AN OBSERVATORY FOR THE GARDEN

The Contractor should arrive tomorrow to dig out the foundations for the concrete base and lay the outer ring of "cobbles" The addition of the Cobbles will add another 12" inches to the diameter of the base circle making it 9' altogether.

 

Yep, Sheal, I have warned the Contractor to keep smiling while he's digging it out!!

I'm thinking of sticking a sign on it "ARMANDII'S FOLLY"

 

Don't worry, Jiffy, it will be earthed correctly with a double set of RCD's in the link for safety.

 

A good question, Redwing. Firstly, I don't use the telescopes during the day so they don't get that hot. But a telescope coming out of the House is usually warmer than the air in the evening so you have to set it up outside a couple of hours before use, otherwise the warm air inside the scope is turbulent and can give distorted images.
The other "enemy" of an amateur astronomer is Dew. The moisture in the evening air will, after a while, form as Dew on the lenses and mirrors of telesopes and will fog up viewing. No amount of wiping will cure it, the Dew will keep on forming. But there are ways of combating Dew depending on the type of scope.
I have 3 types of telescopes [a]3 Newtonians, a Schmitt Cassegrain and [c] a Maksutov Cassegrain.
The last two are similar in basic design but have different way of reflecting light. They have a glass lens/correcter at the front sealing the scope tube which is a Dew magnet. So to help defeat that you put on a Dew shield, which is a metal or plastic tube on the front of the scope which extends the length of the scope and pulls back the lens/correcter from the cold moist air. There are Heater Bands that can be put around the front which will also keep the cold air from condensing on the glass lens/corrector. There are also heated Dew Shields, tubular, that fit on the front of the scope and do both jobs, keep the lens/corrector away from the cold moist air while also warming it and stopping dew.
The Newtonians are different in design and don't have a lens/corrector and so are open at the front. They take less time to cool down but has a small mirror, facing inwards, that can be affected by Dew so again a tubular Dew Shield is put on the front which will usually protect it. Dew will also affect the eyepieces and so some people use heater bands on them as well. So far I haven't found it necessary to to use those yet.
Installing the Dome will mean I can keep whichever scope I want to use permanently mounted inside it and so that will keep the scope cool and also allow less cold moist air around the scope which will give me Dew free viewing.....that's the idea anyway

 

That's a good scope, Rad , with an aperture of just over 5 inches so you should see enough stars with it.

Well, an Observatory is a different thing. I'm getting it because lugging the heavy NEQ6 mount out of the house, putting on a heavy 12" Newtonian and the setting up is something I don't want keep on doing especially during the Winter. I wanted somewhere I could be out of any lights so I could keep my night vision and also be fairly comfortable because I'm getting.
Astronomy isn't an inexpensive hobby but you can have all the expensive doodads, gadgets, premium eyepieces, etc, and it's all useless if there is a lot of cloud cover. But you have to be an optimist and hope the Cloud Gods will be kind to you There is a saying in the Astronomical world which is that if you buy a new piece of equipment then you get at least two weeks of complete cloud cover!!

 

Whenever I see Mars, Jupiter and especially Saturn my jaw always drops in the beauty of them and I always go Mars will be coming close again in 2016 and we should get a good long viewing period.

I've never seen Polaris!!! I use a compass and permanently painted direction signs on the patio and just align my South facing tripod leg taking into account that where I am True North is 1 degree to the West of Magnetic North.

I bought the NEQ6 when I first got the 10 and 12 inch Newtonians as my old CN5 mount couldn't handle them. It's a nice piece of machinery and handles the big Newts very well, and doesn't even seem to "know" when either the 9.25 SCT or the MAK 180 is on it, but weighs a "ton" so constantly lugging it around is a pain as I said. It can track a target at Sidereal, Lunar or Solar rate once you've found what you want. You do have to do a bit of PEC [periodic error correction] but once that's done it will stay very much with what your tracking. It can also take an auto guider which is even more accurate. I have the GPS mouse as well so I can get a proper position and set the mount for where ever I am.......takes the sting out of things!! I did wince at the price of it at first, I must admit, but I view it as a long term investment as I do with the rest of the kit. If you're thinking of staying with your scope [and it is a good scope] but want a better mount then the NEQ5 or equivalent would do fine.
I'm purely a visual astronomer, Rad, at the moment and I have light pollution but use an Orion Ultra Block filter or a Lumicon OIII filter to combat it. They do work and you can see the true colours of the Stars instead of just a sparkling white. I looked at Altair and Tarazed the other night with the Orion Ultra Block and both were their true "electric blue".....amazingly beautiful The only problem is that they also block out certain other wave lengths and so some surrounding stars either blank out or dim.

 

Speaking of views, there will be a perigee-syzgy Moon on the 28th September which means it will be full Moon occurring at the closest point in the Lunar orbit so it will be the largest full Moon of the year as well as being the 2015 Harvest Moon.

 

You want to build something like this! But it was a bit scary going up it



It was on the roof of this