Roger Steer's Astronomy Page for The Island Observatory
Background:
I have always used my telescope on a tripod from the driveway outside my house. My plan to build an observatory probably started like so many others, as a response to the thought -
'I'm not doing enough observing, because of the cloud, and when there is a break in the cloud, it's too much trouble to get the 'scope out for what may be only half an hour's observing. What I need is an observatory!'
With this thought in mind I started to make plans.
My garden is full of trees, so there was no place that I could get a really good view - horizon-to-horizon. I decided to compromise by getting as good a view due-South as I could, and to use my original observing site (using the tripod) to get the Western horizon. The Eastern Horizon is blocked by trees on my Eastern boundary, The North by the house, and a high hedge with trees.
I have designed the observatory to look like a fairly standard 10'x8' summerhouse/garden shed with a 4'x8' veranda end with a 6'x8' shed portion to its North. When used in observatory mode, the entire roof slides back to open the observatory to the sky. The roof slides back on rails across a path that is to be framed by an archway covered with climbing plants. The chief motive to this complex plan is to make the observatory look nothing so much as a fairly boring summerhouse/garden shed. To the casual onlooker, it should not be obvious that it is not a shed, and that its contents are a little more interesting than the odd plant pot and bag of compost!
Work in progress
7 June 1999
The site is laid-out, the position of the pier decided, and a template made to record the position of the tripod head, so that when the pier is finished it can be lined-up with the pole-star in daylight. The tripod had to be aligned with the telescope in place, while the whole thing was propped-up on concrete blocks. The alignment procedure was completed at 11:30 p.m. local time, with Polaris at lower transit, and me perched on a stepladder! All now awaits the arrival of the pier!
19 June 1999
On Wednesday (16th) A man arrived with a mini-digger, and dug a 2' deep, 2' wide 10'x12' rectangular trench as foundation for the Observatory island. Today I hand-dug a 2'x2' pit to take the foundations for the pier, which has not yet been made. Tomorrow 88 concrete blocks (the first installment) arrive!
11 July 1999
The pier is made (thanks Steve!) and put in place.
Using the template that I mentioned earlier, it is set in a concrete box, in 6 inches of concrete, to hold it in place. I am now awaiting a clear night to check the alignment, before I REALLY concrete it in! The foundation concrete for the island has been laid, also the first line of concrete blocks (horizontal).
25 July 1999
The pillar is finished, for now. It consists of the metal pier set inside an 8" plastic pipe, filled with concrete and re-inforcement. Another 144 concrete blocks arrived last week!
14 February 2000
I haven't posted any news for a long time. The island wall is completed, the floor-level frame of the observatory completed, the framework started. In addition, I've changed the telescope. The original was a Celestron Powerstar 8" SCT, now I've got a Meade 10" Newtonian.
4 May 2000
Three walls are completed, the outriggers are in place. The next task is to lay the rails and make the undercarriage for the roof.
10 May 2000
The rails are in place, so is the base of the roof - It moves!
22 February 2001
Well, I finished the observatory last summer, but with one thing and another, this didn't get updated properly. On the way, the Celestron got replaced by a Meade 10" Newtonian - so there was a change along the way, to lower the wall height.
Here are some views of the observatory, taken today.
Christmas 2002
The Observatory which was:
Designed for a Celestron C8+
re-designed part-way through the building process for a Meade 10" Newtonian
re-modified for a Celestron Celestar 8 (there was not enough room for me and the Meade!)
now has a new telescope - A Celestron NexStar 11 GPS. This means that when I slide the roof back it is too low to clear the telescope. I have to re-mount the telescope and forks each time I open the roof - not ideal! Modifications are, yet again, called for. In the coming year, the roof and rails will be raised about 200mm. A new entrance will be built to allow access from the rear, during flood conditions.
Summer 2004
Several years and finally the rear entrance - built some time ago - can really be used. I made a door, but took for ever to make the only thing that would allow me to use it - a bridge.
...and why is it called the Island Observatory?
