SharpCap Forums

After seeing Robin display his wonderful home-built observatory, I decided to share some pics of mine and ask others to post pics of theirs. It is really neat to see what others have done or planning to do.

My roll-of-roof is located on top of my 4-car garage just north of Orlando, Florida. It is parked position, the scope is 20 feet above street level and the adjustable pier can be raised another 20" to clear the ROR borders. The cement pier runs over 4 ft. underground up to the observatory floor some 15 ft. where at the adjustable steel pier was placed. Then an AP1100 mount was installed (it previously was a AP Mach 1) to place the C11" EdgeHD with a Stellarvue 80mm Apo triplet piggybacked onto it. Both scopes have an electronic filter wheel and auto-focusers.

The inside of the observatory is not fancy but it has all of the essentials: AC split unit, dehumidifier, red and white lights, lots of outlets, a wall and desk monitors, white light panel (but I also use the t-shirt/sky method) for flats, storage cabinets, workbench and most importantly, 2 recliner chairs to visually observe the night sky.

It's not perfect but it works for me. I like fact I can just go upstairs to my above-the-ground "man cave" to use my scope and the security of not having to deal with bears and poisonous snakes outside my house. The biggest negative is my sky conditions have now gone from Bortle 6 to 7 and we have had way more cloudy nights than when I lived in California. Also, summer in Florida is almost an astrophotography wash- very hot and humid.

Finally, I noticed Robin added a weather station to his observatory so I was compelled to add one to mine much to my wife's eye-roll . I just blamed Robin for this .

So, share photos of your home observatory!

Hi Bruce,

thanks for sharing, that's an absolutely magnificent setup. It's kind of scary that you have to consider the possibility of bears and snakes! If I hear movement in the undergrowth when using my observatory, it's most likely a hedgehog or a rat, or at worst the neighbours cat...

Looking forward to seeing some more observatories and set-ups!

cheers,

Robin

Hey Robin

I finally installed my weather station as inspired by seeing yours. I think this is the last piece to add to my observatory. The location was tough to pick per the dos and don'ts as to where it would function best. My wife wasn't crazy about me putting it in an area that she is developing as a garden, so I immediately told her I got the idea from you! Now, I just need to see stars again- 6 straight months of bad weather

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

yes, positioning the weather station is tricky - unless you have a large field (or a very tall pole), the wind readings are going to be affected by surrounding buildings/trees/etc. I seem to recall from my Meteorology days that 10x further away from any obstacle than the height of the obstacle was what you should aim for!!! Given the wind is almost always going to be compromised, aiming for sunshine, rain and temperature being OK is best. My sensor is too sensitive to sunlight increasing the temperature reading. As bought it was 4-5 or more celcius added on by being in sunlight. I added some white plastic shading and a 12V ducted fan, which reduces it to ~2C (but does nothing for the looks).

Maybe you could tell the wife that she can grow some climbers up the pole of the weather station to help it blend in

cheers,

Robin