Many thanks William Shaheen for posting the links to the photos.
Hi Michael Collins,
Do you think that having a small air conditioner running inside the
observatory would have the mount + OTA + electronics survive the Phoenix
summer heat? Also the roll-off-roof observatory will occupy almost twice
the amount of real estate than its floor area if we add the area beneath
the roof when it is rolled off. Is it possible to have a flip-top
observatory construction to save the real estate beneath the rolled off
roof in the limited backyard space?
Thanks,
Nikul
બà«àª§, 13 àªà«àª¨, 2018 ના રà«àª 04:15 PM વાàªà«àª¯à«
ના રà«àª Michael Collins <
cal_donley@xxxxxxxxxxxx> ઠલàªà«àª¯à«àª:
You really can't beat a proper building to keep a permanently mounted
telescope safe from the elements when not in use. It may be worth
contacting your HOA's architectural committee to see if there is any way
that you can construct some kind of shelter. I inquired about this at an
annual meeting one year, explaining what I was looking for and why I
wanted it, and the immediate response was that they didn't care so long
as I stayed below the fence line. Which I did, for the most part. While
I originally expected to remove the mount and electronics for the
summer, I never actually did so and everything survived just fine. The
true test of the structure came a few months after completion when a
microburst hit with winds upwards of 70 MPH for a few minutes. A hangar
and 40+ aircraft at the Chandler airport two miles north were damaged or
destroyed but the only evidence of the storm inside the observatory was
a small puddle of water which had blown past the door seal (we had more
water in the house from leakage at the front door on the same side of
the building.)
I've read many good things about commercially available covers which
offer protection from rain and sun, and in the past I've left mounts in
the yard for extended periods with some success. It's better than
nothing, but a far cry from having everything set up, connected and
ready to go in under five minutes. The only regret I have concerning my
observatory is that I didn't pursue the matter with the HOA sooner, as
it was in service for only three years before I relocated from the area.
Eventually there will be a larger replacement on our new property under
a much darker sky, but until then, I'll really miss the opportunity to
use the telescope on a whim without having to do anything more than push
the roof open.
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