Welcome to my page describing the building and use of a home astronomical observatory.

 

The basic structure comprises of an off the shelf 7 foot by 5 foot garden shed which is adapted for stargazing. The considerations I took into this project were:

1)It has to be cheap!

2)Its got to be easy to put up (im hopeless at diy!)

3)It should be easy to transform from a shed to a usefull place to work from.

4)Did I say it has to be cheap?...ah yes up there!!

5)It should house my LX90, laptop and all the other stuff we Amatuers take out with us on cold nights.

6)It should be easily wired up for lights and power.

7)It has to be such a size that only I can get in and the wife cant!

8)It should be easily upgradable.

Created in Dreamweaver and Fireworks. Server hosting courtesy of Virtual Kite Store.

All images copyright 2004/2005/2006/2007/2008 Prokites Ltd / Virtual Kite Store. The author takes no responsibility for injuries sustained while attempting the build work..so be careful.

 

 

 

 

After much thinking and many plans I decided, due to size constrictions, of a 7x5 shed as a base for the scope. I read a lot of stuff on the net about roll off roofs etc but the space I have limits this so another design had to be thought of which was practical and that didnt make too much mess in the garden ie: it had to look ok to the wife and neighbours.

Construction started on the 25th of january this yr (2003 if your reading this 40 yrs from now) and the garden was dug out to allow slabs to be fixed down. A basic layer of sharp sand was used and levelled off to allow this (sand borrowed from the neighbours building work, koi ponds use a lot of it!)

 

The slabs were layed down and levelled off perfectly..cough..and the next stage was to dig a trench down the garden to allow the electric up.

I used a 15 metre garden hose to house the 3 core cable, a piece of string attached to a dart was waggled down the hose to allow the cable to be pulled through. This was then buried deep in the trench and an isolator switch fitted to the external wall, so the power could be turned on and off from the outside.

The hose idea didn't quite work out as planned, so plastic cable conduit was run down the fence and the cable pulled through..this is a better solution as its out the way and better protected. I used a fully waterproof switch for this plus an RCD plugged in at the main power in case of accidents..like lawn mower going mad and slicing through it!

The shed was put together quite quickly to be honest, only a few small problems arose (bits of wood left!) and was then firmly bolted together with 4 inch coachbolts and the whole structure was then screwed onto the floor base provided. After doing this there was no movement in any axis and a solid building is now standing awaiting the internal fixings. Panelling was begun now, using just plain old hardboard it was cut to the appropriate size and pinned into place. On the back wall some fence lathing was used to act as a retainer for the panelling gaps, behind the hardboard I put layers of household loft insulation.

Once the 4 walls were all finished (which took some time) I fixed and wired in a Bulk Light complete with red bulb for nightvision. All the wiring was hidden away and a switch added so I didnt have to keep reaching for the plug to turn the light on and off.

Two corner shelves were fitted in, for the digital clock and laptop although a larger desktop pc could be installed if necessary, (I ended up with the desktop pc!) All wires were tucked away and the inner painting started. Using normal masonary paint (black) I covered all four walls and any bits of shed that were left!! (this included the floor light switch as I accidentally painted it and couldnt get it off!!)

Now we get to the important bit...the roof. Ive decided to do a seperate section on the construction and fitting of it..click here or use the link at the top of the page.

 

 

So the roof is done, took a while but Im pleased with what I've done. Next up is a home built pier....now thats going to be fun!

The pier is a massive task to build, and get right. Lots of investigation was done into the correct size, shape and building of this. I ended up getting three 2.4 metre fence poles from the local DIY store.

These are not square cut but forty five degree angles.The back is flat with the other two sides angling in to a point. After a bit of jiggling about I decided on a design and set about building it. Once again Ive done a seperate page explaining all of this....click here or the main link at the top.

 

 

So the pier is all done and finished, and after waiting a few days for the concrete to fully cure I tried the scope out on it during the day and it was solid.

It will need dampening down with sand, a job which is next. I touched up the walls where id scratched the paint while fiddling inside and made a small computer table out of an old drawer unit I had in the loft.

The pc was put in next, just a P2 300 that was donated to me after it was skipped, and Starry Night Pro was installed and tested. My webcam was moved into the shed now and thats the next project, to modify that and use it for imaging. 12 carpet tiles were fitted to the floor area to make it snug and a makeshift floor mat was cut out of some old house carpet.

The Observatory is ready to use now really. I think it will be an ongoing thing, adding or taking away stuff and generally making shelves etc as I get to know my way around on various sessions.

This project has been over a month in doing. It took a bit of fiddling about to fit everything I wanted into such a small place but the final result is something I'm very proud of and look forward to using it over the years ahead.

Many thanks to the wife for putting up with me during the building and to my Mum and Dad for helping..especially my Dad for the concreting and general ideas he suggested. Now its all done...how about a Dome on the roof of the house...hmmmm........?