Tuiskula observatory

[VilleM]

Ive been posting about my observatory project for a while on Finnish astronomy forums. However I decided to share what Ive done here aswell. Observatory is far from complete, but in the coming summer I will hopefully get it done for next fall.

Some of you might wonder whats the meaning of the name? Tuisku = Blizzard. So rough translation would be Blizzard Observatory. This comes from previous owners from my summer cottage wich were nicknamed "The Blizzards" because of their temperament. Observatory itself has surface area of 4,5 x 2,5 meters so its quite big. Located near large lake its not ideal in terms of moisture and wind but once lake freezes over it should remove most of the humidity.

Over 90% of the wood is salvaged from building sites, I didnt want to buy them because I could get them for free and it would be a waste if professional builders would just throw them away. First I made floor for easier and safer work enviroment in the future. Floor is off the ground and supported with bricks so there wasnt risk of moisture building inside of the wood because air flows freely. Pier will be resting on an old concrete grill.

Challenging part is yet to come because I dont have electricity here. I will use large batteries and generator to power up my observatory. In the coming summer I need to seal some leaks in the roof and run wiring for my gear. Also I need to attach winch for the roof although I can push it up (barely) it weights quite alot. Currently I am planning to have HEQ5 and 70mm APO inside for imaging, ASI120MM for autoguiding. 8" Newtonian will be for visual observations and lunar / planetary works with ASI120MM.

[JemC]

Look forward to seeing the finished(no pun intended) product

looks like you have a very nice site there,

James

[Gina]

Me too - I like seeing other observatories and other projects   Good luck   And keep the photos coming please

[VilleM]

Thank you for your comments JemC and Gina.

Yesterday I started sketching my pier. When I bought my 200mm (8") Newtonian I also got very good pier with it. I already took of the old manual EQ head and builded adapter for HEQ5 from old field tripod, 10mm bolts and 3mm angled steel. This will be bolted on a 300x300x10mm steel plate wich will be welded to the top of the pier.
As you can see base of the pier isnt ideal. Square surfaces tend to be harder to level so I will have to cut it to triangle shape. It can be bit difficult without proper equipment because its around 2cm thick and solid steel. I still believe its worth doing for better leveling of the mount.

After that I will drill holes for adjustment bolts wich will be sinked in to the concrete grill. Hopefully I will get pier finished before ice melts because its alot easier to carry in sled than a boat.

[VilleM]

Today I attached steel plate to pier head, its 8mm solid steel bolted on with six bolts. I think this will hold my HEQ5 and Newton easily.
Underneath white centerpiece is another 8mm steel plate to support it from below. Actualy weight is against the plate and not on the angled steel wich are only to prevent sideway motion.

[VilleM]

Pier is now finished! I didnt cut it in triangular shape because it would have increased costs. Instead I will drill holes in concrete block, attach four long bolts and level it with those.

[VilleM]

Ok so finally ice has melted and Tuiskula is accessible again. First thing I did is repair the roof. It held up very well during the winter but two screws had snapped because there was quite alot of weight on the roof caused by snow. Also sealed the gap between two plywood sheets to prevent moisture getting inside. This spring seems to be very warm and sunny though.

This is what needs to be done before autumn:

Opening mechanism for roof
Waterproofing roof
Installing eave gutter
Wiring, wiring and more wiring...
Installing and calibrating equipment

Also I am going to build a "command center" inside our sauna. It will warm up very fast in the winter so I dont kill my laptop during long winter nights. I have also played with the idea of buying 120-150mm achromatic refractor for visual use. I could build dobsonian style mount for it so I would have something to do when I am doing deep sky photography.

[VilleM]

Open Sesame! Winch is now installed and it works well. It does require small push when going down, but upwards it goes smoothly. Some sort of locking mechanism is needed though because I dont want to leave the weight on the winch only. If something would break and roof comes crashing down it would be very unhealty observing session for me and my equipment.

[VilleM]

I instaled pier yesterday. First plan was to drill holes through the concrete and bolt it down. However after 3 hours of drilling, sore wrist and a lot of sweat I had to change my plan. I just cant get through, first 5cm goes easily and then its impossible. Not sure is there metal reinforcement or something else in there?

Anyways I placed the bolts in the holes and leveled my pier. Soon I will cast more concrete over them so it will stay in place, it only moves about one millimeter but after concrete has dried I bet it wont move at all. Also roofing is now in place and it seems to be waterproof!

-V

[VilleM]

"Measure twice, do it once. Measure once, do it twice."

So top part of my pier was, after all too big to avoid collision with my 70mm scope in some positions. Some work with angle grinder and problem is solved. Although I have to paint it again. Also concrete is now set and it feels very sturdy.

-V

[VilleM]

Observatory is now painted! Have been waiting for a rain free day for ever now. Once I was driving home it started to rain but luckily it missed my observatory.

Yesterday I also started running cables from pier towards PC. Also right now someone in Germany is making my new scope, 6" f/2.8 Boren-Simon Astrograph. Cant wait to get my hands on it in the coming weeks! Combined with ASI1600MM-Cool I think it will be great set to do imaging with.

-V

[Gina]

Looking good

I have my eyes on the ASI1600MM-Cool as well   I'll be getting one to try out when I have the funds

[VilleM]

All of the electrical work has been done and scope is also installed! Now I only need to do everything from polar alignment to GoTo calibration. On the building itself there is not much to be done. Few handles on the doors, window, snow covers need painting etc. So I could call it "fin(n)ished". Atleast ready for imaging season wich starts in 2-3 weeks.

Here is complete gear list:
HEQ5, ASI1600MM-C, Boren-Simon 6" f/2.8, UNCN2 motorfocuser. Guider is 50mm finder with ASI120MM and all sky cam is ASI120MC

Also I have Helios 102mm f/5 achromat and NexStar SLT for visual observations. For eyepieces Im using William Optics SWAN 20mm, SkyWatcher Panaview 32mm and Baader Morpheus 4,5mm. Last one is not ideal for this scope because image might be too dark. I bought it for my 8" newton wich is currently without a mount.

-V

[BlueAstra]

I noticed a lot of snow in one of your earlier photos. Do you need some kind of lip or gutter on the sloping roof so that snow, meltwater, slush, etc doesn't drip onto the scope when you open the roof, or drip into the observatory while it's open?

[VilleM]

I will clean the roof every time I need to open it because snow can be really heavy and that would make it hard to open the roof. Meltwater isnt an issue because it freezes as soon as the sun goes down.

-V

[VilleM]

Now the scope is collimated! I took three nights but results are better than with my previous set-up so its well worth it. Average seeing here is around 2-3 arc-seconds and my gear will do 1.87 arcsecs / pixel. This is one of the reasons why Im probably going to stick with bin2x2 and also to get "free light" in the process. Other advantages are smaller files, faster processing and to be honest 8mpx is more than enough for me if I dont need to crop it too much.

Here is test image from last night through dew and hing clouds. Dew was so bad that even my primary was fogged up a bit! I will install cooler fan behind it and secondary heater aswell. It should clear out any dew problems in the future. But hey, atleast all of the stars are round!

If the collimation stays as good as it is now only thing I need to do is calibrate goto via CdC and EQMOD and tweak my guiding slightly. After that its good to go for the first light!

[VilleM]

Here is first light taken last night (M31).

58x120s with L filter, 40 darks, 20 flats and 50 bias frames.
Guiding also worked very well, once I tweaked RA axis counterweights largest error was 1.5 arcsecs and on average 1 arcsec.

[VilleM]

Timelapse from the observatory:

I had to put on the lights many times because I re-synched my goto and also did some visual observing with my smaller scope behind the observatory. It seemed to work well though, even when synched only to two stars I found M1, M45, NGC7000 and some open clusters in constellation of Auriga easily with just press of a button.

-V

 

[saac]

That's a lovely video, it showcases your work brilliantly, you have a really cool setup there.:)

 

 

Jim

[VilleM]

Thank you Jim!

-V

[VilleM]

Ive done some upgrades to my scope. Filters and focus are now fully automated using USB Focus V3 and StarLight Xpress 5x2" filterwheel. Also bought SII and OIII filters to use with my Ha filter. Also flatfield panel is mounted on the wall, soon I will automate it too with USB relay and EQMOD so I can take flats from inside.

 

[Jannis]

Really nice work there!

May i ask why you have a small oven attached below the scope? I thought one wanted to have the temp very close to the outside temp, or do you have it just to keep things dry in case of high moisture?

[VilleM]

Thanks Jannis! Its a small heater, only to keep dew away before imaging. Its positioned in a way that heat rises and warms the primary mirror, I unplug it few hours before to let the scope cool down once its dried.
My scope is unheated most of the time, because there is no power supply. For laptop, router, lights and the heater I use on-site generator. Everything else works on 12v car batteries. I bring them with me every time I start imaging to avoid freezing the batteries during winter.

-V

[VilleM]

Flat automation is now ready to go! I took short video of the scope in action. It took 5x Ha, OIII and SII flats. Only thing I did is clicked flat panel on remotely via USB relay and tell SGP to run sequence.
 

 

[VilleM]

Imaging season has started for autumn 2017! Here is first images taken last night. Also I took quick milkyway picture with dslr and 8mm samyang. No tracking or anything special, there is some light pollution in the horizon but otherwise looking good.

Little under 2 hours of exposure time on both images (34x180s and 36x180s). For IC1318 I wouldnt have needed so much, but I didnt have any other targets for that night. More exposure time certainly wont hurt though.

-V