M31 – The Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy is our nearest (big) galactic neighbour, at a distance of 2.5 million light years. It is about twice the size of our own Milky Way galaxy and the two are expected to merge in to a single galaxy in about 4.5 billion years time. Acquisition: Sky-Watcher Evostar 80ED DS-Pro, Sky-Watcher 0.85x reducer, ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool, […]
The Cygnus Wall
The Cygnus Wall is part of the North America Nebula (NGC7000). It is a huge cloud of ionized Hydrogen gas estimated to be 1,600 light years away and the location of some intense star formation. The darker region to the right of this image is not the empty background of space; we are looking at […]
Building a Small Imaging Observatory – Finishing Touches
It’s been a long haul, but we’re almost there. In this final part, there are just a few minor steps to complete the observatory. Roof Latches In order to keep the roof closed I obtained four large “Over Centre Fasteners” which are often sold online as accessories for horseboxes and trailers. The catches were screwed […]
Building a Small Imaging Observatory – Roof
In this part of the series, I will cover construction of the roof. This is the most complex part of the structure and it required a bit of trial and error to create something workable. The Roof Chassis There are various options for making a workable roll-off mechanism, but I settled on using V-Groove steel […]
Building a Small Imaging Observatory – Door
In this post, I will tackle the door frame and door. The construction method is the same as for the other three walls, but slightly more involved to ensure the door is secure and watertight. The Fourth Wall and Door Frame The first step in the construction of the fourth wall was to add a […]
Building a Small Imaging Observatory – Walls
In this post the observatory is starting to take shape. We will finish the floor and build the plain walls (I’ll cover the wall with the door frame later). The Floor The first step was to lay the floor which was made from a sheet of 11mm Oriented Strand Board (OSB). I used basic OSB2, […]
Building a Small Imaging Observatory – Foundations
In this post, we’ll get started on the foundations and framework for my roll-off roof back garden observatory. In the previous post, I finished building the telescope pier and now it’s time to enclose it. The Framework When planning this observatory, I considered a number of construction options. Many people buy a wooden, plastic or […]
Building a Small Imaging Observatory – The Pier
In this post, I’ll explain how I finished building the concrete pier for my roll-off roof back garden observatory. In the previous post, I covered the groundwork for the pier, and this time I will explain the process of building it. In the Mix The pier foundation and pier are constructed from concrete, as are […]
AR2673 with M-Class Flare
Today I managed to capture the end of a large M-Class flare from AR2673 which has been very active for most of this week: Scope: Lunt LS60THa/B1200CPT, 2x Barlow (for detail images) Camera: ZWO ASI174MM, FireCapture Mount: Sky-Watcher AZ-GT Processing: AutoStakkert! 2, PixInsight 1.8 Date: 9th September 2017, 12:04UTC
Building a Small Imaging Observatory – Groundwork
In this series of posts, I’ll set out details of how I built a small roll-off roof back garden observatory for my imaging equipment. I’m by no means an expert DIYer, though I do tackle smaller jobs around the house when the mood strikes. Building with wood is not as daunting as it might seem. […]