Astronomy dome. Here are some pictures as I moved along. The pier was
made by a local welding shop and seems to work well. Getting rid of the
tripod and replacing it with the pier has really opened up some room in
the dome. Last night (New Years Eve), I did a polar alignment and
tracking is much improved. I'll want to do this again but making progress!
I didn't include pictures but I brought power in to the dome from the
house and added a switch so I can turn off the lights on the new front
patio while I'm using the scope.
For those who want the equipment details. there are two telescopes (and a finder scope) on the CGE Pro mount made by Celestron. The 14" scope is a Celestron C14 Edge and the smaller scope is a Williams Optics 80mm refractor. The refractor lets you have a great, wide field view and works well for larger objects. The C14 can bring in a lot of light and details for faint galaxies and other Deep Space Objects (DSO).
Most often, I use a video camera attached to a computer for observing. This lets me sit inside the warm house while looking and taking my time to get a good shot of anything I'm looking at. I have to go to the scope to point at the object and make sure the focus is good but I can change exposures and other settings from the computer.
If interested, you can go to the Night Skies Network site and see live broadcasts from astronomers using video cameras around the world. I don't broadcast every time I use the scope but like to do this as it's fun to chat with people from around the world about what you're seeing or showing. Here's a link for those that want to look- you can watch a broadcast as a guest but have to get lucky to be there when someone is on line.
Night Skies Network
Next up, I'm going to find a way to route all the cables from the dome
in to the house so I can hook up the computer without running the wires
across the deck and having to leave a window open.
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| Telescopes and tripods removed from dome |
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| Mount for C14 Scope |
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| Pier in place, bolts for leveling scope leveling plate |
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| Leveling plate and control module for scope mount |
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| Scopes and mount attached to pier |
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