My observatories

I have the luxury of living under dark skies and so don't need to travel to observe. The obvious need therefore is an observatory. I initially built a simple roll-off roof design which did me for many years, but it has since grown a control room for CCD imaging and been motorised and set up for remote control. There is also a 6-m diameter, 2 story dome has been built for visual observing and houses a 50-cm Newtonian. The following links show the various stages of growth.

Roll-off roof observatory - AKA the skyshed. This is my original building made by converting a commercial garden shed. Quick and easy to built, it has proven to be a good design.

Control room extension. The skyshed was originally designed for visual observing and astro-photography, but since the mid-1990's I've been doing CCD work and it wasn't quite so suitable as it left the computers and electronics exposed to the damp night air while observing. A control room was needed. Remote control. The skyshed's use grows - now it needs to be controlled from the other side of the world. How I automated the Skyshed.

The dome. Nice as a roll-off roof observatory is, you can't beat a dome for visual observing. Here's the story of how I built my 2-story, 6-m diameter steel dome. (I apologise now. This page really needs to be re-written as it was written as a sort of blog as it was being built.)

Page last updated 2011/08/08