I think I need an observatory....

Hi All,

Last night was the first clear night in soooo long it's hard to remember the last time I took my scope outside.
But after a long hard day at work the thought of lugging a 10" Meade LX200R, tripod and wedge outside was just too much to contemplate, and I ended up going to bed when I should have been taking advantage of the clear skies...

I know some of you have built roll-off observatories and I wondered if you could give me some idea of the amount of time/build cost involved with a project like this ?
Having my setup already outside would greatly increase my observing time, weather permitting of course !!

Many thanks,

Brian.

Brian --

I went out to my observatory last night at about 11:00, which gave me plenty of time to dark-adapt and be completely ready to go by the end of astronomical twilight (11:30). Sadly, the clouds rolled in at 12:15, so after only 45min of viewing I closed up and went back inside.

But that's the type of evening I never would have been able to take advantage of before I built my observatory. As it was, I got to take a bit of a tour of some southern globs (M10, 12, 14 and NGC 6366, 6426, 6535), and view my first supernova (SN2007gi in NGC 4036). I would have been happier to stay out for another hour or so, but still a great night.

I went the somewhat luxurious route with my observatory, so I won't scare you with the cost, but there's a LONG thread with TONS of pictures over on CloudyNights:

www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=544994

Cheers,
-- Jeff.

Brian/Jeff,

There is an outfit which are selling prefabricated observatories at really attractive prices. They are in the US, regrettably, and I do not know what the costs would be for something to be shipped to Europe.

Please see www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=515663 for details and lots of photos. I am not sure but there may have been a thread here on Irish Astro about the same outfit.

Also, on the UK Astro Buy&Sell board, there is someone selling a Sirius dome for around 1300 GBP from what I recall. Apparently the owner passed away recently and his wife and a friend are looking to sell the gentleman's goods.

Anthony/Jeff

Thanks for the info on this, certainly getting a prefabricated dome seems very attractive versus butchering a garden shed to make a roll off observatory, and a lot less work !!
The Explora Dome looks great and would suit my needs perfectly but I'm sad to see that once again the European reseller's prices are extortionate !!
It's almost 1000 Euros more expensive from Galileo than to buy direct from Explora Dome in the US, of course there's shipping and taxes etc to be added but I don't see how they can justify that price hike !!
Will look at what my options are before I rush into anything....

Anthony,
Just wanted to say as I haven't commented on any of your images you so kindly post for our enjoyment, that I find them breathtaking and truly inspirational....it's my aim to start imaging so a permanent home for my scope will greatly help in this endeavor.
Anytime I need to remind myself why I bother being an astronomer in such a cloudy country, one look at your images reminds me there is light above the clouds just waiting to be captured.
Please keep them coming, always a pleasure to view, and in time if I can produce images that are even half as good as yours I'll count myself lucky indeed !!

Brian.

Hi Brian,

If you want to have a look at the exploradome, I have an open day here in Beara on September 8th and you are welcome to join.

Regards
Jouke

Hi Jouke,

Thanks for the kind offer and may well take you up on that.
Will let you know.

B.