"Off The Wall" Thought Fro My Observatory

[psamathe]

Been thinking about my "Observatory" and budgeting and I gave up when with dome, etc. I hit £6k and still had a lot to add to the list.

So thinking what I want my Observatory for and I came up with

1. No set-up time (hindrance when come darkness I look-out and see an unexpected clear sky)
2. Keeping warm (I'm pretty feeble when it comes to cold)
3. Keeping good alignment

(They must be the main reasons)

So, given the technical possibilities for remote operation (INDI, remote screen control, etc.) and given I don't need an "office type space" (e.g. warm room) attached to or part of the obsrvatory, I wondered why I would need a dome or even a shed large enough to get into.  Small 6x4 shed with a slide off roof (or even put the entire shed on rails), network and power (and alarm) cabled back to the house (my "warm room"/office).

Costs plummet and I still seem to address the main reasons for wanting an observatory.  and, should I get the position wrong (or my neighbour notice my activity and install additional floodlighting - a real possibility), it's cheap to move elsewhere.

Having no experience of this I am rather "thinking aloud" so am I missing something or overlooking something (for my own circumstances).

Many thanks

Ian

Edited May 16, 2016 by psamathe

[Davey-T]

Hi Ian, I made mine using a 6 foot by 6 foot Keter plastic shed, easily put up by one person in a weekend and can the be modified to roll off roof at your leisure and if you move it can be flat packed and erected again in no time.

You need to check if there's enough room to swing the scope around, as long as you haven't got an EQ mounted 300p you should be all right.

Dave

[snowy911]

I've built 2 now Ian which fit my scope, mount and pier with very little to spare and whilst this works for me I'd just add:

1/ Make sure you have enough space should you want to upgrade equipment (even just adding a second guide scope for example)

2/ Repeating what Dave said, I'd make sure you have room for your scope to move around, without banging into the roof when closed.  My current hasn't, and I must admit always a little nervous I'm going to do something daft i.e. home it when the roof is closed!

I've got mine alarmed, remote desktop into it, have an IP camera so I can check it's still there, and use the Aviosys 9258 IP power server to manage power on and off to each component, so far works great, although I do wish I'd gone a touch bigger. 

[psamathe]

19 minutes ago, snowy911 said:

I've built 2 now Ian which fit my scope, mount and pier with very little to spare and whilst this works for me I'd just add:

1/ Make sure you have enough space should you want to upgrade equipment (even just adding a second guide scope for example)

2/ Repeating what Dave said, I'd make sure you have room for your scope to move around, without banging into the roof when closed.  My current hasn't, and I must admit always a little nervous I'm going to do something daft i.e. home it when the roof is closed!

I've got mine alarmed, remote desktop into it, have an IP camera so I can check it's still there, and use the Aviosys 9258 IP power server to manage power on and off to each component, so far works great, although I do wish I'd gone a touch bigger. 

I was thinking (just part of the planning thoughts, no decisions made) about making a mostly roll-off shed (i.e. not just the roof).  Main reason is I have a very stroppy neighbour whose current lighting is just to stop my astronomy (you would not believe the things he has done - not just directed at me; another story).  So the frame for a roll-off roof would be a bit of a give-away but a complete rolling shed would just look like a normal shed.  If he spotted/guessed then there would be new all-night flood lights installed.  Or maybe one drop down wall and the rest maybe half height roll-off (rolling part split half way up the walls).

I'd probably make the shed myself using 2x2, internally lined with marine ply, externally weatherboarded (better for security but also pretty heavy to roll-away so might be impractical).  Thinking 6x4 size to keep it low (and thus smaller and a bit lighter).

I'd assumed I would be mains cabling, networking and alarming, video linking, etc. as all that gear in a "shed" must be a risk.  Do people insure their gear ? Will insurance companies even take on the risk ?

Ian