My 2.2m dome arrived today

[tooth_dr]

It sat in my garage, waiting for better weather, and it wasnt until 6 months later that I started working on it.

I built the walls to work out a suitable location, and marked it out on the ground.  I'm not sure how much of an issue the telephone drop wire was going to, but just removed it and buried it underground anyway.

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by tooth_dr

[tooth_dr]

A few photos of the ground being dug out and the base being prepared

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by tooth_dr

[tooth_dr]

I ordered 1m3 of concrete, and that was sufficient to do the lot.  We had some left over so I gave the neighbour a shout and they stuck in a few replacement fence posts around the farm.

Nice photo of old versus new observatories.

 

 

[tooth_dr]

Final fitting out.  Overall pleased, but I guess some issues will rear up when I start using it.  One minor oversight so far - I have a couple of items that are attached to the outside of the dome -  Oculus ASC and SQM - I should have put in another external duct for their 12v power supplies, as only put in 2 - one for 240v and one for ethernet.

Edited June 19, 2020 by tooth_dr

[Skipper Billy]

Looking grand !!!!

[steppenwolf]

The observatory is looking really good, Adam - well done!

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Thanks for the update pictures. That is looking absolutely superb. 

And in no way am I jealous, not one bit, honest 🙂 

No, honestly you have done a marvelous job and so far looked to have thought of everything in advance (well pretty much everything apart from the ducting) , a really professional looking obsy you have,. I wonder how much rain and clouds you are due now when that is complete ? 

I hope not too much.

Steve

Edited June 20, 2020 by teoria_del_big_bang

[Guest]

WOW!😱

[inFINNity Deck]

Nice work, I see that you properly isolated the pier from the rest of the construction, that minimises vibrations when entering the observatory and when slewing the dome.

Marvellous location as well, I bet you have less light pollution than we have! Did you have first light yet?

Nicolàs

 

[tooth_dr]

Hi!

Thanks for all the nice comments, I really appreciate it.  Looking back there was a fair wee bit of work that went into it, but once you get started it, the time sort of flies by. There is no doubt the build was helped a lot by both good weather and being unable to practice due to CV-19 meaning I was at home much more than usual.
 

@inFINNity Deck Nicolas - I’ve managed to focus the autoguider, PA the mount and test the autofocus routine on the Tak but otherwise no images yet!

 

[tooth_dr]

First light last night.  All systems not fully set up yet, and the dome isnt syncd so just moved the slit to the right place using Dome Tracker.  I ran the autofocus system on the Tak Espilon, first time since adding in backlash compensation, and I think it has worked quite well.  The V-curve was quite flat so I will need to run over the settings again, just on default ones.  The scope has been moved in and out of the house, this is it's first outing since Feb,so I will need to check collimation too.   Platesolving also wasnt quite working, so I just manually lined it up by eye with Sadr.  I was also drinking wine before I went out, so that may or may not have contributed - but I couldnt resist the brief clear spell to get an image under my belt.

This is a single calibrated 20 minute sub with the Takahashi Epsilon 500/F2.8.  Guided with a finder guider/290MM with RMS just under 0.5, on a Mesu e200.  Optolong 7nm 2" Ha filter.

 

 

Edited June 22, 2020 by tooth_dr

[steppenwolf]

That's great start, Adam! I recommend a good Shiraz just before any imaging session ......... 🤣

[tomato]

Great set up, your dome looks bigger inside than mine, even with all the kit in there, you must have the TARDIS option.😊

Just mind you’re head on a meridian flip slew!

just realised, with the Mk2 you won’t need them👍

Edited June 24, 2020 by tomato

[tooth_dr]

5 minutes ago, tomato said:

Great set up, your dome looks bigger inside than mine, even with all the kit in there, you must have the TARDIS option.😊

Just mind you’re head on a meridian flip slew!

just realised, with the Mk2 you won’t need them👍

It’s certainly looks bigger on the inside than from the outside! My mount is the Mark 2 but on a normal pier so it still needs to do MFs.

[Laurin Dave]

That looks fabulous Adam. well done on a great job

Dave

[gorann]

A great start from a very nice looking obsy. Northern Ireland phone companies must be very liberal to let you climb their poles and move their cables, or was it a matter of better asking for forgiveness than permission?

Edited June 24, 2020 by gorann

[tooth_dr]

1 hour ago, gorann said:

A great start from a very nice looking obsy. Northern Ireland phone companies must be very liberal to let you climb their poles and move their cables, or was it a matter of better asking for forgiveness than permission?

Thank you. My father has worked in the phone industry for 50 years doing this very thing. He’s 70 now and still works full time, so it wasn’t really an issue. 

[tooth_dr]

1 hour ago, Laurin Dave said:

That looks fabulous Adam. well done on a great job

Dave

Thanks! When it first went up I was worried as it looked really narrow and tall. But I reality it’s big inside.  Well big enough for widefield scopes. We will see how it fairs with my 10” come galaxy season 

[sloz1664]

Fabulous project Alan & you now can look back at your wonderful dome and envige the images you will gather over the coming years. Next project - Full Automation 👹

Steve

[tooth_dr]

1 hour ago, sloz1664 said:

Next project - Full Automation 👹

Steve

Thanks Steve - imagine it being able to open and close and start imaging when it's clear all by itself

[inFINNity Deck]

 

1 hour ago, sloz1664 said:

Next project - Full Automation 👹

Steve

Hi Adam,

is automation provided by the manufacturer? If not, you may want to consider LesveDomeNet: http://www.dppobservatory.net/DomeAutomation/DomeDriver.php

It uses ASCOM, works flawless and they have a mail-list with quite a few knowledgeable and very active members. On my website I devoted a page to the automation, although for slewing only at the moment, I still open it manually (need to spend some time on that to automate it as well): http://www.dehilster.info/astronomy/dome_automation.php

Nicolàs

[sloz1664]

1 hour ago, inFINNity Deck said:

 

Hi Adam,

is automation provided by the manufacturer? If not, you may want to consider LesveDomeNet: http://www.dppobservatory.net/DomeAutomation/DomeDriver.php

It uses ASCOM, works flawless and they have a mail-list with quite a few knowledgeable and very active members. On my website I devoted a page to the automation, although for slewing only at the moment, I still open it manually (need to spend some time on that to automate it as well): http://www.dehilster.info/astronomy/dome_automation.php

Nicolàs

That's exactly what I did. I use LevesDomeNet  to run the Dome automation albeit I haven't automated the shutter, as yet and I'm hoping to complete by summer's end. I'm also currently learning Voyager automation software which hopefully will provide me with a fully automated imaging system.

Steve

[tooth_dr]

Thanks guys. I don’t use the levesdome hardware. It’s a Shelyak controller.

[tooth_dr]

Progress update:

Spent some time last night and today working on linking dome and mount movements. I’m using POTH Ascom scope/dome controller and have Sitech and Shelyak selected within that POTH program. In CdC I have selected POTH to connect to the scope.

I syncd on the sun today (safely) in Sitech and CdC and finally worked out how to get the dome position reset.  In POTH I clicked slave.

When I now choose a target in CdC both dome and scope move together and it’s quite disorientating when in the dome and looking up!  But it’s working 👍🏻

It appears to be lined up well for targets along the south, but on a slew to north targets it’s not quite lined up, and I lose one half of one scope.

Would anyone know what would be the likely most likely parameter at fault here.

Ive attached photos, and a video showing how close the CW shafts comes to the monitors 😂

Photo 1: north/west - not quite syncd

Photo 2: south - syncd

 

Any input appreciated

Adam. 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2020 by tooth_dr

[Laurin Dave]

Hi Adam does it maintain sync to the south after a meridian flip ...   And is the north issue the same both sides of the mount?  This might give you a clue as to what’s going on ..  the parameters I played with to get mine to sync were GEM offset and the Home Angle ..  to set my Home angle I set GEM offset to zero and pointed the scope to the Meridian ..  my thinking being that the middle of the shutter should then line up with the RA axis 

HTH

Dave