AN OBSERVATORY FOR THE GARDEN

Hi Sheal, yes, it has been worth the wait, especially after that night.

Well, imagine you're out there in the dark peering through a telescope and what you can see is a dark, but glowing, cloud with lots of "arms" and twists in it, [but when you were looking through the binoculars it was just a small smudge in the skies], and then in that cloud are three or more bright dots. What takes your breath away is when you realise that the light you are seeing from the glowing cloud and the three or more bright spots has taken over 245 Light years to get to your eye. Then you remember that a [light] year is one where light travels nearly 6 trillion miles in that one year], but then you have to multiply that by 245 so you then know that the light from that particular Nebula and those stars has travelled 1470 trillion miles to get to you!! Also, you know that the Cloud might appear small in your eye but actually is probably billions of miles in width and depth and that the 3 or more stars probably have planets orbiting them.........Oh, Yes, it's fascinating!!

 

Hi Shiney, thanks. Once I had got the problem of water seeping under the base sorted I got my head down and starting working on it every day, with one day looking at my watch to find it had gone 10pm. I managed to scrape and cut my hands as though I had been fighting a cat!!. But, because I had already ordered, and stowed most of the stuff going into the Observatory to get it up and running in the garage, I was able to go from one phase to the next without any real delay.

Regarding , they follow me to the Observatory and sit outside miaowing in protest at the closed door. I have allowed them both in once so they get satisfy that Cat curiosity and catalogue all the new smells etc.

 

Hi Fern, sorry for the delay in replying. There's no heating in the Observatory as you've have to keep equipment at nearly the same temperature as outside otherwise warm air carries moisture and when it cools it puts a film of dew onto the glass corrector plates on the SCT telescopes and then you can't see!!
I keep as warm as toast as I wear my Fishing Jacket which keeps you warm down past -15c. I also wear my Fishing thermal boots [just warm wellies!!] so my feet are are warm and then I wear a woolly hat to make me look like the Mad Axe Man!!

 

I saw your picture on the 'Wanted' poster

 

I'd recognise anywhere!

 

I apologise for the poor quality of the pics but it's a bit difficult taking pics, without a flash, in the dark but I thought you might like an idea of what it looks like in the Observatory when using the Telescopes:

With a flash


The small heater and work light are no longer there.


Red light will not make you lose your night vision, which increases over time in the dark.










Actually, the red LED lighting is a lot dimmer [you can dim or raise the brightness] than in the images. I use the red light initially while pulling back the shutter, sorting out the power, computer settings, and the seat. After that the LED lighting goes off and you're in the dark......lovely!!

 

I like the LED lighting appearing as stars.

 

Not really, Sheal, despite the spread legs of the tripod and the telescope/dew shield being just over 4' long there's plenty of space. When the red LED lighting is switched off the shutter is usually pulled open letting in the Star/Moon light. If the shutter is closed and the lighting is off it's completely black inside the observatory....which is when I either stub my toe on something or bang my head on the telescope, [which doesn't move!!], and I then trying to grope around trying to find a switch for some sort of lighting or the handle to the door

 

But the light is fairly dim, [a bit like me] and nowhere near as bright as in the images.