My micro observatory is now 12 months old. It has had a lot of use and it’s ease of use has proved a real boon for observing and my first steps with imaging. It has withstood the full range of weather conditions southern Tasmania could throw at it
I thought I would share it’s design and construction as the ideas may be of interest and perhaps worth trying. It would be particularly appealing for people with very limited space. You might say it is ironic that I took this approach, given that the photos show I have plenty of space. Yes, the next step will be an observatory some time in the future.
In the meantime, the pier has been in place for many years. In the past, as a visual observer, I would simply carry out my TRex mount, attach to the pier, add a telescope and start observing. The rotating round wooden shelves were used to hold eyepieces and accessories.
Last year I bought a second hand EQ mount and wanted to mount it permanently to avoid all the set up and polar alignment hassles. The simplest and quickest solution was to find a way of setting this mount up on the existing pier. This would get me up and running quickly and I could think about and plan for an observatory latter.
With some minor adjustments, I found I was able to bolt the mount directly to the existing pier.
Next step was to make a weather proof cover that could simply be lifted off. I found that the 20litre camping barrels at Bunnings were a perfect fit over the existing shelves. But most importantly, I found that if I cut the top and bottoms off the barrels at the right spot, they would nest perfectly generating a long and light weight tube with water proof joints - the lip of the lower barrel fits snuggly up inside the barrel above. These could then be bolted together with rubber O rings to seal the fastenings. The inside sections of the barrels are lined with aluminium foil and foam sandwich insulation and I have painted the outside to help further reflect direct sunlight.
The shelves all have holes and gaps to allow vertical ventilation flow and there is a top vent made of left over plumbing pipes. Last summer, our highest daytime temperature was 37 deg - the inside of the observatory stayed at a consistent 38 deg. So this should be gentle on the equipment. I have not yet detected any internal condensation. In fact, I have found when putting the cover on late at night with dew all over the mount, that everything has dried out by the time I check after breakfast the next day.
It takes me three minutes to set up and be ready for use.
- Items to carry out of the house are the telescope (with accessories attached, eg camera etc on imaging scope, or diagonal on larger visual scope) and the laptop.
- Lift off cover.
- Attach counterweight bar and counter weight (stored on shelves). Pre set balance marks ensure repeatable perfect balance no matter which scope and accessories combination I am using.
- Attach telescope.
- Roll over the trolley that is stored under the verandah - it is under the green cover in photo 2.
- Attach all cables.
- Run 240V lead from external powerpoint 6 meters away under the verandah.
- Turn on mount.
Hopefully the photograph tell the rest of the story.