What do I need to have with regards to clear views.

[Martin Whitaker]

Hi, I would like some input on what I should be able to see from my small back garden to see if it is worthwhile me constructing an observatory.

I already have a small 7x5 ft shed .

I can see Polaris, South and west but not East.

If I post a panorama view will that give you a better idea.

cheers

Martin.

[siovene]

Hi, there's this program, called NGC Observer, which you can download from here:

http://www.marcomenichelli.it/zip/ngcobserver206.zip

The site is in Italian, and I'm not sure the program is actually in English (it should be tho, as far as I remember).

This program lets you input the part of sky that you can see (in terms of degrees from the North and altitude from the horizon), and then tells you what objects in a certain magnitude range can be seen there at your location at any given time.

[Beyond_Vision]

You could download a free planetarium program like Cart De Ciel or Stellarium and enter your co-ordinates and time/date into it. It will then show you what objects are visible at this time and also throughout the year.

Some planetarium programs can be set up with a 360 deg panorama photo of your viewing location to show you what would be obscured.

Regards

Kevin

[Bizibilder]

Don't forget that as the earth rotates and the year passes different objects come into/go out of view. As you can see south and west you can see almost eveything, its just that you will have to wait for them to clear your "blocked" east - either by waiting till later in the night or maybe a few days/weeks to see them earlier in the evening.

[Martin Whitaker]

Sorry I have been a while replying, been roped into Chrimbo shopping etc,thanks for the advise fellas, I have thought of possibly having an external concrete pier with the small shed as a 'warm' room,

The thing is that I am an experienced house builder now lecturing and assessing NVQ. apprentice bricklayers so I have plenty of construction experience(30 yrs) just not put to the task of a roll-off roof or reinforced vertical concrete.

I do think concrete is the way to go as opposed to steel pipe, I may use plastic pipe of a diameter of 300mm.

My back garde had to be raised with soil when I built the house so will have to dig about 1m utill I reach undisturbed soil, the I will have to possibly go 500mm deeper to form the 'bell end' in the concrete to resist overturning movements.

Shame I have a restricted view of the East .

At least I have quite dark sky., but also very cold ones.

So any views on the external pier as opposed to one in an obbs.

Cheers

Martin.

[simon84]

Blimey, what are you putting on that 300mm pier?

I used concrete filled 160mm waste pipe and had two steel plates for the pier head with an NEQ6 and Equinox 120 imaging setup on there. It will also take the NEQ6 and my 12" Newtonian no problem at all.

Stellarium is your best bet as its a pretty good free program and the latest version has an angle measurer so if you have an obstruction in any direction you can use that to see what it will block out on a clear night.

[Martin Whitaker]

Hi Simon, well I have a 10 inch newtonian also a cpc800,I believe in the good old fashioned 'belt and braces' ideas and my have larger scopes in time.

I have a large diesel mixer and dont see the reason to skimp on the job, we also are susceptable to strong winds so think this size may be best..

cheers

Martin

[simon84]

Nothing wrong with that approach. I thought I was going that way when I used 160mm diameter as I have a couple of steel lintels running through the pier into the 3 feet deep 2 foot by 2 foot concrete block under it. I was able to make it all in one pour which I was really happy about. I think the only thing that might shift that is a grenade.

As you have the diesel mixer you might aswell use it but if you can set the pour angle to about 50 degrees you could probably just bolt your Newt to the front of that