The "TeaRoom Observatory"

For those that are interested here is my Observatory and some basic information on how it was put together.

Why did I build one, well its simple. To use a telescope for imaging you need to set all the equipment, there is lots of it, each time. Line up the mount, do a polar alignment and many other procedures so as to have a mont track the sky well. This used to take a few hours to do and was driving me nuts, its hard to get it consistent as well. You could not also do last minute setups if for instance the sky was bad early in the evening and then clears late at night you would be messing around until the silly hours. The you have to put it all away.

Time for an observatory, time to work on the wife and a few pounds later and I have the perfect solution. Now you walk out into the garden open the door, remove the roof panel, switch on the telescope and away you go. 10 minutes or less it takes. It is sheltered, reduces problems with the neighbour and his lights, and gives good privacy.

Its worth noting, I now make far more use of my telescopes than I ever did before. Its a worthwhile investment.

I decided to keep it simple and low cost because of the location. We suffer quite bad light pollution being in a town setting and the master plan is to move in a few years to a dark location and set up a more permanent observatory made out of brick and having also having the luxury of a purpose built motorised dome along with a warm room/office built to one side of the dome, this may even form part of the house. My job will allow me to move almost anywhere.

This is sited on an 12" thick concrete base and has a 300mm concrete pier in the centre. I have not isolated the pier from the base, I was expecting problems with vibration but 2 tons of concrete does not move when you walk on it so I have not had a problem yet.

The framework of the observatory consists of 2" x 2" timber in the shape of an octagon then wrapped in white plastic coated corrugated metal sheets. This affords me good security and at the same time kept the maintenance down.

The roof is ply formed to make a pyramid and then a slot was cut in after to form the viewing area. The viewing area is covered in three ply plastic sheet, serving two purposes, its light so easy to remove and lets in light during the day. This all sits on 8 rollers so the whole roof can be rotated. The felt covering is not the best way of protecting the roof but it does the job well and stops the observatory standing up to much. The use of plants in 2005 will help soften it more.

Above: The pod can be seen sticking out the side. Covered in lead flashing to keep it waterproof

There is a pod that sticks out on one side to allow for the use of a PC in the room without taking up floor space. This is a simple ply construction covered in lead flashing to make it waterproof.

Inside

Inside the done I have a custom made pier top mount that is bolted to a re-bar reinforced 300mm concrete pier. I had a local engineering company make the pier top mount. A 300mm diameter solid steel bar was used and shaped in a lathe.

It cost far less than a bought one and is well over engineered and very heavy. It will support the whole telescope kit without even being bolted down, if I was brave enough! (£50 total). The pier top mount was designed so that it could be modified if needed to accept another EQ mount.

Above: G11 adaptor ring

I Started with a Celestron ASGT mount and then modifed the pier top mount with an adaptor ring to fit the new G11. This locks round the centre raised part of the pier mount and then the Losmandy G11 slots in to the pier mount. This gives me the advantage that its very easy to swap the EQ mounts over if needed.

Above: The pod from the inside. Enough room to house the PC and all its accessories. The PC is GPS linked via a Road Angel (this is a speedtrap warning system) this sets the time on the PC and also gives time and location data to the ASGT mount (when in use) This setup helps GOTO's be far more precise The PC is networked to the house (wireless) everything can be powered by 12v on standby batteries should I get the luxury of a black out in the neighbourhood.

Main Equipment List.

Celestron 8" SCT Telescope.
Orion ED 80 Telescope
Losmandy G11 Equatorial Mount
Celestron ASGT Equatorial Mount (Go to).
Argo Navis Computer and Losmandy Digital Setting Circles (Fitted to G11)
Canon 10d Digital Camera (unmodified)
Watec 120N CCD Camera
PC fitted with TV card for image capture off the Canon or Watec, GPS system, WiFi

Main software used in the dome is.

DSLR Focus - Used to fine tuning the focus of the telescope when imaging with my Canon 10D
GuideDog - Used for correcting any errors in the mounts when imaging. G11 or ASGT

Above: The custom made steel pier mount cost £50 from a local engineering company.
ASGT mount can be seen here.

Above: Celestron ASGT EQ Mount,
Celestron 8" SCT, Orion ED 80 and Telrad.
Either telescope may be used as a guide scope it just depends on what I am imaging at the time.

I have made some changes to accommodate the new Losmandy G11 and Argo Navis as I have mentioned above. The images below show the latest setup in the dome.

The pier mount collar can be seen and I have also added a new telescope bed to the dovetail. This is to allow both telescopes to sit side by side. Its made of 15 mm aluminium sprayed satin black. Once again it is over engineered.

Two ply mounting boards have been added either side of the pier to accommodate the telescope control units and computers.

Above: The latest setup.
Losmandy G11 EQ Mount, Celestron 8" SCT and Orion ED80 on telescope bed.

Above: Telescope bed on dovetail.

Above: Argo Navis Computer. Losmandy G11 Computer.
Watec camera controller. Losmandy Control pad

Well there it is. I have not gone into great detail on how it was all made, its really more to show you what I made. It has made using the telescope much easier, pleasurable faster and was worth every penny.

Why is it called the "Tearoom", well my son said it looked like a Chinese tearoom with the shape of the roof.

Keep an eye on the photograph section as I will start to add some of my astro images.