back garden telescope housing/observatory.

[Guest]

:shock: Hello.I have A Meade lx 90 8".My garden is medium sized.I would like to permantly mount the scope with electrical supply so it can track the sky all the time and is ready to observe .There is a shed shop locally that sell attractive sheds of around a metre square or just over.With this I thought that I could pier mount the scope and set up the shed to roll away towards the unfavourable side of the garden.Or there is a 5 foot by 5 foot sloping roof shed where the roof could be engineered to slide off.These ideas would not impose too much onto the garden or more importantly upset the war department (er indoors).

I would be gratefule for any ideas or suggestions.

Thanks Martin

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Can I suggest you have a browse round the DIY bit here, there have been loads of shed building discussions, many with pictures. This would possibly help you decide what you need.

Kaptain klevtsov

[George]

Well a roll away shed wont offer much in protection from wind or stray light, think you would be better with something bigger with perhaps a rolloff roof. Also at some point you may want to image or control your mount from a PC and again this would favour the roll off variety. Four walls does help on those damp dewey nights and PC's etc don't particularly like being damp.

I would seriously reconsider a roll away rather than a rolloff unless there is a particular reason for doing it.

[Helen]

I've built a roll-off roof shed observatory over the last year (reports and pictures in the DIY board in the equipment section). From experience I'd say a 5x5 shed will not be big enough. I'd say 7x7 is a minimum just for the scope, and ideally you want another 3 foot on one side so you can add a warm room to put your pc etc (the roof doesn't need to roll all the way off, it can still cover this area). You also need to factor in where you are going to put the rails and posts to support the roof when its off. Hence it will take quite a large space! But if you can do it it is REALLY worth doing

Even a small shed which rolls off the scope will mean you'll observe more, as its so much quicker to get going, and often more importantly pack in should the clouds come over. A cover for the scope I've found allows me to take the risk on marginal nights - and I've had some fantastic bonus nights as a result

Any specific questions, just ask! My build was so much easier because of all the advice I received from experienced members here before I started, and during build and subsequent refinement :salute:

Helen

PS a couple of links to my build saga

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,21818.0.html

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,25802.0.html

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,28427.0.html