My Mini Observatory - Now with animation

[ballaratdragons]

I spent today converting my little cubby house into a slide off roof observatory.

Harry helped heaps too :thumbsup:

As far as I know, it must be one of the smallest slide off roof Observatories in the world :lol:

The dimensions are 4' x 4' and 4' high (1200 x 1200 x 1200)

When the roof is slid back, I have a perfect dew shelter for sitting under when I'm at my control desk outside :)

1. Animation of the roof in open & closed position (Harry modelling)
2. Me inside (only need to get inside if I have to re-polar align)
3. Shows just how small it is :lol:

[Astroman]

Great stuff Ken, looks very professional, and if ya didnt put yourself in the image you could swear that ED80 looked like an 8" refractor :)

[ballaratdragons]

Another pic :lol:

As you can tell by the sky, I won't be observing tonight, but my astro gear is nice and dry outside :thumbsup:

[ballaratdragons]

Of course it's an 8" refractor. Trick photography to make me look bigger :lol:

[RB]

LOL, it reminds me of the old TV series, "The Land of the Giants".

Great work Ken.

:thumbsup:

[toetoe]

Top stuff Ken, and Harry. Looks a top job there boys.:thumbsup:

[xelasnave]

Thats great Ken:thumbsup: , only the scope needs to be housed after all:) ..anything that sees you not to have to pack it up:thumbsup: or change polar alignment:thumbsup: (when you finally get it perfect I notice thats when I have to pack up:shrug: ). So we now expect even better shots now that you are permanently housed;) :) :thumbsup: .
alex:) :) :)

[h0ughy]

nice job Ken, a giant amongst imagers...

[rogerg]

Good stuff :thumbsup: any observatory is better than no observatory, even if it shrunk in the wash :)

[Phil]

good stuff i would put a alarm in there now because there are alot of people you can not trust. We all seen what happened to Tony.
Phil

[ballaratdragons]

Yep Phil, I've got one to put in there. One of those ones that sends severe pain into the ear drums and makes you double over in pain! :thumbsup:

[Phil]

good one

[ballaratdragons]

Yep, and ear plugs etc don't stop the pain. The high frequency sound waves go in through the skull!

Great stuff when it goes off by accident. Damn it hurts!!! :eyepop:
Last time I accidentally set if off, not only was the pain unbearable, but it makes you feel very sick too.

Plus there are my 2 dogs who do not like strangers :D

[jase]

Thats a little ripper Ken. Would certain make imaging easier for you. Well done mate.:thumbsup:

[iceman]

Love it!

[stringscope]

Looks great Ken :thumbsup:

Cheers,

[seeker372011]

:clap: :2thumbs:

[erick]

Good one, Ken!

Have the dogs now lost their kennel? :D

[ballaratdragons]

Another day hard at work getting the Mini Obs done.

Added are: Brackets to stop the wind lifting the roof off, side strips to hide the ugly rolling mechanisms, a proper framework for the channels, and an outside floor to give me something solid and flat to put my chair and desk on when capturing. :thumbsup:

Harry helped me throughout the whole process again and then he volunteered to paint it. (now he has painted the new bits, the rest is looking tatty, so I'll have to paint the whole cubby now! :P )

The Mini Obs is now fully functional, but guess what? It's cloudy again :doh:

1. Harry hard at work painting
2. The finished paint job on the framework and new outside floor

[Miaplacidus]

Brilliant! I want one. Er, two. Maybe three...

Congrats,

Brian.

[iceman]

That's excellent!

[Ric]

Thats a great little observatory Ken.

Cheers

[ballaratdragons]

And now we have all the parts working perfectly, here is Harry (11 years old) operating the roof on his own :thumbsup:

It is sooooo easy :thumbsup:

We made a really great 12 frame animation but it won't fit in here, so we made one with 5 frames for in here :)

[leon]

What a great job Ken, i have never seen anything like it, :thumbsup:

leon :thumbsup:

[Astroman]

I rekon you could motorise that ken :)

[ballaratdragons]

Neither had I until now :lol:

[ballaratdragons]

Wouldn't need much of a motor :lol:

[rmcpb]

Ken,

That is brilliant!! We often get carried away with what we want and don't look at what is at hand and what we need. Simple and fantastic :)

[ballaratdragons]

Astroman has kindly placed the 12 frame animation on the web so you can see Harry doing his thing :lol:

Thanks Andrew :thumbsup:

12 frame animation: http://www.sastormchasers.com/astronomy/ballaratdragons/

[Striker]

Fe fie fow fumb.

I new you were scary ken but didn't think you were a Giant.

What do you Ballarat boy eat down there.

Nice little set up Ken.

[avandonk]

Thats much better than my inverted garbage bin Ken!

Bert

[leon]

That animation is just great, I bet there is nothing like it anywhere, you should post it across all astronomy forums, it's a winner for sure.

Cheers leon

[ballaratdragons]

You mean the "Plastic Bucket Dryer" :lol:

Thats what Jake still thinks it is :)

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Leon, I'll probably just stick it on 1 or 2 others. :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Great work. Simple and effective.