My Balcony Micro Observatory

[astrovirus]

Yes,has been pouring down on several days and no water inside, so water prove.

[astrovirus]

So, the light at the end of the tunnel is coming into sight. This week, I pulled 3 active USB cables through the data pipe, which prove more of a problem then I had anticipated beforehand, but in the end with a little help we managed. Then I also wanted to get the EQdit cable in, which also succeded with some effort. I also place the NEQ6 mount on the pier and leveled it, and then came the moment of thruth, to see if the observatory would properly close with the OTA fitted. And it did, so I did my homework, measurements, and building properly to my specs. First Light is approaching now, although I still have to do a lot of tiny things around and in the observatroy. Also the control PC will have to be installed at the inside of the balcony/window wall, so I'll have to install a mounting for that, as well as configuring the PC, as I have decided to swap my old PC for another oldie, that has a much smaller footprint. However this means installing XP pro again with its 111 updates and after that getting all my astronomy software up and running again, with some nice new additons to start experimenting with (AT plate solving and maybe after that FocusMax autofocusing).

Observatory closed as seen from the roof of our shed.

Mount installed on the pier.

OTA installed.

Everything fits like intended.

[astrovirus]

LOMO is alive. Yesterday I got around to instal the rest of the equipment and started to prepare the control PC with the much needed software. All connections between software and equipment are up and running, so I'm nearing "first light". However, before that, polar aligning will prove somewhat of a challenge as I have almost no view of the Northern sky and Alignmaster strongly favors starpairs with a component in the Northern sky. So I'll probably will also try the polar alignment help in AstroTortilla, or EQalign to perform polar alignment. Images of the completed setup will follow in the coming days, as there is still some cable mess to sort out on the observatory floor.

[Gonzo]

This might help you: http://www.myastronomyjournal.com/user_images/OMSI_images/download.php?f=ITS-2012/CCD_Alignment.pdf

[Tinker1947]

The NEQ6 will allow you to Polar Align and any star North or South depending on your views.....the option become available only after a 2 or 3 star alignment in the handset....

[astrovirus]

That's handy if not for the fact that I have the syntrek version of the NEQ6, so no hand controler, so I would need to have someone over who has one. I'll keep it mind though as I have some friends with hand controlers.

[astrovirus]

I'm in the process of downloading/installing AT right now, which also has an plate solving polar alignment function build in.

[Vox45]

Looks quite good ! It gives me food for toughts for my own (future) setup

good job mate

[red dwalf]

very nice build on a difficult site, well done to you.

[astrovirus]

So, finally managed to take some images to show the latest progress.

Control PC ready for action on polar algnment tonight. On the right is a simple weather station to monitor temperature and humidity in the observatory when not in use.

Another view of the control unit with the imaging equipment ready for action in the background. The PC is attached to the monitor stand so it has a nice small footprint.

Camera mounted, with all needed cables/hub.

Finder guider and main data cable.

Outdoor sensor of the weatherstation mounted on the lower casing of the observatory. In the background, some of the polystyrene isolation I'm in the process of installing is visable.

[astrovirus]

Bad luck last night,as clouds prevented polar aligning the mount. Hopefully this week will bring a clear night to do so.

[astrovirus]

So, finally a clear night without any other obligations, so spent some time on polar aligning the NEQ6 using AstroTortilla Polar Alignment tool. Despite having read some bad experiences with this tool, I have to say it worked out rather well to get my mount reasonably polar aligned without having any views of polaris from my balcony. Also using Alignmaster proves difficult as it has a preference for N-S star pairs and I have hardly any view towards the Northern skies. With a couple of itterations AT now reports my altitude error as 48' (coming from 5°) and my azimuth error was around 2-3' so I left that alone. Plate solved corrected goto precision is now spot on and I already tested shooting 5 minute guided subs with no problems. Looks like LOMO is now truly getting ready for a serious first light.

[astrovirus]

After a question from one of the forum members about how everything is running, I thought it would be good to share my first 3 images made from the balcony observatory. I think the results speak for them self with regard to thermal and/or vibration issues.

[Zakalwe]

Gorgeous!!!

[Leedsgreen]

Wow! Absolutely fantastic. Thanks for sharing Tim

[Gonzo]

excellent, I should be fully "online" with mine very soon

[Stu]

I know very little about AP, but they look pretty stunning to me!! Nice one , worth all the hard work.

[ollypenrice]

If someone had asked me if those images could have come from a site like yours I'd have confidently (and wrongly) said 'No.'

Well done both on the build and on the images.

Olly

[saac]

Simply outstanding, I love that 1st image.

Jim

[Gina]

Lovely

[astrovirus]

Thanks everybody,

This is truely a joy to have such an observatory and be able to do astrophotography within the blink of eye. Now if only the weather would be a little more cooperative.

[Dave Lloyd]

A super project. Loads of hard work well rewarded with images like those.

[sloz1664]

Fabulous project and super pics. Now you can look back at all your hard work and smile....

Steve

[Firas]

Great! Really fine work. 

How did you go about the polar alignment? Since your not facing north? 

[Vox45]

Great! Really fine work. 

How did you go about the polar alignment? Since your not facing north? 

Drift alignement would be one way of solving this issue