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[quote author=Mr.Gorp link=topic=233.msg4335#msg4335 date=1295656461]
Best type of foundation is some what subjective. What are your goals? permanent? warm? easy maintenance? easy to work on? Keeps out bugs? easy access?"Spa Observatory" Sounds to me like a much more than an observatory? Is the spa on the bottom level? Built in, or attached?
Is 15×15 big enough or are their ordances to be contended with? (When we built our screened porch, it started as a 12×12, then ended up with 14×18 and wishing we'd added 2 more feet.
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Basically all of the above. This will be a permanent structure that has to blend into the neighborhood and be stylish in such a way not to harm anyone's property value. Since it is over 100sq.ft. it will require a permit and the type of rolloff roof will have to be stamped by an engineer. I want it to safely and securely hold all my equipment since it will have several telescopes as well as my imaging equipment in it. The whole design is dual-purpose as it will be wired for a hot tub but that won't be installed, easier to get passed for this use with the rolloff roof than just a observatory. The warm room will be to keep warm or if the house is sold used for changing in or to keep warm. Would love to go larger but the additional costs and steel required structure involved will get to complicated and costly.
Well Santa assisted me in buying a new house on the NE side, relatively dark skies compared to my old townhouse that was surrounded by 4 street lights. Now I'm working on my plans for the "Spa Observatory" which will consist of a square gazebo 15×15' on slab with roll off roof and a warm room for those chilly nights next winter. This will be my summer project maybe we can do a observatory party next summer?
John P.
Dean,
Just got back from Bolivia and north shore dive trip and need some serious sky time, if the weather holds I would be up for one or two nights.
Well it's almost 2:30am Monday morning and I've been out with the telescope since 9pm. Skies cleared nicely but not perfect. Dew heaters getting a little bit of a workout. Capturing some images of M27. 57, & 13. Viewed numerous Messier objects and tons of the globular clusters.
Hope to get a few good images out of this, it's been so long since I've had an opportunity to use any of my scopes.
Pretty questionable Dean, I believe the forecast is calling for dropping temps and partly cloudy. For casual viewing it would probably be ok but for imaging it would be a challenge.
[quote author=Randy H link=topic=233.msg3778#msg3778 date=1268399990]
John, you should image it's twin M38/ngc1907 in Auriga with the same settings. (When the fog clears). It would be interesting seeing the images side by side.Randy
[/quote]I'll put that on my wish list of clear skies and not on the road for weeks at a time 😉
I do expect to setup my autoguiding on this telescope also so I may work on 3-5 minute images or longer if the telescope gods allow.
Tested out my new SV105Apo and QHY8Pro imager last week and have a picture to share with a question. I captured M35 with only 3 frames at 60 seconds. Still trying to get a good flat field by adjusting the spacing on the field flattener and imager but thought this wasn't too bad with a little drift.
The question I have is just above M35 and slightly to the right 1 o'clock position appears to be another cluster or what?
John P.
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Got the new Stellarvue 105 Apo out last night, unfortunately wasn't able to polar align as clouds kept me from locking this up but I just manually drove the scope around. In short time Roger Southwick stopped by with his new Stellarvue 80 and we spent a few hours taking in the sights such as Mars, the Beehive cluster, M42 & 45. The one thing I noticed with both scopes that the images we're extremely sharp and the stars perfect round points of light.
Can't wait until the skies improve as the new imager comes in Friday so I look forward to some great nights observing once the 120+ nights of lousy weather leave us.
John P.
Do they show how the mounts work on each type of telescope setup? The reason I ask they mention brands but not the type of clamps etc. Not real fond of the "sticky" setup.
Didn't come in last week as Vic from Stellarvue does a star check on every scope they sell and it's been cloudy there too, awesome service I must say. I did call them Monday and it's being shipped so I hope to see it Thursday or Friday at the latest.
