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Wow What An Observatory

Coco

By Coco
in The Astro Lounge

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barkis

barkis

Posted
Posted

I have never seen this particular construction before, but It's a very professional looking job.

Shows what can be achieved through determination. Of course there are some members on here who have built there own, and you can find them in DIY Astronomer section.

Ron. :)

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ChrisEdu

ChrisEdu

Posted
Posted

Seeing that makes me wonder about planning permission. I think, according to what I have read, that a shed, or greenhouse, placed within 20m of a highway technically requires planning consent.

It made me chuckle where they have said it's a 'small' observatory! Also, good to see they have apparently fitted a scum burglar alarm! :D

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Dave

Dave

Posted
Posted

As regards planing permission, my 9 foot dome didn't need planning permission in my old house.

All that was required was a letter to the local planning department outlining what I intended to put in, then they send a letter back saying planning permission wasn't required. Job done!!!

However, when I moved, despite the dome being exactly the same structure, as a shared drive to our garages run behind my new house, (Because public access runs close to it) I needed full planning permission when I re-sighted mine at my new address. My advice is, always check with the local planning department if you intend to put up an observatory (Or, as I have also learned the hard way, a conservatory as well, even if the installers tell you that planning permission isn't required). It might be extra cost, but not as expensive as if you had built it without and were forced to pull it all down again.(Luckily, I didn't have to pull my conservatory down before selling the house in the end as retrospective permission was granted).

Planning laws! Grrrr!

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661-pete

661-pete

Posted
Posted

I like the 'proposed upgrade' he's planning (see Images page) :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Interesting that he was using the fork mount in an observatory of this calibre, instead of switching to an German equatorial. Would this be common practice?

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RobH

RobH

Posted
Posted

There's a lot to be said for a fork mount Pete....they occupy a much smaller footprint, don't have issues with meridian flip, and, if correctly balanced, can be very accurate.

My 14 inch is fork mounted and I can do 10 minute subs at F10. To buy a german mount capable of taking the 14 would be very expensive....I've looked into it :D

Cheers

Rob

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ChrisEdu

ChrisEdu

Posted
Posted

There's a lot to be said for a fork mount Pete....they occupy a much smaller footprint, don't have issues with meridian flip, and, if correctly balanced, can be very accurate.

My 14 inch is fork mounted and I can do 10 minute subs at F10. To buy a german mount capable of taking the 14 would be very expensive....I've looked into it :D

Cheers

Rob

Surely, a LX200 14" is expensive in the first place! :hello2:

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TheThing

TheThing

Posted
Posted

His only a 30 minute drive from me.

I wanted to join this Sutton and Mansfield AC but they were full and not taking annymore people just yet.

Great looking Obsy though.

Hmm, that's not very freindly is it?!? Better luck elsewhere Doc?

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661-pete

661-pete

Posted
Posted

Surely, a LX200 14" is expensive in the first place! :D

Certainly is, but based on the fairly safe assumption that an 'affordable' mount like the EQ6 isn't man enough for a SCT of this size, I take it for granted that Rob has done his homework and knows what he's talking about! I think when I dropped a casual remark on this subject once, when I was over at Telescope House, they told me we're talking at least a Losmandy at the high end...
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RobH

RobH

Posted
Posted

Surely, a LX200 14" is expensive in the first place! :D

Certainly is, but based on the fairly safe assumption that an 'affordable' mount like the EQ6 isn't man enough for a SCT of this size, I take it for granted that Rob has done his homework and knows what he's talking about! I think when I dropped a casual remark on this subject once, when I was over at Telescope House, they told me we're talking at least a Losmandy at the high end...

You are looking at a Losmandy Titan, AP1200, Paramount...that sort of thing. The OTA alone is over 60lbs, quite a bit heavier than the C14, these days thats above £8k.

Secondhand, in 2006, I paid £3.5k for the scope...and I got a fork mount too!!!

Cheers

Rob

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ChrisEdu

ChrisEdu

Posted
Posted

Surely, a LX200 14" is expensive in the first place! :D

Certainly is, but based on the fairly safe assumption that an 'affordable' mount like the EQ6 isn't man enough for a SCT of this size, I take it for granted that Rob has done his homework and knows what he's talking about! I think when I dropped a casual remark on this subject once, when I was over at Telescope House, they told me we're talking at least a Losmandy at the high end...

You are looking at a Losmandy Titan, AP1200, Paramount...that sort of thing. The OTA alone is over 60lbs, quite a bit heavier than the C14, these days thats above £8k.

Secondhand, in 2006, I paid £3.5k for the scope...and I got a fork mount too!!!

Cheers

Rob

Aye caramba! That's some serious money!

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