Congratulations! You got me thinking on the need to drop 20 feet pipes to have a floor that does not vibrate but how about if you just drop the pipes to the floor below and mount the telescope in a small heavy slab connected to them? I think that would be a great relief and allow you to move about without disturbing the picture taking process. Just a thought! Thank you for the great video!
Oh, man, this is the coolest thing ever. You let me know if and when a neighborhood house goes up for sale because I want to be a neighbor. I'm a senior citizen who just got into astronomy and astrophotography (about a year and a half ago). Just upgraded to a Celestron 8se and having a ball. But my dreams keep expanding and I know I'll never come close to realizing them. But if we were neighbors.........heading to Cherry Springs State Park in 2 weeks to see and photograph the Milky Way.
Thank you for the nice comments. Cherry Springs has been on my list for a while, as I would take my Orange tube C8 (lighter and easier mobility). Hoping you have clear skies and a great time. BTW - a couple friends are just completing a house flip in my neighborhood.
I am going to get a contractor to build a house for me, and I too want a rooftop observatory. I was concerned about floor bounce since it won't be possible to put a pier down to the ground. With what you've said, I'm sitting on the fence right now about whether it will work or not, since I would like to be able to show friends the view through an eyepiece rather than just doing astrophotography.
This area looks very familiar to me, I think I'm just up the trail a bit. Nice setup, I have a roll off that I have been setting up for the last year. Finally got the concrete pier in and a local welder built a steel pier for the top of the concrete pier. I have 7' foot walls because of the door but it was prefab so I have about 4 feet of concrete and 3 feet of steel tubing. I actually prefer the cold to the bugs as I can splashtop from the comfort of the house.
Cool idea however it’s Clearly not built to any building code, which is fine until you some day go to sell. Where we live this would never pass a house inspection, good luck to you.
Woody, both construction and electrical permits were pulled and approved. The only thing that isn't to code is the width of the stairs (30" instead of 36"), but the 2nd and 3rd levels aren't "living spaces", so the stair widths weren't an issue. I understand that there are different codes for states and counties, which is why this was designed and constructed to comply with all codes in my area. I appreciate your comment.
Backyard Astronomy , if you plan on building an observatory check out what we are doing at Carefree Observatory! I believe in building it Strong And Right!
This is marvelous! Would love to see how you go about it during an observing session. Thanks for posting the series too. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately!
for temp.. with all you have done. should have put 2 ducts in to outside with moterized vent covers and tstate controled. so it will keep it at outside temp 24 7. no worries of heat at all in scope to cool down.. so on so on ... what the heck you went all out already .. very nice setup..
Good man stuff! I'm sure that the wife was on board with the addition you made. I just told my wife that we will begin building our observatory for the low low cost of $150k. She is soooo on board with my thinking. Clear skies baby!
New Pilot, with the additional storage space for my wife's "stuff" she was totally on board. I had a very good contractor that did the exterior, roof (heavy lifting stuff) and I was able to do the basic electric, insulation, drywall, paint, etc. It's surprising how much $$ can be saved. Best wishes and clear skies.
Sorry for the delayed response. The base is comprised of two aluminum rings that are secured to the house roof. The dome sits on the top ring (shaped like a bent "T"). The final portion of the install is a series of four "L" shaped components that attach directly to the dome and the lower portion of the "L" rides under the top "T" ring. Hence, the dome rides on the top ring (on vertical and horizontal (roller blade style) wheels and the locking ring keeps the dome from coming off. Finally, the aerodynamics of the dome helps with keeping it securely down. More information can be found in my images on the CloudyNights web site.
What is the minimum elevation you can view with the dome at that height versus the mount. How has it (or not) affected your viewing and imaging? Great observatory by the way!
Marc, I won't lie. With the dome at that height and the telescope as high as the tripod allows - I can't see anything below 22-25 degrees above the horizon. Albeit the haze and some trees would block the initial 10 degrees, but these calculations were determined in the planning stages when my setup was in the driveway and my view of the sky was limited at a much higher level. To lower the dome, a trap door would have been necessary (making the walls approx 4 feet high instead of 6+ feet). At 40 degrees latatude it was a bit challenging the see and image Saturn and Jupiter last summer (because they were very low in the night sky). This still allows for excellent viewing of the majority of the sky. I enjoy the full height of the observatory space and am not impacted by spurious light or wind. A heavy duty wedge is being planned for this spring as the change to an equatorial mount will allow for capturing images longer than 30 seconds at a time. This attachment will also raise the OTA a few more inches. Wishing you the best.
After two years of heavy summer rains and winter blizzards I'm happy to say the Exploradome is performing very well. The dome operation remains manual (which isn't an issue), plus without the additional mechanics - it just one or two more things I have to maintain or worry about.
SG, when the camera is connected, I can control the telescope and camera from the Control Room and the observatory floor is solid. I still consider adding an adjustable pier that will provide more floor space and height adjustments (maybe in the future).
major kudos, I was looking at the guy Mike Clements earlier who bought a massive mirror and built a giant telescope. what a great hobby
Beautiful job!
Thank you James.
Congratulations! You got me thinking on the need to drop 20 feet pipes to have a floor that does not vibrate but how about if you just drop the pipes to the floor below and mount the telescope in a small heavy slab connected to them? I think that would be a great relief and allow you to move about without disturbing the picture taking process. Just a thought! Thank you for the great video!
Oh, man, this is the coolest thing ever. You let me know if and when a neighborhood house goes up for sale because I want to be a neighbor. I'm a senior citizen who just got into astronomy and astrophotography (about a year and a half ago). Just upgraded to a Celestron 8se and having a ball. But my dreams keep expanding and I know I'll never come close to realizing them. But if we were neighbors.........heading to Cherry Springs State Park in 2 weeks to see and photograph the Milky Way.
Thank you for the nice comments. Cherry Springs has been on my list for a while, as I would take my Orange tube C8 (lighter and easier mobility). Hoping you have clear skies and a great time. BTW - a couple friends are just completing a house flip in my neighborhood.
I am going to get a contractor to build a house for me, and I too want a rooftop observatory. I was concerned about floor bounce since it won't be possible to put a pier down to the ground. With what you've said, I'm sitting on the fence right now about whether it will work or not, since I would like to be able to show friends the view through an eyepiece rather than just doing astrophotography.
This area looks very familiar to me, I think I'm just up the trail a bit. Nice setup, I have a roll off that I have been setting up for the last year. Finally got the concrete pier in and a local welder built a steel pier for the top of the concrete pier. I have 7' foot walls because of the door but it was prefab so I have about 4 feet of concrete and 3 feet of steel tubing. I actually prefer the cold to the bugs as I can splashtop from the comfort of the house.
Thank you Jim. There are more home observatories in the area. Wishing you well with your build.
Nice and cosy.
Thank you Sonya. I'm overdue for an updated video.
Cool idea however it’s Clearly not built to any building code, which is fine until you some day go to sell. Where we live this would never pass a house inspection, good luck to you.
Woody, both construction and electrical permits were pulled and approved. The only thing that isn't to code is the width of the stairs (30" instead of 36"), but the 2nd and 3rd levels aren't "living spaces", so the stair widths weren't an issue.
I understand that there are different codes for states and counties, which is why this was designed and constructed to comply with all codes in my area. I appreciate your comment.
I thougt this is house, but realized it is just a garage with a observatory. Amazing.
This is actually amazing
Sure is amazing ☺
Add a toilet, and a mini fridge, and I would never leave. Nice job!
Nice job buddy. I am hoping to be able to build me an Observatory on top of my house!
Backyard Astronomy , if you plan on building an observatory check out what we are doing at Carefree Observatory! I believe in building it Strong And Right!
@@CAREFREEOBSERVATORY absolutely! Thanks for sharing, I'll check it out! ~BA
Congratulations on a job very well done.
Thank you Bob.
This is the coolest thing ever! This would be my dream retirement Observatory
Thank you Matthew. This allows me such an easy process to setup, view and close, plus never having to leave the house. Wishing you clear skies.
I posted a comment 3 years ago. Lot has changed since then!
This is marvelous! Would love to see how you go about it during an observing session.
Thanks for posting the series too. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately!
Your observatory is impressive !
Thank you David. I'm way overdue for revised videos of the advances made to both the observatory and Control Room. Should be soon.
Vince Veltri
Looking forward to seeing what else you’ve done . Your project looked like a lot of work and planning . Not to mention it looks great !
It sure is impressive 👍
for temp.. with all you have done. should have put 2 ducts in to outside with moterized vent covers and tstate controled. so it will keep it at outside temp 24 7. no worries of heat at all in scope to cool down.. so on so on ... what the heck you went all out already .. very nice setup..
Good man stuff! I'm sure that the wife was on board with the addition you made. I just told my wife that we will begin building our observatory for the low low cost of $150k. She is soooo on board with my thinking.
Clear skies baby!
New Pilot, with the additional storage space for my wife's "stuff" she was totally on board. I had a very good contractor that did the exterior, roof (heavy lifting stuff) and I was able to do the basic electric, insulation, drywall, paint, etc. It's surprising how much $$ can be saved. Best wishes and clear skies.
Awesome
Very entertaining tour.
Your lucky in the states, your garage is bigger than the average house in Europe 😮
Awesome! I'D be proud of this setup. Very nice!
Thank you veizour.
Well done
Thank you Ray,
Really nice! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Gabryel.
Very Nice
Thank you Ace.
Does anything other than gravity hold the dome to the home? Great setup BTW. I am wanting to do the same.
Sorry for the delayed response. The base is comprised of two aluminum rings that are secured to the house roof. The dome sits on the top ring (shaped like a bent "T"). The final portion of the install is a series of four "L" shaped components that attach directly to the dome and the lower portion of the "L" rides under the top "T" ring. Hence, the dome rides on the top ring (on vertical and horizontal (roller blade style) wheels and the locking ring keeps the dome from coming off. Finally, the aerodynamics of the dome helps with keeping it securely down. More information can be found in my images on the CloudyNights web site.
Very nice.
Thanks for the tour. Terrific job!
Thank you Tom.
Such a great build, very nice
Thank you.
What is the minimum elevation you can view with the dome at that height versus the mount. How has it (or not) affected your viewing and imaging? Great observatory by the way!
Marc, I won't lie. With the dome at that height and the telescope as high as the tripod allows - I can't see anything below 22-25 degrees above the horizon. Albeit the haze and some trees would block the initial 10 degrees, but these calculations were determined in the planning stages when my setup was in the driveway and my view of the sky was limited at a much higher level.
To lower the dome, a trap door would have been necessary (making the walls approx 4 feet high instead of 6+ feet). At 40 degrees latatude it was a bit challenging the see and image Saturn and Jupiter last summer (because they were very low in the night sky). This still allows for excellent viewing of the majority of the sky.
I enjoy the full height of the observatory space and am not impacted by spurious light or wind.
A heavy duty wedge is being planned for this spring as the change to an equatorial mount will allow for capturing images longer than 30 seconds at a time. This attachment will also raise the OTA a few more inches. Wishing you the best.
How's the Exploradome top with weather? Rain and/or snow specifically? Nice setup!
After two years of heavy summer rains and winter blizzards I'm happy to say the Exploradome is performing very well. The dome operation remains manual (which isn't an issue), plus without the additional mechanics - it just one or two more things I have to maintain or worry about.
Definitely glad to hear, many thanks for the update!
Super cool ☺👍:)
Thank you.
well done
Thank you Robert.
Add a pier
SG, when the camera is connected, I can control the telescope and camera from the Control Room and the observatory floor is solid. I still consider adding an adjustable pier that will provide more floor space and height adjustments (maybe in the future).