Observatory questions

[jaspalchadha]

Hello I am looking to build an observatory.

What key factors should I be looking out for?

Ideally having the south skies clear?

[Davey-T]

Read through all the obs'y building threads on here then you'll either know exactly what to do or be totally confused

Dave

[Gedan]

I thought you just built one as per the shed?

[jaspalchadha]

Yes I do have one but want other chaps input

[Gedan]

Yes I do have one but want other chaps input

Always a good plan!

[Wyvern]

In my opinion, KIS is the operative method. - Keep It Simple. We turned a standard 6'x8' apex roofed tongue and grooved shed into a perfectly serviceable obsrvatory, housing - currently and liable to change at a moments notice - the 10" S/Cass. Position your observatory to maximise your best views, south is always considered the prime target, anything else is a bonus. Ease of access and time taken to get the observatory into "working" mode is another consideration. The quicker you can get to and get observing in the observatory, the more you'll use it, the longer it takes, the greater the chance that your pride and joy will become simply an "outstation" storage area!!

As to our setup, once erected, the "shed" was attacked with a jigsaw and the roof and two tongue and groove panels down, were simply cut through all around, following the "groove" line. The roof and attached panels were lifted off as a unit and on the bottom of the short sides, we fitted a solid 3"x2" beam with 3 solid castor wheels on the underside of each beam. On the top of the short sides of the now currently roofless shed, we then fitted further lengths of the 3"x2" at such a height that when the roof and wheel beam were put back on top,with the wheels resting on the side beams, there was a slight (1/2") gap all around. Voila! one roll off roof observatory! with the roof rolling away to our north.

You'll need to come up with some way of locking the roof in position when the obs is "shut down", not rocket science... also some form of shuttering to keep the weather out of the gap between roof and upright panels, again not rocket science. Have fun!!

For the princely sum of some £150, plus odds and sods ... your boring garden shed has metamorphosed into a super observatory to be proud of. Taah Dah

Go to it and keep us posted.

Les