Mike just a thought once you have the dome on I would check the stability of the structure with just those four piers .Its probably fine otherwise you could use steel piers and bolt onto the deck with deeper footings.Look foward to seeing it all finished.
Yes, thought of that Derek and we did dig deeper footings but the support strength seems very good. I may well drive a couple of star pickets at 45deg deep into the ground under the edge of the deck and chain it down just in case of very high winds. The observatory itself will be held down with large roofing screws and a bolt and nut where possible
Mike
Last edited by strongmanmike; 30-07-2014 at 09:24 AM.
I will eventually, initially though I will just run an extension cord out as I do now, the batteries will be inside the shed. Was thinking of controlling the Obs lappie with MS remote desk top..? not sure never done that before though..?
Mike
Yeah I can't see why not. Very cool setup. Armchair imaging. My kind of stuff.
With some help from my son Riley and two of his ADFA mates and my neighbours large trailer, we successfully shifted the 2.3m Sirius Observatory...a whopping 1km away.... next door
We managed to move it in just two pieces and thus just two trips so the task was quite straightforward
I have now secured the observatory to the deck, which proved perfectly level so the dome rotates beautifully with just two fingers
Tomorrow will be sealing day, and since it is now 3 years since taking delivery of the AG12 and while I have the scope down I think I will clean the mirrors before re-erecting it at the new site
Mike
ah yes...in my haste to get the observatory shifted..I um err forgot to clean her again
With some help from my son Riley and two of his ADFA mates and my neighbours large trailer, we successfully shifted the 2.3m Sirius Observatory...a whopping 1km away.... next door
We managed to move it in just two pieces and thus just two trips so the task was quite straightforward
I have now secured the observatory to the deck, which proved perfectly level so the dome rotates beautifully with just two fingers
Tomorrow will be sealing day, and since it is now 3 years since taking delivery of the AG12 and while I have the scope down I think I will clean the mirrors before re-erecting it at the new site
Mike
ah yes...in my haste to get the observatory shifted..I um err forgot to clean her again
i hope to move mine soon but don't have a base to setup on yet. well done
i hope to move mine soon but don't have a base to setup on yet. well done
Well, I remember you have the space in the back yard (?) and your move distance is short too, so as you can see, with a trailer you can happily move it in just two pieces and two trips = much less work in both pull down and re-setup ...I was lucky I wasn't travelling on public roads so you would have to secure it better to the trailer and no one could ride in the trailer either .
Yes Tony, dark skies do help, although my skies are good they are not true dark skies as I am less than 10km from the edge of Canberra so somewhere between Bortel scale 3 and 4 but easily accessible (30min drive) from the Canberra CBD where we are about to move to
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joshua Bunn
Exiting stuff Mike. It looks a little dry out there, looking at that last middle picture. Has the rain been scarce?
No not really dry Josh, probably just the angle of that photo, I had to postpone the concrete pour two weeks ago due to a week of wet weather.
Well today I silicone sealed around the base of the dome, installed the metal pier, rubber flooring, seal around the support pier and the NJP mount and tonight polar aligned (see below!!).
Tonight an absolute miracle occurred!!!! After driving a star picket into the ground to mark true south using binoculars to site the SCP a couple of weeks ago before the column pour and then siting the bolt pattern off this when pressing the bolts into the wet concrete and after installing the metal support pier and NJP mount today... tonight I found out how close I got it ....well, to my disbelief I was absolutely flabbergasted to see tonight when looking through the NJP polar scope that it was pointing exactly at the SCP, I mean exactly ie to within 2 arc min of the pole, no kidding!! just incredible, I couldn't believe my eyes, I did not need to make a single alt/az adjustment. Now THAT's what I call getting the concrete bolt pattern alignment planning on the money ...who needs T-Point, I have Star-picket Point
Of course as you would have guessed with no scope installed yet...not only was it cold, clear and still tonight but the seeing looked excellent too with no discernible twinkling in stars higher than about 30deg above the horizon
Oh and I also installed "La La" the Iron Chicken, she's the security
Mike
Last edited by strongmanmike; 04-08-2014 at 12:09 AM.
So good when a plan comes together Mike, Good oll star pickets! Bet your happy to be back under the stars.
I seriously could not believe my eyes ..I had to really make sure I wasn't seeing things, I even rang my wife to tell her..and got a "that's nice dear"
I will be happy once the solar power system and batteries are installed and I see everything working as it it should...but yes it is a beautiful spot and I savoured the conditions and soaked it all in
Yeah, still a few things to do but it's looking good anyway...even if it doesn't work yet
It was a lovely night last night too, the view from up there is spectacular under a partial moon. Those mountains all had snow on them Sat morning too.
.
....well, to my disbelief I was absolutely flabbergasted to see tonight when looking through the NJP polar scope that it was pointing exactly at the SCP, I mean exactly ie to within 2 arc min of the pole, no kidding!! just incredible, I couldn't believe my eyes, I did not need to make a single alt/az adjustment. Now THAT's what I call getting the concrete bolt pattern alignment planning on the money 
..I had to really make sure I wasn't seeing things, I even rang my wife to tell her..and got a "that's nice dear" 
