When astro-imaging, taking flat frames is essential to calibrate your images. A flat frame is just an image of a uniformly illuminated, featureless surface that essentially creates a “map” of how light travels through the telescope, filters and camera. When processing the images, the light frames (i.e. images of the night sky) are divided by …
It’s been a long haul, but we’re almost there. In this final part, there are just a few minor steps to complete the observatory.
In this part of the series, I will cover construction of the roof. This is the most complex part of the structure and it required a bit of trial and error to create something workable. The Roof Chassis There are various options for making a workable roll-off mechanism, but I settled on using V-Groove steel …
In this post, I will tackle the door frame and door. The construction method is the same as for the other three walls, but slightly more involved to ensure the door is secure and watertight. The Fourth Wall and Door Frame The first step in the construction of the fourth wall was to add a …
In this post the observatory is starting to take shape. We will finish the floor and build the plain walls (I’ll cover the wall with the door frame later). The Floor The first step was to lay the floor which was made from a sheet of 11mm Oriented Strand Board (OSB). I used basic OSB2, …
In this post, we’ll get started on the foundations and framework for my roll-off roof back garden observatory. In the previous post, I finished building the telescope pier and now it’s time to enclose it. The Framework When planning this observatory, I considered a number of construction options. Many people buy a wooden, plastic or …
Building a Small Imaging Observatory – Foundations Read More »
In this post, I’ll explain how I finished building the concrete pier for my roll-off roof back garden observatory. In the previous post, I covered the groundwork for the pier, and this time I will explain the process of building it. In the Mix The pier foundation and pier are constructed from concrete, as are …
In this series of posts, I’ll set out details of how I built a small roll-off roof back garden observatory for my imaging equipment. I’m by no means an expert DIYer, though I do tackle smaller jobs around the house when the mood strikes. Building with wood is not as daunting as it might seem. …
Building a Small Imaging Observatory – Groundwork Read More »
In this post, I’ll provide a step-by-step guide to building an inexpensive Solar Scintillation Seeing Monitor. The SSSM is a handy device which monitors the atmospheric seeing conditions during solar imaging. This SSSM can be built for a fraction of the cost of commercially available devices. You can use the SSSM to monitor seeing conditions through …
In this post, I will explain how to build a dual-purpose laptop shade / dew shield for a cost of approximately £20 (GBP). As explained in Dew Formation and Prevention, the simplest way to prevent dew forming on equipment is to shield it from direct exposure to the night sky. Using this shield will help to …
