Sacrifice a Horizon ..

[alandee]

Hi Folks, just after some thoughts on which horizon to sacrifice and which end to fold down in my planning for a roll off roof observatory .. Can't afford and don't like advertising with a dome as I'm building out bush and won't be there all the time ..

I'm thinking of giving up the western horizon and having the north and south fold down .. but my designs are a bit naff at the moment, so I might need to lose either the north or south .. tough call. I figure losing the east west is OK as everything will eventually pass overhead to an extent ? Luckily, I don't have any obstructions in any direction, unluckily that means there are no benefits, only drawbacks.

Any thoughts, hints, tips and traps I should consider ?

Cheers,
al.

[xelasnave]

I faced the same problem. My solution was to go for a window South to North as this gives you the sky above you .. opting East West is a convenience only but the South North shows it all sooner or later. The "rock"observatory goes for mainly directly above to South a consideration arrived at to get the best photos.
alex

[rmcpb (Rob)]

Make sure you have good horizons to the north and south for the reasons you have already give BUT make sure you can view anything higher than 30 degrees to either the east and west and you are away. If its a roll off roof it does not have to be high walled and the scope and your head can stick out when you are using it.

Cheers

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

Well, I would have said lose your south, as everything rotates up from there, but if you lose your east-west you lose planets and anything that might be going on there, and maybe even comets. It might also depend on where your worst source of light pollution is.

[sheeny (Al)]

Blue Skies makes sense to me. I would probably sacrifice the low altitude circumpolar objects since I rarely tend to observe them when they are low in the sky.

Al.

[alandee]

Good advice as always, thanks folks.

[glenc (Glen)]

Keep the northern horizon, because objects in the far north transit at low altitudes, and keep the south above the SCP.

[CoombellKid]

I'd go for the south, for the same reason Glen has mentioned.

regards,CS