'Shed' observatories

Hi guys,
As a newbie to the world of astronomy im constantly on the look out for new toys to make my hobbie all the more enjoyable.

Im getting a bit tired of lugging my scope outside, waiting for it to cool and then bringing it back in as it rains or gale force winds appear.

I then thought of a permanent base outside, a sort of secure shed observatory. i have had a look at a few different ones on the internet and they seem to be ok. (if a little ugly and bulky)

i am in the fortunate position that i work as a buyer and i can get one of my vendors to make one bespoke for me. That got me wondering if there was a market for this type of unit out there?
Does anyone have one or does anyone want one, just trying to gauge interest as i might be able to bring a quality, value observatory.
If you were to have one, what features does it need? How much would you pay for one? wood/Plastic/Metal??

i am not trying to peddle my wares, (which is why i have purposly not named any details about who i work for etc.)if no-one has an interest then i will leave it be, but its a shame if i can help make others enjoy the clear skys as much as they can.
Cheers
dolau

Hi dolau

Many people here i feel would love a "shed" Observatory..........myself included. I have looked into many different ones. Would love to hear more about what you do,costs etc.

You are in the right place so posting details would be most welcomed.

Maybe if you posted in the "Equipment" section it would benefit everyone more.

dolau,

Thats quite interesting. As someone who already has an observatory, I can offer some advice about what kind of things I had in mind when I built mine.

I built mine with this one very much in mind

www.skyshed.com/ (not the pod version)
See the one on the front page.

It struck me as being easy to build (as it was). It can be opened and closed very quickly. It's sturdy enough to be able to operate in very windy conditions (I had mine open tonight in all that wind). It's 10ft x 8ft giving me enough room for pretty much anything I want to put in there and have a bench too for the computer and accessories.

One very important factor in designing and building one is the height. Too high and you block too much of the sky, too low and you seriously restrict the height of the scope you put in there. I found that 165cm from floor to the top of the side wall is a good generic height which suits most telescopes. However in individual cases this might need to be higher or lower.

The pier is very important it must not move even a millimeter in normal use. For that reason I built a 4ft high pillarfrom 12" tubing which goes another 4ft underground and is filled with mass concrete. 12" may be overkill but I wanted to be sure. Especially since I have a major rail line only 25ft from where it is sited.

When you orient it you need to take into account where the best view of the sky is for that location and not limit viewing in that area as much as posssible. Consider local lighting and strategically place the roof so that it blocks any glaring streetlights if they are a problem.

One job I will be doing in the next week is running a permanent power feed down there. Using an extension lead is fine to a point.

Consider that if the hobby advances enough it might be desireable to make the observatory fully robotic so keep in mind the possible future motorisation of the roof and don't design to preclude that option.

Security is a major consideration. All that gear costs a lot of money. Built it strong enough to survive all but the most determined attacker. I built mine from 1" thick timber and cladded the outside with sheet aluminium. That way I know its not gonna be easy to break into and will survive if some lout thinks it might be funny to start a fire.

Some pointers which you might consider.

Good luck.

Definetly a market for this I reckon, at the right price of course.
I think in terms of plan size, something in the 10ft x 10ft to 12ft x 12ft would be popular. Decent size, but not so big as to unviable to sell.

Optional accessory worth having would be a motor to unroll the roof. Long term, this could then be wired up to the PC so as to automatically open and close the observatory during the night. This is a feature which astrophotographers in particular would appreciate. Definetly worth considering this at the design stage if you plan to produce these for sale. Motor can always be added at a later stage then.

As for piers, these need to be seperate from the floor of the observatory as Dave said. An absolute minimumj requirement. If you could offer steel piers of various lengths with top plates welded on to them, if would be perfect. See here for how I built mine. astroshot.com/Observatory/index.html
If I knew someone could have built it for me at a reasonable price, I would definetly have considered it!

This is what I would really like in the 10 x 10 ft size:

www.pier-tech.com/tele-station_2_roll_off_roof_observatory.htm

Alternatively, I could live with just the roof and I'd self-build a block building:

www.pier-tech.com/tele-station_3_roll_off_roof_observatory.htm

Now, if you can do either of those, it'll save me a ton of cash shipping it from the USA...

If I knew someone could have built it for me at a reasonable price, I would definetly have considered it!

Me also at the time.