Almost one year after my first try to build an amateur observatory in my garden this was unfortunately discarded due to poor location both in light pollution and water log coming form a nearby golf course grounds. The current location is situated in Istan Mountain around 270m from the sea level and away from light pollution. I am installing the observatory using a Pulsar 2.2M (https://www.pulsarastro.com/).
Description
The Pulsar Observatory Dome provides a high quality, secure and practical housing for your telescope. Providing excellent weather protection for you and your telescope, it allows you to have your instrument ready for use at all times. Whether imaging or visual, having the convenience of a permanent set up adds greatly to your enjoyment of exploring the night sky.
The Pulsar Observatories 2.2 metre full height dome benefits from the following advanced features:
Finest quality, weather proof GRP finish
High quality locking system
Simple design for self assembly
Motorised dome rotation available
Motorised dome shutters available
Accessory storage bays available
Available in white or sage green (other colours - please call)
Dimensions:
Total Height approx 2.47 metres
Dome Diameter approx 2.2 metres
Door Height approx 1.1 metres
Dome Aperture approx 0.6 metres
Ideal for up to 12" telescopes and a variety of installations.
www.pulsarastro.com/
Description
The Pulsar Observatory Dome provides a high quality, secure and practical housing for your telescope. Providing excellent weather protection for you and your telescope, it allows you to have your instrument ready for use at all times. Whether imaging or visual, having the convenience of a permanent set up adds greatly to your enjoyment of exploring the night sky.
The Pulsar Observatories 2.2 metre full height dome benefits from the following advanced features:
Finest quality, weather proof GRP finish
High quality locking system
Simple design for self assembly
Motorised dome rotation available
Motorised dome shutters available
Accessory storage bays available
Available in white or sage green (other colours - please call)
Dimensions:
Total Height approx 2.47 metres
Dome Diameter approx 2.2 metres
Door Height approx 1.1 metres
Dome Aperture approx 0.6 metres
Ideal for up to 12" telescopes and a variety of installations.
www.pulsarastro.com/
Next Step - Internal Equipment Installation
Dome Drive
The mounts will follow the apparent movement of the stars in a smooth arc: ideal for imaging, but through the course of the imaging session, the telescope starts on the west side of the pier pointing east and ends up on the east side of the pier pointing west.
This non-linear pointing has to be accounted for to ensure that the telescope points through the dome’s aperture at all times, requiring some complex mathematics.
It is the job of the dome control software to do this for you.
However, to do this correctly, the software must know exactly where the telescope is mounted in relation to the centre of the dome, so your first task is to make some careful measurements to obtain the dimensions required.
Using the spreadsheet available below will make it easier to get all the dimensions correct and ready for insertion into your software.
Install the ASCOM software and enter the offsets from your spreadsheet, ensuring the correct signs (positive or negative), into your choice of control software – we used MaxIm DL and POTH (Plain Old Telescope Handset) and my personal choose is Sequence Generator Pro.
Once the above is completed, your telescope and dome aperture will be in sync.
An example below using my AstroPhysics 1100GTO mount, the dimension is obtained from the mount (see below)
