Obsy for a refractor

[fwm891]

Just beginning the planning of a small observatory for my Altair Astro 115 EDT APO refractor, on an iOptron iEQ45 Pro mount.

These will be pier mounted and the scope is used for imaging.

Location wise it will sit against a 6' fence to my north, with a neighbours house immediately behind that so no view north. To the east side I have trees so that horizon is about 40-45°, to the west is my own house so little sky that way. South is better although narrow but I have about a 10° horizon that way. Most imaging therefore will be up and to the south.

I want to keep the obsy as small as possible with the intention of keeping scope, mount etc in the obsy and taking power to the obsy when needed (mains from the house). I intend being in the house and running the obsy from there.

I've taken some photos of the scope/mount - carefully scaled the images and begun looking at the elevations and plans to establish maximum turning circles for the scope, mount and cameras. Once I can finalise these I can start planning the structure.

Image show the workings so far:

TBC...

 

[saac]

Take a look at Skipper Billys "micro" obsy if you really want a feel for how small you can go. If you are going to be doing imaging only then something like Billy's setup would be ideal. Good luck, I reckon an obsy is the best upgrade you can get.  

 

Jim 

[Adam J]

6 minutes ago, saac said:

Take a look at Skipper Billys "micro" obsy if you really want a feel for how small you can go. If you are going to be doing imaging only then something like Billy's setup would be ideal. Good luck, I reckon an obsy is the best upgrade you can get.  

 

Jim 

yes you dont need a huge obsy to image. Mine is 1.7m x 1.7m I just left sufficient space to squeeze myself around the scope.

[saac]

Link to Billy's site in case you cant find it. It's an interesting design and Billy made a first class execution of the build. 

Jim 

Micro-Obsy

[Adam J]

[laser_jock99]

Quote

 

From experience- build as big as you can. About 7'x7' is the minimum operating room. More room is always better and don't base your plans on your current equipment- allow for possible upgrades like a 12" Newtonian...........

[Gina]

39 minutes ago, saac said:

Link to Billy's site in case you cant find it. It's an interesting design and Billy made a first class execution of the build. 

Jim 

Micro-Obsy

That's not a micro-observatory - this is a micro-observatory - about 400mm diameter (for widefield imaging with SLR camera lens on astro camera). :-

On 09/07/2017 at 11:33, Gina said:

As promised, here are some photos of the dome with the support and rotation ring added.

[saac]

Love it Gina, does it ship to Scotland?  

Jim 

[Gina]

I guess it could do but it isn't finished yet...

[Adam J]

36 minutes ago, laser_jock99 said:

From experience- build as big as you can. About 7'x7' is the minimum operating room. More room is always better and don't base your plans on your current equipment- allow for possible upgrades like a 12" Newtonian...........

As I have been using mine which is 5.5 x 5.5 and I have never wished it was bigger (actually recently wondered if I could have gone smaller and accessed the scope from outside the building), 7x7 is clearly not the minimum operating room.

More room is not always better, more room costs more money and more time and requires a bigger garden.

I would agree that 7x7 would be nice for observing though, but in my location that is not going to happen in any meaningful way.

 

 

[Gina]

My scope room is 2.4m (7' 10") square with a rather smaller warm room (which only serves as storage now as I control my imaging from indoors).  There have been times when I would have liked more room round the pier and telescope.  I had a smaller scope when I built it.  Mind you a bigger build would have been problematic considering standard timber and board sizes.

[laser_jock99]

10 hours ago, Adam J said:

As I have been using mine which is 5.5 x 5.5 and I have never wished it was bigger (actually recently wondered if I could have gone smaller and accessed the scope from outside the building), 7x7 is clearly not the minimum operating room.

More room is not always better, more room costs more money and more time and requires a bigger garden.

I would agree that 7x7 would be nice for observing though, but in my location that is not going to happen in any meaningful way.

 

 

Taking it to the extreme you don't need observatory at all- 50% of my imaging is done on a permament outside pier. I don't see the point of deliberately making the smallest possible size if there is space available. If you move to a bigger scope of fancy a go at visual- what then? I'm imaging 90% of the time- but when at the eyepiece or with guests I'm sure glad of the extra room. Building bigger also allows the obsy to double up for other uses. I also store the BBQ and garden furniture in mine! 

[laser_jock99]

10 hours ago, Gina said:

 Mind you a bigger build would have been problematic considering standard timber and board sizes.

Gina makes an interesting point here- my build is based on standard timber lengths and sheet metal sizes. It's one of reasons I ended up with 3m x 3m- minimun of cutting & wastse, everything just went together. Also possible would have been 2m x 2m- ultimately that would have be very tight with a 12" Newtonian.

[newbie alert]

A friend of mine images with a 200mm pds..his obsey is tiny and looks like a coal bunker...even thou it's camera up,it's best not to advertise what you have in there in today's society..

[fwm891]

 

[fwm891]

OK all thanks. I've had this EDT APO 115 frac for some time now. It's a great scope and I see no point in changing it for anything larger or smaller.

I'm getting a 10 inch dob for which I will build an EQ platform, for any visual stuff.

Given the restrictions in my location there is only one position for an obsy and my pref at the moment is towards a roll off shed (aka the Tardis build) that way it need not be much bigger than it's parked profile and there should be enough room around the pier to place power supplies etc without hindering the scope in any way.

I have thought of hinging the roof and front side so it folds down to ground level as a unit but that would entail a deeper (front to back) housing. Rolling the shed away completely reduces overall protection when in use but has other benefits like waterproofing the structure when not in use.

TBC...

[laser_jock99]

17 minutes ago, fwm891 said:

Given the restrictions in my location there is only one position for an obsy and my pref at the moment is towards a roll off shed (aka the Tardis build) that way it need not be much bigger than it's parked profile and there should be enough room around the pier to place power supplies etc without hindering the scope in any way.

I have thought of hinging the roof and front side so it folds down to ground level as a unit but that would entail a deeper (front to back) housing. Rolling the shed away completely reduces overall protection when in use but has other benefits like waterproofing the structure when not in use.

Sounds like a plan. A roll off shed is definately 'one up' from the outside pier concept (my covering consists of few tarps (I hope they are still in place......will check next week!)).

I think an 'observatory' should be defined as a structure from which a person can physically observe from though!

[fwm891]

Further thoughts:

Image below shows possible internal end section which would be circa 1000mm front to back and circa 1800mm in height. As it runs on rails I guess I'll have to refer to it as a waggon ?

TBC...

[JamesF]

Why such a tall pier, Francis?  If it's for imaging only and control is from elsewhere then you could having everything pretty much at ground level (or a convenient work height -- say 1m off the ground) unless you need the height to clear hedges/fences/whatever.

James