“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known".  Sharon Begley
Copyright © 2023 by Dennis Roscoe, Ph.D.         Last Update was June 1, 2023                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Observatory

Observatory Building-YouTube Video

The Observatory building is a SkyShed POD on a 9 x 9 foot concrete slab with an isolated 16 inch pier.

Telescope System

Takahashi TOA-130F f/5.3 with reducer, Bisque Paramount MX.

Optical Train

SBIG STF-8300M camera , Takahashi TOA-130R

Reducer with  spacer rings resulting in a f/5.3 optical

system.

SBIG OAG-8300 Off-axis guider, ST-i guide camera and FW8-8300 filter wheel with Astrodon 5nm Ha, OIII, and SII filters. 3 inch FeatherTouch Focuser with Starizona MicroTouch Remote Focusing System.

Pier Design

An isolated 16 inch pier goes down 6.5 feet mating with a Big Foot footing form. A 4 inch PVC pipe carries redundant CAT5e network lines back to the house.
RoscoeSkies
Four 14" stainless steel 3/4" L-bolts (Dan's Pier Top Plates) are held in a wooden template for placement into the 16" concrete pier.

Power Platform

A power platform has been designed to keep all of the power supplies and USB2 cables off the floor of the observatory.  A USB2 controlled power strip is used to remotely control the RSO lights.  In the future, it will also be used to open the dome.

Remote Control

The observatory is completely remote controlled via a single CAT5e cable that runs 200 feet into my office in the house.  All the USB2 equipment in the observatory is converted into a CAT5e networking protocol and then converted back to USB2 once in the house.

RSO Control Room

There are six applications programs that control the operation of the RSO; TheSkyX Professional Edition, TSX Camera Control, MicroTouch Focuser Control, FocusMax, PowerUSB, and Dimension 4.