AN OBSERVATORY FOR THE GARDEN

, Oh, yes!!

 

The finish is very glossy and smooth, Joolz, so it's fairly self cleaning, even bombing by birds
doesn't seem to stay on for a day

 

Hi trogre, actually, I don't have to bother with aligning Polaris when observing anymore due to having my scope in a permanent position and having carried out the Drift Alignment on my Mount, which only needs doing the once because the Mount is adjusted permanently after that.
Yep, you're right if you can't see Polaris when setting up outside then,unless you carry out the Drift Alignment method, you will have trouble keeping on track with a target star as it moves from East to West even if you have a motor drive of some sort on a equatorial mount.
When I was observing outside I, to save time and trouble, positioned my scope [in the parked position] on three marks on the patio so that [a] I was in the same position every time with the front leg of the tripod facing South [I used a compass to set the tripod legs correctly and then marked those positions,
the Mount already had been permanently adjusted to my Latitude and Longitude on the Declination Circle and the Azimuth adjustment......and that would get me, roughly aligned with Polaris even though I couldn't see it. That served me enough so that my target star would stay on track for 10 or more minutes.
Then when I got the Observatory I used the compass again to set the tripod and mount in the North/South alignment with the Mount already adjusted to my Longitude and Latitude. But that would still only give me around 10 minutes or so using the motor tracking and Star Alignment. So I "fine tuned" the declination and azimuth on the mount permanently by using the Drift Alignment method. You basically target a star in the South, East and West, until,adjusting the declination and azimuth, with each Star you can stay with that Star for at least half an hour or more without adjustment. The result of fine tuning the declination and azimuth on all 3 Stars will get the Mount to track a Star, even without using a Star alighment for GOTO, for more than an hour. I've done that and so, now, I can just walk into the Observatory, power up the scope and know it will track any Star I choose and keep that Star in the center of view for over an hour.
There's no reason why anyone viewing outside can't do the same if they've got permanently marked spots to place the tripod legs on, have adjusted the azimuth and declination of the mount to their Latitude and Longitude [which should only need doing once] and then use the Drift Alignment method to fine tune the Declination and Azimuth].......all of that only being relevant if the tripod has a motor drive of some sort and can have the Declination and Azimuth adjusted.

 

I have to dress up in cold weather gear, trogre, even in the Observatory and had a couple of runs of 3 nights or more of good observing in the last couple of weeks. When packing up in the early hours of the morning I've seen ice glistening on the inside of the Dome because of the hard frosts. So I wear a Thermal Fishing Jacket, thermals under my Jeans, and a woolly hat to keep me warm!! My scope has a Dew Shield/heater on it to stop fogging and even my Telrad Finder has a little heater attached to the finder display to keep it clear.

I think it's a good idea for those who don't want to do Star Alignment for their GOTO. But a lot of the Astronomy Forums,while thinking that it is a good idea, [a] think it is expensive [around £400], that in the not too distant future it will be incorporated as standard in every GOTO Mounts, [c] it only take 5 minutes or less to do a 3 Star alignment so why spend money on something that is done easily and increases your skills?
As you know, Orion has been to the South at around 11pm every night for the last few weeks. So I've been observing the Orion Nebula and associated Stars along with Betelguese, Rigel, Mars, [Venus is too low for me], and the Pleiades.......fantastic!!
At times the skies have been so clear and stable that I've used a Radian 3mm eyepiece at least twice into the Orion Nebula on 1000X magnification, but most times I started with a 32mm Plossi to find what I've wanted to look at, and then gone through a 24mm, 19mm, 13mm, and 10mm eyepiece to find the best one for the night.
Tonight is, I believe, the last clear night for a week or two so I'll be out there tonight but, as it was gone 3am this morning before I powered down the Observatory. I'm not too sure how long I will last. There have been times when I've been really tired but had to keep looking through the scope as the views have been so beautiful.

 

It's another crystal clear night tonight and I've been out there just admiring the heavens full of lights.