Observatory

Maxwell's Playhouse

My observatory was named after James Clerk Maxwell, the Scottish physicist who formulated the equations above that describe electromagnetism, and the loophole in my Home Owner's Association covenants that allows me to have a both a shed, which I already had, and a playhouse in my backyard. Scott Horstmen of Backyard Observatories built it, and you can see photos of the construction here.

Observatory

Scope You can see here I still have a bit of work to do with regards to cable management, but it is sure nice not to have to connect and disconnect this mess every night. The observatory is 9’ 6” x 9’ 6” and my C11 looks a little small in comparison. I guess it’s time to start saving for a 14”.

This is an image of my PierTech II pier. In the tests I've done, a star stayed centered very impressively in my CCD frame as I raised and lowered in mount. At its base you can see the pier extender and mounting hardware that I got from Backyard Observatories, which was substantially less expensive than the equivalent hardware from PierTech. The only issue I have had with my installation, though, is with the pier; the pier was installed about 20 degrees east of north. It didn’t really cause me any problems, since I can use rotate the Losmandy Meade Adapter to the correct orientation, but this may be an issue when I upgrade my mount. Also, the adapter is too tall. I really don't need to extend the pier at all to get over the walls, and if I get a taller mount, I could run into height problems, even with the pier fully shortened.
Pier

Cantenna No this isn’t a Ritchey-Chrétien made out of a coffee can, but a directional wireless antenna, called a Cantenna. Made with $16 in parts from eBay, it actually works, raising my wireless reception from 1 bar to 4 bars. If you are interested, this site contains everything you need to know about making one of these for yourself.

Here is the scope parked and stowed away. It takes about 5 minutes to get from this state to the point to where I can start imaging.


My observatory was named after James Clerk Maxwell, the Scottish physicist who formulated the equations above that describe electromagnetism, and the loophole in my Home Owner's Association covenants that allows me to have a both a shed, which I already had, and a playhouse in my backyard. Scott Horstmen of Backyard Observatories built it, and you can see photos of the construction here.
	You can see here I still have a bit of work to do with regards to cable management, but it is sure nice not to have to connect and disconnect this mess every night. The observatory is 9’ 6” x 9’ 6” and my C11 looks a little small in comparison. I guess it’s time to start saving for a 14”.
This is an image of my PierTech II pier. In the tests I've done, a star stayed centered very impressively in my CCD frame as I raised and lowered in mount. At its base you can see the pier extender and mounting hardware that I got from Backyard Observatories, which was substantially less expensive than the equivalent hardware from PierTech. The only issue I have had with my installation, though, is with the pier; the pier was installed about 20 degrees east of north. It didn’t really cause me any problems, since I can use rotate the Losmandy Meade Adapter to the correct orientation, but this may be an issue when I upgrade my mount. Also, the adapter is too tall. I really don't need to extend the pier at all to get over the walls, and if I get a taller mount, I could run into height problems, even with the pier fully shortened.
	No this isn’t a Ritchey-Chrétien made out of a coffee can, but a directional wireless antenna, called a Cantenna. Made with $16 in parts from eBay, it actually works, raising my wireless reception from 1 bar to 4 bars. If you are interested, this site contains everything you need to know about making one of these for yourself.
Here is the scope parked and stowed away. It takes about 5 minutes to get from this state to the point to where I can start imaging.