New home observatory WIP

[Gordon]

I moved from Southern California to central Arizona a few months back. One of the things I hated about the move was giving up my little 'dog house' observatory. It had served me well for number of years and made it very easy to run out and capture images with very little effort.

My wife and I knew when we were looking for a place to move to that we wanted a good spot for placing the telescope. So with that in mind I thought I would share a few photos of our new location and give you and idea of our plans.

Right now I'm still having to do a setup and tear down when I want to use the scope, and will probably have to continue doing so until I can figure out with the HOA approval of what I want to do.

I'm currently using a dolly to move my EQ6 mount as it's a bit heavy for this 70 year old body.

In this milk crate that says 'do not remove under penalty of law' are all of my electronics (bundled cables, fasteners, usb hub, power supplies etc etc. Even though it looks a mess it's all organized and only takes a minute to place on the scope / mount. Then the milk crate becomes a chair.

Here's a cabinet I purchased to put all of my scopes / accessories in. It's really handy having everything in one place.

On top of the cabinet is my eyepiece case along with the bags that contain my imaging cameras.

I also have an EQ5 mount that I use sometimes. I can load this on the dolly to move it around also.

Once I use the dolly to move the mount outside I place it on these 3 pads. Each is drilled so that the points on the bottom of the legs line up with the holes. Once in place I'm really close to having the mount polar aligned.

Here's the views of my sky. Pretty much anything above 25 degrees is clear sky. The trees in the area shouldn't get much taller (at least in my lifetime!)

Northern sky

Western sky

Southern sky

Eastern sky

And finally here's a photo of the general area. All of my equipment is stored just inside the door. So as it is it takes me about 10 minutes to set up and tear down.

[JayTee]

Hi Gordon,

Very cool which makes me a bit jealous. Hey, in the last image that shows the sundial on a short pedestal, is the house to the north or south of that pedestal? I hope it is to the north as you probably don't want to exclude any of your southern skies if you have a choice.

I hope you can move things along to get it built and functional in a short-ish period of time.

Cheers,
JT

[Bigzmey]

Looks like nice location Gordon! Keep us posted on your progress with Obsy.

[sdbodin]

Our HOA has a provision for installation of a 'garden shed' as being OK, so my roll-off was just a garden shed to them. Approved with no objections.

Steve

[Gordon]

Hi Gordon,

Very cool which makes me a bit jealous. Hey, in the last image that shows the sundial on a short pedestal, is the house to the north or south of that pedestal? I hope it is to the north as you probably don't want to exclude any of your southern skies if you have a choice.

I hope you can move things along to get it built and functional in a short-ish period of time.

Cheers,
JT

The pedestal is on the north side. As it turns out, the town of Cottonwood is in the southern direction so I need to be a bit higher in that direction to keep out of the sky glow.

[Gordon]

Our HOA has a provision for installation of a 'garden shed' as being OK, so my roll-off was just a garden shed to them. Approved with no objections.

Steve

I had a brief discussion with the "main man" when I mentioned "garden shed" his eyes rolled. But he has been by (along with most of my neighbors) when I'm out setting up, and they are very interested in what I'm doing. So hopefully with keeping the discussion going they will let me put in a sky pod or something similar. If not, what I'm doing works.

[Bigzmey]

Our HOA has a provision for installation of a 'garden shed' as being OK, so my roll-off was just a garden shed to them. Approved with no objections.

Steve

I had a brief discussion with the "main man" when I mentioned "garden shed" his eyes rolled. But he has been by (along with most of my neighbors when I'm out setting up and they are very untested in what I'm doing. So hopefully with keeping the discussion going they will let me put in a sky pod or something similar. If not, what I'm doing works.

If the place was designated as International Dark Sky Community they better allow obsy installations. Otherwise, take it to the mayor.

[sdbodin]

Oh, forgot one important thing, your county building codes. My county has a free pass for any structure 10x12 or under, hence my shed is 10x12. If the 'feds' get involved, add $500 at least for permits and inspectors. Or beg forgiveness if the county complains after it is built.

Steve

[Lowjiber]

Looks good, Gordon. Good luck with the HOA. Just don't tell 'em that you're going to paint it pea green with lavender stripes.

Clear, Dark Skies

[Gordon]

Looks good, Gordon. Good luck with the HOA. Just don't tell 'em that you're going to paint it pea green with lavender stripes.

Clear, Dark Skies

I had already picked out 'passionate pink' with 'periwinkle' trim.

[helicon]

Looks great Gordon. Now just have to get rid of the clouds...

[Gordon]

Looks great Gordon. Now just have to get rid of the clouds...

Yup. I've gotta work on that!

[Lady Fraktor]

Always nice when you can go straight out and set up like that.
Hopefully the skies will enjoy them soon.

[Gulf Coast Guy]

Once the clouds clear you'll be having a big time.I checked out your LP after a previous post. Just have the folks from the HOA over for a BBQ and star party. That could soften them up a bit. I 'm soon to be in the same boat.I'll probably be retiring around Oct.-Dec next year and we're planning a move back to the middle Tn area. I expect to be settling for Bortle 5 skies but I have my pier (Ioptron) waiting and the CFO already has the yard of concrete, a 12'x16' deck and a 1-bay NexDome with all the automation goodies in the budget.
You ought to be getting some beautiful Milky Way wide field shots. Dang, now "I" can't wait for your skies to clear.

GCG

[JeffBevan]

[image]"D:\Pictures\Astro photos\dome from house.jpg"[/image] This is very much still a work in progress. I rolled the dome out of shop a little less than a year ago. Lots of little things that come up along the way to take care of, like the peeling paint on the dome. I have been using it but still sorting out the streamlining.

[JeffBevan]

I guess I need to figure out posting images. Someone want to clue me in. Image doesn't show on my screen, I'm guessing I haven't linked it correctly.

[Gordon]

I guess I need to figure out posting images. Someone want to clue me in. Image doesn't show on my screen, I'm guessing I haven't linked it correctly.

Hi Jeff
It appears you are attempting to 'attach' and image from your computer.
When you post to a topic you can 'add' an attachment by scolling down just a bit more on the page and you will see a tab called "Attachment" just click on it and you can upload your image there. Note that it gives you an option to "Place in line" I suggest using it as it will place your image where you wish in the post.