I have been working quite a few hours lately, but had time to post a few new interior observatory pictures. More updates will come soon, I should have time to work on finishing up observatory construction very soon!
SkyChart on East Wall workbench area
Computer area looking towards Entrance
CGEM and Celestron Edge HD ADM Side by Side Setup
CGEM and Celestron Edge 800 HD Cooldown
Categories: August 2010
No comments
Celestron Edge 800 HD in the new Observatory
Tonight I was able to get out and setup the telescope some more. I installed the Celestron Edge 800 HD on the Tandem bar with the Orion Short tube 80. I looked high and low for my piggyback adapter plate, but have yet to find where I put it. The Side by Side setup actually works very well in the dome. My goal tonight was to get final polar alignment of the scope and the imager hooked up and a general focus spot established. I also wanted to get some more lighting up.
I installed some new white rope lights tonight, which will give me a good way to get some lighting inside when I need to be able to see. Tomorrow I will work on getting both the red lights and the white lights onto individual dimmer circuits. I will also work on installing the carpet I picked up today for the observatory and more installation of shelving. The final layout of my cabling has yet to be determined, I am still getting a feel for the operation of CGEM mount on the pier before I commit to the final cable layout.
This image shows the new white rope lights installed around the dome track area.
The image above also shows a temporary park location for the scope. I plan on changing the park to the opposite meridian position so I can start imaging in the eastern sky. The weather was not the clear skies the weather channel called for. Seems like the weather channel is never accurate anymore. I was able to do an initial balance and alignment; which the CGEM nailed almost dead on from the get go. I have been very pleased with how well the CGEM has been performing. Tonight I did use my Meade illuminated 9mm eyepiece to get the alignment process started. I added two alignment stars to the initial two star alignment. I had to wait several times for gaps in the clouds before I could proceed further with the routine. This made the alignment a long process, but gave me some time to work on other tasks within the observatory.
This image shows the Celestron Edge 800 HD and Short Tube 80 in side by side setup on the CGEM which is affixed to the new homemade pier.
Once I was finished with the alignment I setup the Meade DSI IIIC imager onto the Edge HD ota. My goal at this point was to do a polar alignment routine using my imaging camera. My first task was to use the Bahtinov mask to achieve critical focus with the DSI while pointed at a bright star. I chose Altair as my focus star. This took a few minutes due to waiting once again on sporadic cloud cover. Once this was done I decided to swing on over to M27 to see if I could get a few frames grabbed, even though the moon-wash was quite horrific. I saw M27 for a brief fleeting moment as once again a large body of clouds took it from sight. I had to take about an hour break at this point for any chance of openings to appear. I used this time to bring some more gear out to the observatory. I also setup a quick workbench at a nice height so I could work with my rings and adapters in comfort.
In background you can see my quick temp workbench setup. This will be installed tomorrow with a more permanent setup in mind.
I decided time was precious and synced up on Altair when I came back out and jumped into the CGEM polar alignment routine. When I told the scope to go to Altair the meridian flip routine happened, and the cgem did it very well, I was very impressed. It took just a few small pushes of the dome to get it in the correct position for the scope to track Altair. The sync was finished at this point and Altair was heading towards my tree block on the west of the dome and the clouds once again started coming in hard. I decided to go for the polar alignment anyways. I just started making adjustments to the mount polar alignment knobs when Altair faded out of site for good for the night. At this point in time I decided to close up the dome for the night after waiting 20 minutes for a cloud break, it was too late Altair was off into my tree out of reach for the evening.
Image from a bit earlier in night showing the CGEM on the steel pier. The cabling will be improved at later date.
My last task for the night was to establish a park or home position for the Edge HD on the CGEM. This task was quickly accomplished and I powered down for the evening. I will change the park position at a later date to the opposite side of Meridian, which will allow me to begin imaging in the Southeast skies. I spent another hour setting up my software updates on my laptop when I was done. I will continue where I left off on next night with semi decent skies. My tasks now are to do more work on interior organization along with the carpet installation and hopefully soon I will get to completing the slanted roof section.
I setup my security camera across the obsevatory and took this picture which gives an idea on size of interior and general layout.
Be sure to check back over next few days for more upcoming articles!
Categories: July 2010
The dome is raised
This past Wednesday the dome was finally put in place with the help from two friends David Reynolds and Ray Shore. Thanks for all the help! The doming process was actually quick and painless. After placing the dome on we proceeded to level and shim each wheel. The dome rotates very nicely with little effort. We also installed the siding on this day.
The pier being fitted in place custom built with help from my father who worked hard to ensure it was completed in time
With a great deal of help from my father we managed to get the steel pier together in time to place into the observatory late afternoon on Wednesday. His help was greatly appreciated, he put many hours into welding the pier and getting it done in time. It took two people to lug it over to the observatory. When I get opportunity I will sand blast, grind the welds, and prime and paint it. Ray Shore and myself installed the pier and began setting up the telescope and equipment during his week long stay which seemed to fly by, he will be leaving today back home to Kansas.
Me in the picture doing some setting up and prepping of the pier
I still have to finish up the slant roof/wall section and flashing. I also have to build the warm room and doors. I will be working more this week on getting these items completed. We put up a large blue tarp in the meantime to ensure the observatory remains dry inside, no sooner did we get complete this task the rain storms blew in. I am proud to say the interior remained dry!
Wrapped up like a Christmas present-You can see the scope in opening.
We were able to get a quick alignment done early this week, before it clouded over. The CGEM seemed to function very well. A drift align will happen at first opportunity. I was also able to get the red variable brightness rope light up along with some of the cabling. I still have tons of interior finishing to do, but the dome is operational until the rest of work is completed. The image below shows the scope from interior looking out as Ray Shore and myself prepare to do test align and the Polar alignment. You can see the glow from the newly installed red light roping.
Edge 800HD OTA in place on CGEM preparing for Polar alignment the red rope light is casting a glow on dome
Many thanks to Dan Grant, David Reynolds, Ray Shore, Theo, Alex Z, Steve Durham, Mike Shea, and my father for all the help getting the project along this far! I will post back when I get more updates and pictures together.
Categories: July 2010
This past Wednesday I was able to get the observatory wall sections up with the new taller wall segements in place. I purposely did not connect all uprights in several areas so that I could have some play with the upper ring for final adjustments(ignore any outta plumb segments). I decided at this point that I would make a new ring for the dome rollers to sit on. The older ring is starting to deteoriate a little bit, and now is the best time to replace it. The new ring will be installed this coming Monday.
I was dealing with very hot weather again which has really slowed my progress. The walls going up really made my day. At this point in time I have to do one final level of the floor, position vertical uprights into proper positions, and replace upper ring assembly. Once this is done, I will move on to reinforcing walls, putting up the white aluminum siding and finishing off the slanted roof section. More work will take place this upcoming Monday and Tuesday. I am hoping doming may happen as soon as this coming Tuesday no later than Thursday. Pic below:
Observatory Walls up not yet in final position on all uprights
Categories: July 2010
Now that 4th of July is over the building of DaltonSkyGazer observatory has begun. It was a ripe 99F on my thermometer at the house today and extremely humid, it may have been hotter at one point(104.4F in shade hi according to my thermometer). I went to Home Depot early afternoon and picked up the concrete blocks I was going to be using for the observatory framing to rest on. The flooring is Steve Durham’s original design 2 by 8 construction, pressure treated ,with what looks like 3/4 deck. This flooring is very beefy no changes were required. I did have to remove the wooden legs which raised the floor structure up another 17 and 3/4 inches above the ground. I did this so the interior wall height will be taller when I swap same measurement and add it to wall height.
Late afternoon I had a hand and two of us lugged the flooring over to the build site. I leveled the area and then put down black plastic under the observatory area to cut down on moisture infiltration from the ground. I then rough leveled my concrete blocks and put them in place. The floor is in two pieces one side is now finished and leveled. The other side is down but I need a few more blocks and have to complete leveling and attachment of the two pieces in the morning after I pick up lumber for the wall construction. It was very hot weather, but the construction is progressing. I have posted a few pics of the flooring around the pier below. I will try to post updates each of the upcoming days as the DaltonSkyGazer observatory goes up.
DaltonSkyGazer Observatory Floor going down
DaltonSkyGazer Floor for Observatory going in
Categories: July 2010
I reposted my video of the CGEM and Celestron Edge HD OTA for those who have not had a chance to see this telescope setup. This is a great mount and imaging scope, in the future I plan on having several reviews on this setup. I put this video together back in January for my DaltonSkyGazer site.
Categories: July 2010, Uncategorized
I grabbed a few pictures from my video cam showing a few positions in the sky from near the pier. I will be adding some more a bit later. This gives an idea on observatory location and parts of sky I am able to image at DaltonSkyGazer. The SouthEast Sky will be where most of my imaging runs will start and is seen below.
South East Sky as seen from DaltonSkyGazer CGEM Pier
Approximate position of Polaris from DaltonSkyGazer CGEM Pier
Categories: July 2010
I finished up final details of my shed permit this afternoon and proceeded home after work to get started on the cgem pier installation for the new observatory. The hole is dug below the 48″ frostline for the area and includes a tapered footer reinforced with rebar. The pier extends out of the ground approximately 29 inches and is composed of a 12 inch diameter sonatube with four 3/4″ J bolts to support the baseplate of the pier.
I had some help from a friend Dan with the hole and mixing and pouring concrete. His help really made the project move along at a good pace and is much appreciated. The following picture shows the pier in place, before some final touch up work.
DaltonSkyGazer Pier Installation for Celestron CGEM
I have waited a bit for this day and proud to say the first part of job is done, official groundbreaking on the new observatory has commenced. I still have base plate and top plate to drill out and mount to the metal pier which will happen next week. I had a bit of issue with template and J-Bolts which after a little bit of work appears to be fixed for the most part. Any minor errors can be corrected when I finish base plate for the cgem pier. A few more pictures of the pier are located below.
CGEM Pier looking to East of South
CGEM Pier looking to the North East
The first main part of the observatory build is complete for tonight. I will be posting more progress as I am able over the next week or two. Please check back to DaltonSkyGazer often over the next week or two for more updates! The next step will be to finish up on the concrete pier and the metal pier work. The floor will also be started at the same time frame early next week maybe a bit sooner.
Categories: July 2010
After several months of delay I am now in process of gathering final materials for the pouring of the concrete pier for the CGEM this week. I expect by the end of this week the concrete pier will be poured and in place. I will begin digging the pier hole during early evening hours after work this week. The pier will be poured sometime between upcoming Thursday and Saturday. I ordered up four 3/4 inch L style anchor bolts 12 inches long from McMaster Carr and expect their arrival Wednesday or Thursday at the latest. See picture below for location of observatory. The southern, most of eastern, and northern skies will be visible. The western sky will not be visible which is ok considering a lightdome from nearby city exists to the West. Check back later this week for pictures and progress.
Interior of observatory when located in Long Lake, NY. Courtesy of Steve Durham
Categories: June 2010
The finish work is now being done on the pier for my CGEM mount and Edge HD ota. I made some last minute changes to the steel beam and replaced this with a “ballistic armor” steel pipe which I was fortunate enough to find. Yes, the pier is bullet proof, quite literally. The armored or ballistic steel is great in that it does not rust as easily as regular steel pipe.
I have a friend with machine shop who is working on final details of the pier. This will allow my concrete pier to be much shorter and save me the hassle of hours spent mixing concrete for the pour. The pier was dropped off today at his shop for the final welding and fitting of steel plate and gussets.
The concrete pier will be poured at 12 inch diameter to a depth of 5 feet. The pier will be reinforced with 1/2″ rebar horizontally on footing and also vertically. The footing will be a wedge shape footing with a 28 inch by 28 inch base which will rest on tamped stone of a depth of 4″ Three or four 3/4″ L-bolts will be embedded into the form with a 4 inch radius. I will be sure to use a template when embedding and leveling the base bolts within the form.
Upon completion of the concrete pier, the dome observatory construction will quickly follow, the CGEM and Edge HD will have a new permanent home. The dome diameter is 8 feet and will be resting on a 10 ft diameter building. Final interior details will come a few weeks later.
Categories: June 2010
