Advice on mobile observatory

[rthorntn]

Hello you very helpful bunch,

It's been a while since I was last on IIS, I moved to my forever house and have no useful view of the sky now. My Astro gear is gathering dust.

I have started thinking about a mobile observatory, hitch it to the car and go somewhere dark, basically a glorified heavy-duty, cross-shaped steel trailer frame with my EQ6 pier welded to the intersection of the cross (for easy access around the scope without standing on something connected to the pier, for visual work) with linear actuators at each of the four extremities (to lift the wheels off the ground, level and stabilise it). When off the ground it should be stable enough for basic astrophotography.

........hitch
...........|
wheel--+--wheel
...........|
.........back

Maybe the trailer:

- Should have a lightweight removable floor, sides and roof to protect it from the elements?
- Should have the pier able to rotate when setting up?
- Should have a way to securely park the 10" SCT in a protective cradle during transit?
- Should have great suspension / shock absorbers?
- Should have a battery tray?
- Has a solar panel built into the roof?

Anyone:

- Pros/Cons?
- Done this in Oz?
- Seen anything like this in Oz?
- Able to point me in the right direction?
- Have any tips?
- Know anyone that can design/build it?
- Have any idea of the costs involved?

Thanks for looking.

Cheers
Richard

[JA]

There are many on youtube to see here are a few....

Best
JA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrvi06ATWbs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEEPTKaC2jk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXKXDiL5ZcI

[rthorntn]

Thanks JA!

[OzEclipse]

Dust sealing is difficult with something that disassembles as much as you intend. When driving along a dusty road, there is a vacuum behind the trailer that sucks dust into the trailer. Pay attention to this aspect.

Joe

[xelasnave]

I have been thinking about similar and think it would be best carrying everything in a box and set up at each new location.
My concerns re vibration and dust makes me feel that the idea of carrying all set up would not work all that well.
The idea of stopping and be viewing within moments of arrival is great but would probably not work out that way.
Alex

[glend]

You definitely do not want to carry telescopes in a box trailer, they must go inside a car and be well secured. I can not see the point of setting up a mount on a trailer, it should be on the ground. You can use a trailer to carry a mount, my mount travels inside my camper trailer but it rides in its original foam padded shipping box and is tied down. There are not usually any shock absorbers on box trailers, so rebound will tend to throw things in rhe air, unless tied down.

[rthorntn]

Thanks OzEclipse, xelasnave & glend, great feedback!

I hadn't thought of dust, probably safest to put a reasonably airtight cover over the scope & mount.

I think that if I was to do this then the trailer would have suspension / shock absorbers.

Any ideas who could make something like this?

[iborg]

Hi

Try talking to the off road trailer makers. I think their trailers do have good suspension.

If nothing else, they may be able to point you in the right direction for better answers.

Philip

[rthorntn]

Thanks iborg!

[Wavytone]

Two alternative I considered some decades ago:

1. buy a minibus or slightly larger (the kind used to ferry families to airports):

- rip out the rear seats and install scope in the rear, rough estimates suggested quite a large SCT or cassegrain was possible up to C14 or even a Meade 16, if you had your own mechanical workshop to do the mods.

- modify the roof to open as a "moon roof", ie a sunroof rather longer and wider than usual.

- pier supporting the mount had to include an electric hoist to raise and lower it by about 50 cm. These are just a big worm drive inside a column. Raised to put the scope up above roof height for observing, down for transport with the lid shut.

- Scope would probably be altaz mounted as this was a visual only setup.

2. Buy a camper van - the old type with the popup roof.

Gut the interior apart from the front seats.
Remodel roof so that it becomes a roll-off roof, with secure clamps holding it in place while in transit.
- scope pier includes adjustable electric hoist as above.

In each you'll have to learn to sit still - don't rock the boat !

[JA]

Hi WT,

I was thinking along similar lines, but on a smaller scale- perhaps an SUV converted with a large rear pop out moonroof, located over and the size of the rear cargo compartment. A typical sunroof is too small.

Or taking things even more simply, just outfit the rear seat of a 4 seater convertible. That way there would be no need for a lift for the mount, as you could simply install the top of your mount as close to the underside of the roof as possible and then add scope when in position, OR install it with scope attached, at the expense of less scope height.

AND .... keep really still, get out of the vehicle and/or employ devices to negate the car's suspension.

Best
JA

[Gnat]

Find this last night. http://portableobservatories.com/startraveler.php
They may have specifications or at least they have pics to help.

[ZeroID]

You need to get the 'mount' down onto the ground. Anything on suspension is going to move and be inherently unstable. Even the scope tracking will shift balance.
Has to be a small trailer with levelling legs in the corners at least. It's either that or you pull the scope out and set it up separately.

[rthorntn]

Thanks Wavytone, JA, Gnat & ZeroID!

I'm leaning more towards optimising my setup for quick deployment on the ground, spend the money on:

- optimising storage and make it quick and easy to load/unload
- lowering equipment weight and simplifying scope setup
- documenting and practicing the process

It probably involves buying a trailer but it doesn't need to be custom.

Right now I have:

EQ6
EQ3
Steel Pier
Meade 10" ACF SCT
AR102 102mm refractor
Lunt 60
Orion 80mm ShortTube
Nikon ED50
Canon 6D
Canon M6

I was doing planetary visual but I want to branch out and give everything else a go (DSO, astrophotography, EQMOD, guiding...).

I remember lugging the SCT and EQ6 and lifting in to position was a PITA and that was years ago, I'm thinking trolleys, I have always wanted one with a scissor lift...

I have heard adding stuff like this can help:

TheSky, Tpoint, inclinometers, lightweight portable piers, encoders, rotating pier adapters...

Thoughts, tips, tricks?

[PhilTas]

I’ll throw this one into the ideas mix...

It’s still very much an on again/off again work in progress.
The trailer was originally built to carry quad bikes, I cut a rectangular panel out of the middle to have a ground-based pier, which isolates the pier/telescope from the trailer. The trailer was 2 metres width, so I built a treated pine floor on bearers to get it to 2350mm for the width of the sky shed pod.
The trailer is registered, but the pod width puts it right on the limit before it becomes a wide load.
My 5 acre block is heavily vegetated, so the trailer gives me the option to chase the sky view.

[akbar260]

Southern Cross Outreach Observatory Project (SCOOP) is possibly Australia's first mobile observatory. After spending one year on designing and putting the best of my engineering instincts and mathematics, I constructed and launched this project in 2016. It has so far clocked 3700 km on Australian roads. It is also a partner public science project for National Science Week since 2017.
It is equipped with Orion Pro AZ/EQ-G mount and Celestron C11 SCT. It consists of a Skyshed POD permanently fixed on a 2.5m wide dual axle trailer with heavy duty jacks. It has a windbreak and a cargo hold in front so most of the weight is distributed in the front half. I have developed internal anchors and stabilizers for the dome to make it possible to drive at speeds up to 80-90 kph.
The OTA sits inside the cargo hold during driving.
I have minimized the problem of vibration using jacks, dual axle, wheel chokes, and vibration pads for mount etc. For visual astronomy, it is usually not a problem as the vibrations dampen within 1-2 seconds and if you stay still. For astrophotography, I simply set up the gear and walk out. No issues at all.
So yes, mobile observatory is a practical thing to do. It has its pros and cons, but I think it is a useful idea.
The details of the project can be found on our facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/scoopastronomy/

Please go through it, and feel free to ask me any questions regarding the project.
And all the best for your venture. It would be a dream coming true to see many mobile observatories on Australian roads, carrying the astronomy fever to remote communities.
https://www.facebook.com/scoopastronomy/photos/a.1622438037819004.1073741837.89883 1330179682/1622462604483214/?type=3&theater

[akbar260]

Few more pictures