judgement?

Have any of you built an observatory or started one?

Clear skies.

[todd8137]

hi sabana,after weeks of stood in the cold,i decided the green house was for the chop ( 9x7'),i took all the glass out and gave it a freind i then beefed the frame of the green house with some 3x4" lenghts and tongue and grooved the lot in side and out.for the roof i made to squares out of wood covered them in heavy black plastic and put 2 catches on both end's of the green house so i can take both of or just one side of the roof , cost me about 35 pounds and about two days and about a gallon of black paint to paint the lot and what a god send it was last year in the cold

[malc-c]

Hi Sabina,

Whilst I don't class myself as "old" (50 next year) I do find my health suffers through the winter months, and it's getting worse each year. This was one of the reasons I opted to jump in with both feet and build myself an observatory earlier this year. Not only does it offer some protection against the wind when visual observing, with the warm room heated I can do my imaging in comfort and thus more encouraged to venture out to take advantages of these cold winter nights

There is a downside to it though.... it seriously dents your bank balance. For a decent ROR obsy it can be anywhere between £1000 - £3000 depending on what you are hoping to achieve. My build thread is here http://stargazerslounge.com/diy-observatories/140015-observatory-build-underway.html with this as the end result