1st Stage ARO Project Completed

[wysiwyg (Mark)]

Hi Guys,

Been a long time between posts for me but this is what has kept me busy.
ARO is a joing venture project including one other person and will house two remote observatories.

First stage of the ARO (Arkaroola Remote Observatory) observatory is now completed.
This is a 3m ScopeDome housing a TAK FSQ106EDXIII on a PME mount, remotely controlled via satellite broadband and powered by solar power.
Second stage will include a second 3m ScopeDome with a 20" CDK.

This project has been 12 months in the making and has finally reached operational stage. First light is scheduled for the end of this month maybe earlier

Actual build time was less than two weeks, spread over two trips. Planning and testing was the remainder.

Enjoy!

Cheers
Mark

[iceman (Mike)]

Wow, what a beautiful location!

Who owns the land?

[wysiwyg (Mark)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Wow, what a beautiful location!

Who owns the land?

Thanks Mike,

The land is privately owned and we are just tenants.

Cheers
mark

[Ric]

What an awesome looking setup Mark.

Hope first light is a beauty.

Do you know how many cloud free days/nights you can expect?

[wysiwyg (Mark)]

Originally Posted by Ric

What an awesome looking setup Mark.

Hope first light is a beauty.

Do you know how many cloud free days/nights you can expect?

Thanks Ric,

Based on 40 years of BOM historical data, we can expect 200+ cloud free nights give or take a few, one of the main reasons why we picked Arkaroola.

Cheers
Mark

[ChrisM]

Looking forward to seeing some results of your labours.

I remember Doug telling us at Arkaroola that he got close to 300 clear nights per year. We'd be luck to get 10% of that here!

Good luck with commissioning.

Chris

[Terry B]

Very nice.
What are you going to use it for? Any research?

[Ric]

Blimey 200+ nights, now that really makes all the effort worthwhile.

I'd be lucky to get half that lately.

[wysiwyg (Mark)]

Originally Posted by ChrisM

Looking forward to seeing some results of your labours.

I remember Doug telling us at Arkaroola that he got close to 300 clear nights per year. We'd be luck to get 10% of that here!

Good luck with commissioning.

Chris

Thanks Chris,

I dont think I could keep up with data processing if I imaged for 300 nights

Originally Posted by Terry B

Very nice.
What are you going to use it for? Any research?

Thanks Terry,

Initially Deep sky LRGB +NB imaging on both scopes, then possibly some research with the 20" further down the track, firstly we need to iron out all the wrinkles associated with remote imaging.

[traveller (Bo)]

Well done Mark.
I spent about 2.5 years in Whyalla and went up north to the Flinders and Leigh Creek for camping, loved the dark skies there.
Can we get some inside pics when it's set up?
Cheers,
Bo

[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

That's a credit to you guy's ... great achievement.

Flash

[wysiwyg (Mark)]

Originally Posted by traveller

Well done Mark.
I spent about 2.5 years in Whyalla and went up north to the Flinders and Leigh Creek for camping, loved the dark skies there.
Can we get some inside pics when it's set up?
Cheers,
Bo

Thanks Bo,

See attached image of the inside of the dome

Originally Posted by FlashDrive

That's a credit to you guy's ... great achievement.

Flash

Thanks Colin!

[mill (Martin)]

Looks very good Mark
When is that rusty pier getting painted?

[bert (Brett)]

Hey Mark,

Im interested how your power works. I can see solar, so I assume you are storing dc power. As far as I know the scopedomes use vsd controlled 3 phase motors. Most vsd drives are sensitive to power issues.

What power are you inputting into the VSD drives?

Brett

[wysiwyg (Mark)]

Originally Posted by mill

Looks very good Mark
When is that rusty pier getting painted?

Thanks Martin,

To tell you the truth I dont think I will bother. I dont have to look at it anymore

Originally Posted by bert

Hey Mark,

Im interested how your power works. I can see solar, so I assume you are storing dc power. As far as I know the scopedomes use vsd controlled 3 phase motors. Most vsd drives are sensitive to power issues.


What power are you inputting into the VSD drives?

Brett

Thanks Bert,

The panels are producing 108VDC to the Charge Controller, which then reduces it to a 48V charge supply to the bank of batteries, then using an inverter from 48VDC to 240VDC.

Mark

[Paul Haese]

Mark, several questions that I am sure others are also interested to know.

What are you doing about lightning strikes? Arkaroola does get lots of lightning on a regular basis. Will the system be protected and how are you doing this?

What about regreasing the mounts? I was told by the guys are Dingo Skies that they go through grease like water in hot weather on their PME mounts. They have a lot of mounts there. Temperatures in that region does often reach over 45 degrees. That temperature will make the grease run right out of the mount. Are you planning on regular visits?

Is the dome dust proof? Dust storms are frequent in the north of the state. Combine dust with 105 grease (the recommended grease by SB) and it makes for nice wear and sluggish performance.

Will cloud affect your satellite download performance and communications with equipment? If so what contingencies have you got in place.

I have been considering a remote observatory since I saw your October talk at ASSA. I know you have thought of just about every issue, but I wonder if you have thought of these issues.

I look forward to seeing the images the site can produce.

[Moon (James)]

Mark
That second picture with the dome on the top of the hill says it all - very impressive.
I hope it all goes smoothly.
James

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

I'd be worried about vandals and thieves!

Whenever I read 'Remote' I always think "so who is watching it?"

But geez Wizzy, that's one hell of a nice setup mate

[wysiwyg (Mark)]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Mark, several questions that I am sure others are also interested to know.

What are you doing about lightning strikes? Arkaroola does get lots of lightning on a regular basis. Will the system be protected and how are you doing this?

What about regreasing the mounts? I was told by the guys are Dingo Skies that they go through grease like water in hot weather on their PME mounts. They have a lot of mounts there. Temperatures in that region does often reach over 45 degrees. That temperature will make the grease run right out of the mount. Are you planning on regular visits?

Is the dome dust proof? Dust storms are frequent in the north of the state. Combine dust with 105 grease (the recommended grease by SB) and it makes for nice wear and sluggish performance.

Will cloud affect your satellite download performance and communications with equipment? If so what contingencies have you got in place.

I have been considering a remote observatory since I saw your October talk at ASSA. I know you have thought of just about every issue, but I wonder if you have thought of these issues.

I look forward to seeing the images the site can produce.

Paul,

Re: Lightning Strikes
You can never fully protect a system against lightning strikes, and just a few days ago there were lightning storms in the area and very high winds. Winds reached 117km/h and we had the site inspected and all was in pristine condition.
Grounding is difficult on the site as its solid rock just an inch below the surface and no moisture, so there is no way you can drive a 2.4m grounding rod into there.
There are more sophisticated solutions but they are very expensive.
We are mostly going by local knowledge and from what we have gathered there have been no lightning hits reported on any infrastructure in the area, that is not to say it will not happen to us. So I guess we are just praying it wont!.

Re: Grease
This is something we are definitely keeping an eye at the moment and will make a decision what the best grease is if at all needed. We will be up there again in the next few months so we will assess the situation then.
We are planning on 2 maintenance trips per year unless a major fault occurs. The system was tested for months at my place before it was sent up there so hopefully we have covered all the bases.

Re: Dust
Nothing is ever dust proof, especially in an observatory. Shutter must open sometime and dust is unavoidable. But contrary to your belief dust storms are very rare in Arkaroola according to the locals. The terrain is mostly rock and very few plains.
The observatory is perched on top of a rocky hill surrounded by cliffs on one side and rocks and vegetation on the other, so apart from the dust that is at the top its very minimal.
We worked there during some strong winds and the only dust that was visible was the dust we created from working on the site. Once a decent rainfall hits it will wash down hill.
We are also planning on covering the area with some gravel to reduce it further.

Re: Cloud Effect
Clouds do not effect the satellite signal at all, at least not that we have noticed. I had a clean connection to the site during those thunderstorms and there was no clear degradation to signal or quality.

Re: Images
Me too!

Originally Posted by Moon

Mark
That second picture with the dome on the top of the hill says it all - very impressive.
I hope it all goes smoothly.
James

Thanks James,

Appreciate your compliment

Originally Posted by ballaratdragons

I'd be worried about vandals and thieves!

Whenever I read 'Remote' I always think "so who is watching it?"

But geez Wizzy, that's one hell of a nice setup mate

Thanks Ken,

Yes that is always a concern. But we have the site on private property which will be monitored by locals, so hopefully we will never have to deal with such dire events.
We have IP cameras that monitor the domes so there is some level of security, and we also hope that people will do the decent thing and just appreciate it rather than vandalise it.
We have it insured off course, but we hope we never have to use it.

Cheers
Mark

[TrevorW]

Impressive