New Observatory preps and build

[fwm891]

Well got back into the obsy today and fitted the floor bearers. 18mm ply for the floor arrives Monday (bound to be wet!) and I plan on fitting it in sections screwed down to the floor bearers. TBC...

Couldn't wait - went to the timber yard with my saw and cut the ply to size so I could get it in the car....

Turning wet here now so leave laying the floor till tomorrow.... Getting there :laugh:

[opticalpath]

...... then underlay, grippers and a tasteful bit of left-over carpet ??

Adrian

[fwm891]

...... then underlay, grippers and a tasteful bit of left-over carpet ??

Adrian

Mmmmm...I think it will get garage floor paint and like it

[fwm891]

Floor's down, Scopes on the mount, rebalanced, park position reset, Images from QHY5 finder and 383L+ aligned and focused on a tree just over a mile away. A little surprised that I had to put the dec extension on to balance the scope when I thought I'd actually reduced the weight on the scope side.

Well weather has been overcast and dark grey here today but dry. Need to alter a couple of cables (one too long one too short) to be on the safe side when doing a meridian flip. I could see things in daylight but working remotely at night leaving things as they are just might cause problems, especially with the short cable.

I'm running 2 USB leads back to the PC. One is dedicated to the 383 and the other to a powered USB hub. This has made a great difference to the image quality from the 383, much cleaner and much more even across the frame. With the weather being overcast I pointed things at the clouds and made a couple of exposures to see what if any shadows were present from the OAG, all looked very reasonable - few dust bunnies (as expected) but quite even otherwise.

So some clear stuff now to try things in anger would be nice....

[Gina]

Sounds pretty good Francis Coming along very nicely

When I tested my Atik 314L+ with EFW2 and Gerd Neumann EL panel atop my ED80 dew shield the other night after imaging was stopped by cloud, I was surprised how even the illumination was. I moved around the screen in AC and the count only changed by a percentage or two. No vignetting and not a sign of a dust bunny. I've never had that with my DSLR. Yes, I was very careful not to get any dust in when I assembled the equipment and put all the filters in but I was surprised that I had actually succeeded in keeping dust out. Of course the wet weather does mean that all outdoor dust is well grounded but with a solid fuel burning Rayburn indoors...

[opticalpath]

Great stuff, Francis. Considering you only moved house a few months ago, you've got this all done in double quick time .... despite the weather.

Looking forward to seeing your results under that lovely dark Devon sky ....... whenever it reappears; I've forgotten what a clear sky looks like!

Adrian

[fwm891]

OK January 5th has seen everything working (not necessarily all at the same time!). Had odd little patches of clear sky, I started to use align master, 1 st time showed to be about 1º out in Az and 0.5 in dec. made the corrections and decided to run it again to get that little bit closer - told me I was more than 10º out make manual adjustment first..... After that I was chasing holes in the cloud cover. CdC/EQMod managed to find things OK. Just about managed to get the camera, guider and finder focused before it closed in completely. But it works and I'm almost ready for the next clear spell :smiley:

[Gina]

Great

I did a bit last night but without much success. The stars were out but couldn't see much of galaxies and nebulae. I think the air was too full of moisture, the dew was terrible - everything wet but around and above the dew heaters. Soon after 10pm there were only a few stars to be seen and I gave up for the night.

[fwm891]

Minor disaster last night - the front fold-down panel blew out in the wind & rain. Inside of the obsy got very wet. Need to up grade the tethers keeping it in place

Probably need to lift the flooring as I'm sure water will be in puddles on the water barrier I laid underneath to stop water rising - never intended a paddling pool!.

[Gina]

Oh dear Francis The wind has certainly been very strong. Our neighbour found a glazing panel from our sun lounge blown onto one of his fields the other day My obsy roof is alright now - anything loose certainly needs plenty of tethering with these storms about!!

[r3i]

Sorry to hear about the problem with the flap - hope you get it sorted soon. There's been some nasty gusts around and it looks like we've got a bit more to endure over the next day or two.

[fwm891]

Gina / Mike,

Thanks. No damage to the obsy - thankfully. Just needs some careful drying out. Heavy rain & wind forecast tonight but the flap should be OK now. Get the dehumidifier going in the morning.