(Viewed 2,927 times)

[jglover]

I just finished up my backyard observatory, built in a yard shed from a company called Thinking Outside . I purchased the deluxe version with the small bay window on one end. It added to the wife acceptance factor and made the building more palatable becasue the bay window "was cute".

Anyway, the two features I really like were the doors that can open one all three sides, plus the size, at 11' x 7', seemed much more spacious that the standard 7'x7' rubbermade buildings. And it did go together in just over an hour as advertised, sort of like building a big adult-sized Lego kit!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

John,

This is just too cool! It looks quite spacious and confortable. The bay window is a kick, and you get a shelf and drawers!

I would like to see more interior shots.

My only question is...when you close it up, do you have to burp it for freshness?

Excellent telescope shed... ;D

[jglover]

admin said:

John,

This is just too cool! It looks quite spacious and confortable. The bay window is a kick, and you get a shelf and drawers!

I would like to see more interior shots.

My only question is...when you close it up, do you have to burp it for freshness?

Excellent telescope shed... ;D

It's quite nice! The inside is fairly roomy, but the floor is a bit of problem. Low power it is not bad but it you try to push up the power on a scope, the floor tends to impart vibrations. As I said though, most of the time, I'll plan to take the scopes outside as the views are limited from observing through the side doors.

The bay is nice as there is a cabinet underneath with a nice shelf that accomodates the ED80 as well as has space for the ETX and its tripod. I can also fold up the SVP mount and store it under the shelves so I can pretty much clear the floor space with the exception of the Dob.

I just got back in from trying to take a quick peek at Mars but unfortunately Mars is not high enough yet to get out of the lower atmoshpere mush. And my considerate neighbor has convenietly left her windows open with a bright light shining right into the doorways!

I'll shoot some more pics tomorrow morning. The really nice thing I like about this set-up is it is going to make using my PC with the scope much easier, as I've got a nice place to keep it out of the dew.

As far as your question goes, that usually depends on what I had for dinner earlier in the evening! ;D ;D

[Al Degutis]

jglover said:

The inside is fairly roomy, but the floor is a bit of problem. Low power it is not bad but it you try to push up the power on a scope, the floor tends to impart vibrations.

You could consider cutting out some small circular holes for the tripod legs. Some of the movement inside will still transfer to the ground and thus the scope but it should help.

Next you'll be converting the roof into a roll-off roof. I saw one design where someone made the entire shed rollback to expose the equipment and I believe they used a similar building.

Some great observatories and ideas at the Observatories Yahoo Group: groups.yahoo.com/group/observatories

I considered getting a similar style shed (but smaller) for my scope enclosure for my deck-top observatory. My wife suggested it as quick and easy solution but I'm going to try and build an enclosure. I'm getting closer to finishing the deck extension and hope to get a lot more done this weekend after today's family gathering, a send off for my step-son (Private Tom) who will be station in Korea for one year. Maybe he can get me some inexpensive astronomy equipment from there.

My observering deck project: skyinsight.net/r/?a=myobs

Glad to see you have an observatory. Any way that we can reduce our set up and take down leads to more time observing.

[jglover]

al said:

jglover said:

The inside is fairly roomy, but the floor is a bit of problem. Low power it is not bad but it you try to push up the power on a scope, the floor tends to impart vibrations.

You could consider cutting out some small circular holes for the tripod legs. Some of the movement inside will still transfer to the ground and thus the scope but it should help.

Next you'll be converting the roof into a roll-off roof. I saw one design where someone made the entire shed rollback to expose the equipment and I believe they used a similar building.

A roll off roof conversion would probably be pretty simple for this. The roof panels, although they are about 7'x7', are resin and light enough to be managed by one person. However, right now my main concern is to get some sort of solar powered fans in the building to help with the heat....and perhaps attach some insulation along the roof panels to try to keep the inside temps down.

The great thing about this shed is the access on three sides. All I need to do is keep mu scopes set up on their mounts inside, pop open a door, carry the scope about five steps and I'm ready to go. It does vastly reduce setup and take down time for me trmendously.

[jglover]

al said:

Glad to see you have an observatory. Any way that we can reduce our set up and take down leads to more time observing.

I just spent about 90 minutes out in the back yard in the observatory. I set up two scopes, the ED80 on the SVP and the 8" Dob. Set up and take down was a piece of cake, just plop each of the scopes down in the yard next to the observatory and go to it. It wa so nice having everything already layed out inside the observatory, eyepieces and charts already staged and ready when it got dark. When it was time to pack it in for the evening it was a simple matter to put the eyepieces back in the case and move the two scopes back inside....total time to get everything put away, about 5 minutes.

Having everything all in one place sure does makes it so much easier to get out. That was the biggest obtacle for me to observe was the set up and take down time. This sure does solve those problems, plus all my charts and papers were not covered with dew!! ;D

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

John,

An excellent addition for your astronomical pleasure!... Will you do all your observing out of the shed?

I literally have a 3x3 spot in my yard where I am in relative darkness. A place where the street, alley and neighbor lights haven't found yet. But if I divert from that coveted area, BLAM!!...a face full of mercury-vapor lighting.

I can put up various blocking devices, but sometimes it's just too much work. Blessed are those with a solid and dark observation site.

[Al Degutis]

Here's one site that illustrates a roll-off roof for a Rubbermaid shed:

lx200gps.servebeer.com/clairmont/BigMax/Page.html

He includes "assembly instructions".

My deck extension is done so I'm ever so closer to observing from it. Next up is building a wooden pier to hold the telescope on top of the 8 foot chimney block pier below deck. I hope to have first light this weekend. I will still need to build an enclosure for it so the scope can stay outside all the time.

I'll post pictures over the weekend if I get the pier built.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

That's pretty cool on what can be done, but I still can't see where one burps it for freshness...

[jglover]

admin said:

John,

An excellent addition for your astronomical pleasure!... Will you do all your observing out of the shed?

I literally have a 3x3 spot in my yard where I am in relative darkness. A place where the street, alley and neighbor lights haven't found yet. But if I divert from that coveted area, BLAM!!...a face full of mercury-vapor lighting.

I can put up various blocking devices, but sometimes it's just too much work. Blessed are those with a solid and dark observation site.

I pretty much am observing from outside right now, as the views are a bit restrictive from inside the observatory. Really, the best spot from my back yard is directly overhead. The house blocks out most of the street lights from in front of the house, but also blocks a most of the eastern sky up to about 40 degrees or so. There are trees all along the back in the neighbors yard, and one terribly inconvenient group of trees right in front of Sag/Sco so I have almost no view of those two constellation. I've got a decent view to the north and northwest though but unfortunately, the side doors to my observatory face towards the south...the north side doors don not open due to the fence. And if I open the main doors, they face the street so I get a full blast of headlights everytime a car goes by if they are open.

So for the summer and fall, I'll use the obersavory for scope stoage, taking notes and planning. However, come winter, I'm going to get one of the roof panels removed so I can at least be out of the wind. That will limit views somewhat but ti will certainly be a much more enjoyable experience than being outside in the wind.

i've considered building some dark sky type panels out of PVC to block the headlights so i can open the front doors but that seems, at the moment anyway, to be too much work! ;D

Anyway, it is still darned convenient to set up and the scopes are out of the family room, so everyone is happy!!

[jglover]

al said:

My deck extension is done so I'm ever so closer to observing from it. Next up is building a wooden pier to hold the telescope on top of the 8 foot chimney block pier below deck. I hope to have first light this weekend. I will still need to build an enclosure for it so the scope can stay outside all the time.

I'll post pictures over the weekend if I get the pier built.

Sounds as if you are making progress there Al! Hopefully, you'll have it all wrapped up by the weekend here.

[starbux]

How does the roof open up?

[jglover]

starbux said:

How does the roof open up?

The roof is a two piece roof. Each section is held in place by five or six of these things they call EZ Bolts....essentially just big, plastic bolts with a hex head. I've yet to take it off for observing but will probably try to do this fall or winter when it gets cold. However, a couple of other posts I've read by folks who've used this design just simply undo the five bolts and slide the roof off to on side.

It is not that hard to handle but I imagine in any wind it could be challenging as the roof sections are about 4' x 7'. I had no trouble getting them up by myself when I assembled the shed, so getting off should not be a problem. It is getting the roof back on in the dark that might be interesting!