South Side Observatory

[JayTee]

Good luck with your first light tonight, hope all goes well.

Just a tip for the interior furniture, I purchased something similar to this on Wayfair for $49. This folding desk has become indispensable, so much so that I bought another one.

[SkyHiker]

Just a tip for the interior furniture, I purchased something similar to this on Wayfair for $49. This folding desk has turned out to be indispensable, so much so that I bought another one.

Not bad but I need it to be small and have legs that I can put over one leg of my G11 to get it as close as possible, as I did in the picture. So, for now I'll stick with the folding chair + plastic box booster.

Last night I got my first data from the Lagoon nebula, 80 minutes total. That is about as low in altitude as I was going to go, being blocked by the wall and my neighbor's roof. I was happy that I could get it. It will take a while to process as I am learning PI.

[SkyHiker]

To complete the thread, here's a link to the first light.. The Lagoon is as low as I intended to go in altitude, and it was in the FOV over the wall and my neighbor's roof right nextdoor.

The experience of sitting in a closed observatory is so much nicer than sitting out on the driveway for polar alignment. It feels sheltered and private. While the Pi4b's WiFi does not reach my router, sitting in the obsy and listening to the sound of the mount is nice.

One snag happened; for whatever reason I have a painful left wrist that seems to be arthritis. Maybe it was brought on by the work or maybe I inherited it from my mom who had severe RA. I can stil operate the roof so long as I don't turn my left hand too far out but I want to check with my doctor this morning if it wise to do so. If not then I may have to add something to make it easier, such as a counterweight mechanism for lifting the first 3 feet.

Aside from that, so far so good. Clearly it is possible to make a very simple observatory from a cheap metal garden shed in a diminutive space between houses for little money, given the presence of a concrete slab foundation. The 5.5' wall size turned out to be just perfect and the modification to the shed is quite minimal. If I had more space without a house wall on the North side, chances are I would still go with this same lean-to shed because I believe it still has enough clearance on there to get the galaxies if you wait until they are high enough.

[SkyHiker]

I finally entered my observatory in my observatory simulator, curious to see what made it miraculaously possible to observe the Lagoon nebula. This was on 230619, close to the summer solstice. In Stellarium I can tell that its altitude rises above 26 degrees after 23:30. Running the simulator, I can tell that when I keep the OTA on the East side, the maximum altitude clearance runs up to 26 degrees. This is what made it possible! It was narrow window though, not entirely due to my fault but because the Lagoon is simply low in the skies.

Here are some screen shots. You can tell how the altitude clearance becomes asymmetrical due to the N/S line not being parallel to the walls (I just implemented mount rotation). The bottom plot is the clearance in RA and DEC (black = totally obscured, yellow = total clearance).

[SkyHiker]

With my left wrist out of commission, I added counterweights to help lift and lower the roof. I added a 2x4 to each side with an AB style concrete block as a counterweight. It works quite nicely, now the lifting can be done easier.

[SkyHiker]

I moved the 12" GSO F/4 astrograph into the obsy. Here are some pictures to show that the behemoth still fits very nicely. I have to park it horizontally; I do that just manually and put it in the home position manually when I start a session.

I added a plastic hardware shelf for some extra storage space, and to put to put a scope on when rearranging stuff. Note the low light (IR) YI cam attached to the wall with its magnet. It lets me see what's happening.

I put the ASI2600MC on it after figuring out how to get the 55 mm distance for the CC right. Good grief I spent a whole day figuring out all my adapters and document various configurations; that way I can rearrange the optics without wasting a night each time to get things right.

[SkyHiker]

I added a video that shows how to operate the observatory with the counterweights in action, http://haling.synology.me/photo/share/0 ... 372e4d4f56

Having used the observatory, simple as it is, it boosted my enjoyment of the hobby. Aside from no longer having to polar-align and focus each time, it also provides a much better opportunity to test things out than when sitting on the driveway. It's all so much easier now.

[jrkirkham]

Nice!

[StarBru]

I'm enjoying reading about and watching your video of your observatory! I will start at the beginning of this post once I have time. I'm looking forward to it.

[Graeme1858]

Nice counterweights!

Your comment "it boosted my enjoyment of the hobby" sums it up. The ability to be on it in 5 minutes rather than 45 minutes and not have to carry a load of stuff out the garage only to have to put it all away again at 4 in the morning, is priceless!

Graeme

[KathyNS]

I added a video that shows how to operate the observatory with the counterweights in action, http://haling.synology.me/photo/share/0 ... 372e4d4f56

Having used the observatory, simple as it is, it boosted my enjoyment of the hobby. Aside from no longer having to polar-align and focus each time, it also provides a much better opportunity to test things out than when sitting on the driveway. It's all so much easier now.

Very ingenious!

[helicon]

Looks great Henk. Definitely have observatory envy here.

[JayTee]

Very nice Henk.

You're right about the structure increasing and revitalizing the enjoyment of this hobby. I will say the office chair out in my Observatory is my new favorite seat.

[Altocumulus]

Oh - now, that's neatly simple!

[SkyHiker]

We've got 4 days of rain coming up if I may believe the forecast. Last two times we had rain, the observatory flooded as the concrete slab sticks out outside the observatory and collects rainwater from the roof and routes it inside underneath the walls, as there is a 5 mm dip in the concrete. It only happens at the East and South walls.

First off, several months ago I cut up a yoga mat into foam strips that I pushed underneath the walls. In the middle they were 2 layers thick and 1 layer towards the corners. I accomplished that by raising the walls with a 2x4 so I could drop it down on the strips and have it squeeze the foam strips and hold them, and the walls themselves, in place. It feels much more solid than before.

On Monday I added clear caulking all around the two walls. This only took about half a cartridge, since the foam filled up most of the cracks. It actually looks and feels pretty decent now that it has dried up.

Here's what it looks like after a little bit of rain that we just had. Inside it is bone dry! I declare success for now, I will let you know if it floods after we get a good soaking.

[JayTee]

Isn't that a wonderful feeling when there is rain all around, but inside your Obsy it is bone-dry!

Yay!

[SkyHiker]

Isn't that a wonderful feeling when there is rain all around, but inside your Obsy it is bone-dry!

Yay!

Aahhh... I missed one little spot. It's where the two pieces of aluminum threshold meet, right in the middle of the long wall. I forgot to caulk that. Water only has to find one little hole, and it will go through it. I just chewed some chewing gum and put that on it while it's raining, let's see if that fixes it. Other than that spot, I think I got it all. With this rain I have plenty of time to locate any defects.

[SparWeb]

Simple.
Thank you for sharing all of these details. I will certainly remember this example if I ever decide to build an observatory of my own.

[JayTee]

I am also getting a butt-load of rain right now and my last piece of roof is sitting in the garage waiting to be installed. This last piece is a giant piece of metal flashing that will extend from the north eve all the way up and over the high side track used for the roof. This last piece will keep the rain off the exposed roof next to the track and the track itself. Pictures will happen after it gets installed.

Right now I'm relying on a whole bunch of roofing goop I slopped on up there this past summer. So far, it is holding up just fine, but once the flashing is up, it should prevent all water from even getting to that goop.

Nice idea about the bubble gum -- very practical.

[Altocumulus]

I'm still waiting a further supply of t&g to fit the warm room - in the meantime the amount of rain we're getting recently is more than annoying. At least the rubber is glued on two ends of the scope room - but temperature windows at the moment scupper me doing the sides.
Weather eh!
At least whilst it's raining we're not missing any observing/imaging....