{"id":825,"date":"2023-06-11T10:50:07","date_gmt":"2023-06-11T10:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/starscape-experiences.space\/?p=825"},"modified":"2023-07-05T15:45:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T15:45:58","slug":"setting-up-the-observatory-foundation-and-structure-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starscape-experiences.space\/index.php\/2023\/06\/11\/setting-up-the-observatory-foundation-and-structure-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting up the observatory – foundation and structure (part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the Spring unfolding and the Summer close by I decided it is the best time to finally start building my remote observatory. This requires a suitable position<\/strong>, solid foundation and structure<\/strong>, walls and roof<\/strong>, electricity<\/strong>, and equipment<\/strong> (telescope, mount, accessories, software & hardware). My aim was to have a roll-off observatory building with less than 1,000 EUR.<\/strong> That would be a significant saving from the cheapest I could find at 4,000 EUR<\/a> without wood protection (+1,200 EUR with protection).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this first part, I will talk about the location and setting up the foundation and structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing the location<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When choosing a place for your observatory you need to consider one important thing: once you’ve built it you won’t be able to move it if you later find the position you selected is unsuited<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, you must consider the horizon profile<\/strong>. Usually, the observatory will be built in your home garden so there will be some buildings or walls blocking the horizon but that should not bother you as you should always aim to observe objects high in the sky. Unless there is a good reason for it (say location at higher latitudes requiring the observation of objects never reaching high altitudes), objects with elevation less than 15\u00b0 should be avoided<\/strong> due to atmospheric refraction which makes stars twinkle horribly below that level. In my case (45\u00b0 latitude north), the only issue is the low rise of the Scorpio constellation with its multitude of deep sky objects. Lower object elevations are also impacted by atmospheric seeing<\/strong> which becomes increasingly cumbersome as you drop below 45\u00b0 in altitude<\/a>. You can easily measure 15\u00b0 <\/strong>by holding your hand at arm’s length<\/a> and observing your tip-to-tip span between your index finger and your little finger<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my case, there is a large tree just south on the meridian covering the sky as far as 25\u00b0 in altitude but hopefully, in winter time the lack of leaves will make the observation of low-elevation objects better. Unfortunately, no other suitable location was available as the garden is full of trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to this, the observatory walls will create an artificial horizon<\/strong> at a certain altitude depending on the height of the telescope mount. This can be improved by allowing parts of the walls to open. This is something I considered to have and will discuss in my next post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another thing I found useful was to use Stellarium<\/a> to load a<\/strong> panorama <\/strong>of my summer and winter horizon to check the visibility of celestial objects at specific times and dates. You can easily build a panorama with your smartphone and load it into the software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting the foundation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The foundation of the observatory is important. Some choose to use the ground to place their pier, others prefer a concrete floor, while some prefer to separate the area of the pier holding the mount from the floor. The latter has the advantage of restricting any vibrations on the floor made by walking. But for remote observatories, I doubt it makes a difference. To take it to extreme I have heard people saying that the mount should be encased in 1m3<\/sup> of concrete to avoid vibrations. I believe these are a bit extreme for many of us who just want a permanent location for our amateur-sized telescope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my case, the location is in my back garden far away from the house and away from people and the main road thus in a low-vibration area. To build it I had to demolish a previous cabin that was already collapsing. From the image below, you can notice that it even has a small foundation (the ditches on the sides and through its middle) to properly fix to the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Setting the frame for the concrete foundation and floor.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The image below shows the concrete floor perfectly flat, although the team that built it wanted to give it a slope to avoid water from building up and eroding the floor. But that would have caused other problems like leveling the mount and also increasing the probability of the water entering the telescope and equipment area. Its dimensions <\/strong>are 4.4m x 2.4m<\/code> with the long side having a North-South orientation. Overall it took one day to finish it.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The concrete floor of the future observatory.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Building the structure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I left the concrete to dry for one month before I started building the structure. To avoid any cracks it was periodically sprinkled with water but that still did not completely prevent small cracks. During this time I worked on the design <\/strong>of the roll-off observatory using Blender<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The initial version of the roll-off observatory. During the actual setup, the design suffered changes. The roof is slightly angled to allow rainwater to run off.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Before I continue describing the process here is a list of materials<\/strong> I used to build the4m x 2m<\/code> wooden frame<\/strong> that will host the observatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n