Veiwing through open window/skylight

[NGC 1502]

If it works for you, go for it 👍 as mentioned, getting the room to ambient is good.

And if you think about it, a regular domed observatory with an opening slit is viewing from “indoors” through an open “window”.........

Ed.

 

[Marvin Jenkins]

2 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

ah luckily I'm near the top of the hill, but of course the garden fence reduces how low I can view, but generally the planets have been quite well placed as the LH fence isn't so high. More an issue if the other side are in and have the lighting on the back of the house turned on, bye bye any dark adaption, but luckily she's not around a lot  

What are you doing outside? If this works out I’m never going out again. Stay indoors, you need not worry about fences or neighbours lights ever again.

[DaveL59]

know what you mean, is cold in the conservatory but sure beats being outside esp if there's a breeze, means the long scopes get less buffeting too and all but the tal-M are long tubes. I leave them all mounted so just have to shuffle the one I plan to use to the desired locn too and they're already fully cooled  

Edited November 30, 2019 by DaveL59

[xtreemchaos]

hay Guys check out my flicker link in sig if you want to see whats possible from indoors imaging wise that is. charl.

[DaveL59]

10 minutes ago, xtreemchaos said:

hay Guys check out my flicker link in sig if you want to see whats possible from indoors imaging wise that is. charl.

very nice images! I would find it a lot easier to hook the laptop and USB up on the table next to the scope than if it was in the garden so is another reason I'd been trying it out, rather than have to lug a table out as well as the scope(s). Tho can always have one outside to image while I sit and enjoy the view from another I guess. I'd just have to watch that my kitties don't go snagging the cables or the slime trailers that seem to be everywhere when the little hog isn't around to graze on them...

[wesdon1]

18 hours ago, Stu said:

Life would probably be even easier with an alt az mount, as Polar aligning your EQ in that position, even just for visual use must be impossible.

I agree that if this is the only way you are likely to get regular views, then it is better than not viewing at all. You are not looking through glass, and taking precautions in terms of getting the room down to ambient will be minimising thermals so it should be ok.

Hi Stu. I don't Polar align my friend! I use stellarium, a reliable compass and star hop to find objects in night sky. I admit it's a hassle sometimes due to faint fuzzies being "faint n fuzzy" but it just makes the whole process more satisfying when i find things! 

[wesdon1]

15 hours ago, johninderby said:

Or.............

now c'mon John i'm not THAT bad am i sir!?? haha

[xtreemchaos]

thanks Dave, im mainly a vis guy but took a interest in imaging about 5 years ago when my kids got me a canon eos for Christmas , I like to shoot solar system stuff I do do a bit of deepsky imaging but all the exciting stuff happens near to home like on the sun which is the the most dynamic object in the sky, its ironic really because the thing I love the most in the sky is trying to kill me 🙂 i have a illness called lupus which allows me 0 amount of sunlight so I shoot with my scope pointed through the curtains through the day 🙂. I have one rule there isn't sutch a word as carnt. charl.

[wesdon1]

13 hours ago, xtreemchaos said:

hay Guys check out my flicker link in sig if you want to see whats possible from indoors imaging wise that is. charl.

wow awesome images you created my friend! Just hopped over for a look. Amazing my friend! Further proof whats possible from indoors!

[wesdon1]

2 minutes ago, xtreemchaos said:

thanks Dave, im mainly a vis guy but took a interest in imaging about 5 years ago when my kids got me a canon eos for Christmas , I like to shoot solar system stuff I do do a bit of deepsky imaging but all the exciting stuff happens near to home like on the sun which is the the most dynamic object in the sky, its ironic really because the thing I love the most in the sky is trying to kill me 🙂 i have a illness called lupus which allows me 0 amount of sunlight so I shoot with my scope pointed through the curtains through the day 🙂. I have one rule there isn't sutch a word as carnt. charl.

My goodness well done you for overcoming your illness! Total admiration and respect my friend!

[Stu]

9 minutes ago, wesdon1 said:

Hi Stu. I don't Polar align my friend! I use stellarium, a reliable compass and star hop to find objects in night sky. I admit it's a hassle sometimes due to faint fuzzies being "faint n fuzzy" but it just makes the whole process more satisfying when i find things! 

Tee hee, I suspected now. I guess it's just a very non polar aligned EQ mount gets even more confusing ad the motions of each axis don't equate to RA/DEC or Alt/Az. Can you set it to be an Alt/Az? Might be easier.

[xtreemchaos]

thanks Wes, I could not of got where I am in imaging without the help and support from the guys and girls on here mate. charl.

[DaveL59]

53 minutes ago, wesdon1 said:

Hi Stu. I don't Polar align my friend! I use stellarium, a reliable compass and star hop to find objects in night sky. I admit it's a hassle sometimes due to faint fuzzies being "faint n fuzzy" but it just makes the whole process more satisfying when i find things! 

you can get the mount pointed north easily enough and be roughly there... or the polar aligner pro app will help get closer as it has a beta mode where you place it onto the mount with the OTA removed and adjust to suit then refit the OTA and you should be good to go  

[Nyctimene]

German amateur (semi-professional) Klaus Wenzel, Wenigumstadt, has been observing very successfully for more than 20 years DSO's and especially QSO's (at the moment, more than 100 visually!) from his roof observatory, which is fitted with a sliding window. He is equipped with a 16" Dob; the room is unheated.

Stephan

 

[JOC]

I suppose what you need is a turntable on a flat roof on flat roof is a little heated room with a small hole with sliders adjustable for height and width with little doors that close behind the adjustment.  The the telescope sits on the rest of the turntable outside and is automatically controlled to point where you want, then your little heated room automatically matches the position of the EP and you peer into the EP through the little hole the sliders have made.  Thus you sit in the warm and the scope sits in the cold!!

[Peter Drew]

This has been done before.  I think it was the Ells observatory (or something similar).  Came close to making one myself as it was so ingenious.     🙂

[johninderby]

Trying a bit of lunar observing from the conservatory. Moon through the thin cloud not the clearest but waiting for some clear sky. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[Thalestris24]

Well, to date, I've done all my imaging through open windows in my flat. It's not ideal and thermals limit my guiding (imaging term... 😉 ) but I'd have thought observing should be doable also. 

Louise

[wesdon1]

On 01/12/2019 at 11:36, Stu said:

Tee hee, I suspected now. I guess it's just a very non polar aligned EQ mount gets even more confusing ad the motions of each axis don't equate to RA/DEC or Alt/Az. Can you set it to be an Alt/Az? Might be easier.

I suppose i could somehow convert my mount to alt/az ? Thats a new idea for me my friend so you'll have to let me do some homework n see if it's possible ? once i know the general location of an object, i use low power EP, then i use high power once in middle of my FOV. Only problem with this is it can be very time consuming, and i'm never 110% certain the object is exactly what I've been searching for if there's a lot of nearby DSO's aswell? I don't mind about that though, i just luv finding faint fuzzies and other beautiful objects! Whether it's name is Abell 70 or the Hercules Globular Cluster, it don't matter to me as long as it looks beautiful! 

[DaveL59]

I'd guess if you set the EQ mount to its RA is set to 0 (level) on the axis then you're effectively using it as Atl/AZ , but of course you then need to make RA and DEC adjustments as an object tracks. No prob if you're visual but not so good if you want to image at all.

As I think I mentioned earlier, the polar aligner pro app has an option to do polar alignment by mounting the phone/tablet on the mount shoe without needing to sight the pole star, can be used in daylight hours too. Seems to work reasonably well, GPS signal shouldn't be a problem given your skylight. You'd then have reasonably accurate RA tracking so less adjusting to do when viewing, esp if you've an RA motor.

[wesdon1]

35 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

I'd guess if you set the EQ mount to its RA is set to 0 (level) on the axis then you're effectively using it as Atl/AZ , but of course you then need to make RA and DEC adjustments as an object tracks. No prob if you're visual but not so good if you want to image at all.

As I think I mentioned earlier, the polar aligner pro app has an option to do polar alignment by mounting the phone/tablet on the mount shoe without needing to sight the pole star, can be used in daylight hours too. Seems to work reasonably well, GPS signal shouldn't be a problem given your skylight. You'd then have reasonably accurate RA tracking so less adjusting to do when viewing, esp if you've an RA motor.

Thats a great idea, the polar align app?? Never knew about such an app so i could look into that to improve my viewing sessions. Than ks for the info Dave! 

[Stu]

I guess it just struck me that you would be making adjustments on both axes at ia is, because the mount is neither polar aligned nor in AltAz mode. 

It would be relatively simple to set the RA axis at you latitude (51.5 degrees for me), and then point it northwards which should be accurate enough for visual tracking just using one slow motion control. That's assuming you can still fit it out of the window like that. Worth experimenting with I think.

[wesdon1]

7 minutes ago, Stu said:

I guess it just struck me that you would be making adjustments on both axes at ia is, because the mount is neither polar aligned nor in AltAz mode. 

It would be relatively simple to set the RA axis at you latitude (51.5 degrees for me), and then point it northwards which should be accurate enough for visual tracking just using one slow motion control. That's assuming you can still fit it out of the window like that. Worth experimenting with I think.

Thanks mate. I track manually for visual observing. I do own a alt/az mount but have never used it because i'm happy using EQ mount and finding targets, then simply manually turning tracking/adjusting knobs/levers on mount. I do plan to buy a GoTo with GPS etc to see if i could set up indoors without Polaris and other northern targets to align the mount. I've heard of a system that auto-aligns with absolutely no input from the user? But i'm assuming it would still need be outdoors to find it's alignment stars? 

[wesdon1]

Just now, wesdon1 said:

Thanks mate. I track manually for visual observing. I do own a alt/az mount but have never used it because i'm happy using EQ mount and finding targets, then simply manually turning tracking/adjusting knobs/levers on mount. I do plan to buy a GoTo with GPS etc to see if i could set up indoors without Polaris and other northern targets to align the mount. I've heard of a system that auto-aligns with absolutely no input from the user? But i'm assuming it would still need be outdoors to find it's alignment stars? 

Forgot to mention, i actually managed to manually track ( for a few seconds! lol ) the ISS the other night! it was awesome! I could see all it's Solar Panels! I even saw an Astronaut waving back at me from the window of ISS! haha OBVIOUSLY that last bit was just me messing around! haha! But yes i tracked it for few seconds until it went Zenith on me and i couldn't carry on tracking it. It was damn hard work tracking it manually as it moves so fast! I used stellarium to gauge it's arrival time/direction of travel etc.

[DaveL59]

9 minutes ago, wesdon1 said:

Thanks mate. I track manually for visual observing. I do own a alt/az mount but have never used it because i'm happy using EQ mount and finding targets, then simply manually turning tracking/adjusting knobs/levers on mount. I do plan to buy a GoTo with GPS etc to see if i could set up indoors without Polaris and other northern targets to align the mount. I've heard of a system that auto-aligns with absolutely no input from the user? But i'm assuming it would still need be outdoors to find it's alignment stars? 

problem with goto and aligning would be the lack of room to rotate the OTA and not collide with the window/opening I think. Perhaps a simple RA or dual motor might do just as well with the limitations, unless you want to be able to use the scope out in the open