Highlands Astro-Shack

Before I decided to build the permanent observatory, on a clear night I would drag all the gear out of the basement and set it up on my deck or out in the backyard. I used the deck a few times, but it was so bouncy I would have to stand on the grass and focus using the remote focuser. Otherwise, it was nearly impossible to sit still enough to focus. I would even sit so still sometimes that I could see my pulse jiggling the view. I would have to set up the scope, polar align it, set up the computer, run cables to the house, connect the cameras, and after the evening was done, drag it all back into the basement. A lot of work! Even more frustrating was when I would set everything up and the clouds would roll in.

The observatory consists of two separate rooms under the sliding roof. The main room is an 8x8 foot open area with the telescope pier exending out of the middle of the floor. It is designed so that no part of the floor actually touches the cement pier. This way it's easy to go in and out of the obervatory while viewing or imaging without any vibration. The carpet actually touches the pier, but it just acts as a vibration damper, and keeps small items from falling down the gap between the pier and the floor!
The other part of the observatory is the control room. This is where the telescope is controlled from completely by remote control by the computer. There is a curtain in the doorway to keep heat in the room during those chilly winter nights. One night I was out there and I had to take off my jacket since the electric heater was doing such a good job. When I checked the scope, it was 27 degrees outside - but a warm 70+ in the control room.

I installed a simple acrylic window which hinges open for the warm summer nights. This allows me to view the scope while at the computer and verify that it is moving correctly, no cables are getting snagged, and give me a view of the sky also (just to make sure the clouds haven't returned).

The entire observatory can be controlled remotely also through the computer network using VNC Viewer software. I will often sit indoors watching a movie or do other things, and monitor the progress of the imaging remotely from a laptop computer or my desktop computer.

Finally, when I have to get to bed or the skies lighten up in the east, I can have the observatory shut down, closed and secured for the night in about 10 minutes. Nothing to put away other than the eyepieces, cameras, and tuck the blanket over the scope for the night.

Other than the tracks extending off the end of the observatory, it looks just like any other garden shed that a rake, shovel and lawn mower would be stored in.