Size shed for a DIY observatorie

[bcfcciderhead]

Looking to build (at long last) an observatorie this spring/summer, but not sure to what size to build it, so thought i'l ask what the average size is.

I do have a metal 6ft x 4ft shed doing nothing, the type Argos sale, would this be big enough?,

I will be making a pier, and it will house my Skywatcher 200p on an EQ5

Hoping to buy a garden shed and convert the roof to a "roll on/roll off" type

Cheers guys

[George]

Well simplest thing todo is put the scope on the mount balanced and measure the end of the OTA to the centre of the mount, then allow room for yourself to walk round that circle.

I doubt you will get away with anything less than 6' x 6'

Minimum I would go for is 8' x 7' which is what I have, my scope is a 250PX on a EQ6 and I wished I'd gone for at least a 10' x 8' so I could have a separate coldroom.

[laser_jock99]

The often quoted minimum size is 7x7. In reality you should build/buy as big as you can reasonably fit into your plot.

[Helen]

Mine's 11x8 and it works for my EQ6 with a 120 refractor, and I have a small warm room too. I'm only about 30 minutes from you, so if you want to come and see just give me a shout (I went to see someone's before I built and it really helped).

Helen

[andyboy1970]

I have a pier mounted HEQ5 with a 200p and my OBSY is 8 x 6, I would go 10x6 if you can as it gets a bit tight when doing visual observing.

[The Sailor]

Mine is an Argos 6x7 shed and with a 5.5 dome I can comfortably use a 200p on a NEQ6 with an inch to spare when slewing. Photo album link in my sig .

Jim

[Merlin66]

The ol' rule of thumb for Newtonian's on an EQ mount was the floor width = twice the focal length......

( I use an Argos Tin shed 8' x 6' for my C11 on an NEQ6pro)

[bcfcciderhead]

Thanks for all the advice guys, helpful as ever.

Might have a play the weekend and set up in my little shed, but think it may be a to small:(

Thanks Helen for the offer off a look at yours may take you up on that, be nice to see how the roof works, im moving into Newport with a better garden in a few weeks so will now have the room, plus believe it or not its as bad for light pollution, I have the glow off the second severn bridge at the moment.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2

[ollypenrice]

If the main purpose is imaging then the shed can be a little smaller, especially if you add some kind of 'pod' for the computer. It you're mainly visual then I'd not make it to much of a squeeze or it can be irritating. The smallest of all is the total roll-off but that leaves the scope fully exposed.

Olly

[carastro]

I have a POD 8' circular diameter and sometimes when I am doing a bit of visual I find that a bit tight with an Equatorial mount, I would say 8 x 6' is the minimum, 8 x 8 would be much better or even larger still if you can.

Carole

[The Sailor]

This is a photo of my lot, looking bare at the moment , it affords me good movement and as said earlier the 200 has a small clearance when slewing.

Jim

[Gina]

My scope room is just over 7ft square inside and it's tight, even with an ED80 plus camera etc. It started off as 8' square using 8' x 4' ply for the roof but that has to overlap the sides a bit so there's the overlap and the thickness of the walls. Fortunately I do imaging and not visual so it's alright but if I was doing visual with a bigger scope it would be awkward. You need more space than you think.

[michaelmorris]

One important thing to remember is to design for the INTERIOR dimensions of the shed, not the advertised size. The size difference can be particularly large in sheds with a large roof overhang. Also remember to allow space for any internal insulation and/or boarding out. I have an 8' x 7' metal shed observatory. (see link in signature for design and construction details)

[ampleamp]

to add to what Michael has said, interior dimension is most important, and also remember what else might be in the obs with you eg, a desk/bench, seat, cupboard/storage etc etc. I had enough room (8'x8') until i lined the interior wall and added electric points. This determined where the bench lived, which determined where the computer lived........ and there is only just enough room for me to fit in between the bench and the focusers/cables (with plenty room on the other side!). It can be a royal PITA when initially aligning stars and will get re-vamped this summer; of course if i lost a couple of stone..

[The Sailor]

I will also add to this, I found that some parts of the sky I could not see, in my case southwest through west to north, this determined where I would put any furniture so it was not in the way of observibg. What I done was to make a rough sketch of the floor and shaded red where I stood to look at the observable sky, black was the rest where the furniture went. If I had done this when I first built the shed I would have had more room .

Jim

[Steep]

My scope room is just over 7ft square inside and it's tight,

I'd confirm this, mine is 7' x 7' and it's fine (with a couple of narrow shelves along one side and an angled 'desk' built into one corner) as long as I don't want to put too much else in there, an extra foot of space on one end would make a lot of difference.

[Chris]

Mines 10x6 split into 6x6.5 for the scope room and 6x3.5 for the warm room. I have a 200p plus NEQ6 on a pier in there and this leaves a room to walk around the scope but not enough for swinging cats:D

[laser_jock99]

Some other points to consider regarding the floor area:

Are you expecting to be solo observing or have ocasional visitors? If you want show other people the delights of the heavans then 'small' quickly becomes a just bit too cosy.

Are you likely to upgrade to a larger scope in the future? At least one person on SGL has had to 'extend' a smaller obsy.

Not something I originally allowed for, but my observatory is large enough to store the barbeque & some garden furniture inside! Think 'dual use' and you might get a bigger obsy project past SWMBO.

"Honest luv it's just a BBQ store....."

[lynnm]

really interesting thread - i'm looking to do a similir excercise, and replace the metal storage shed i have with a breeze block shed with a ob's attached.. having a 12" dob makes life a little awkward to works out sizes, and with kids in tow having space around this beast is going to give me something to think about, without it taking up the whole garden.. might start up a plan/build thread in the not to distant future.. mike

[euphony]

Definitely an interesting read.

I have been thinking of building an observatory, as I'm sick and tired of hulking the scope in and out.

The area of the garden I have room for isn't huge though.

What would people recommend as an adequate size when observing with a Celestron CPC1100? I wil be doing visual mainly, with imaging now and again.

I've got a nasty feeling that I'm not going to be able to fit the right size shed in the garden