Observatories

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 …

Building a Small Imaging Observatory – Roof Read More »

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 …

Building a Small Imaging Observatory – Door Read More »

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, …

Building a Small Imaging Observatory – Walls Read More »

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 …

Building a Small Imaging Observatory – The Pier Read More »

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 »

When planning to build a small observatory for my imaging gear, my aim was to make it as small as possible in order to save cost and also to make it easy to build and maintain. There are a number of rough guides to building small observatories on the web, but one key consideration seems …

Observatory Planning and German Equatorial Mounts Read More »