Current equipment advice

[Chris Newsome]

Good Afternoon.

 

Apologies in advance for the long post but ALL advice would be gratefully received.

 

OK. I own a number of telescopes, A Skywatcher 120, Skywatcher 80 (both of which are used as guide scopes with a Meade DSI attached running from Maxim DL). These can/are attached piggy back on a Celestron C8-NGT on a 1m40cm Pier. Also, I have a Meade ETX105. I use Canon DSLR's for any imaging whether it is through the scope or with a long telephoto lens (piggybacked on the Meade). 

 

The dilemma. I used to have the Celestron in an observatory and this was connected to computers for guiding etc. The Meade has been used as a standalone portable. When I moved house, the observatory had to stay at my old house as it was so well built, I couldn't take it down, although the scopes and mounts etc moved with me. That was around 6yrs ago and the Celestron has only been out a couple of times since, once, to use as a good mount to put my Canon's on to photograph lunar eclipses. However, I can put the Canon on the Meade with an 8mm full frame fisheye lens to track and photo a large sky.

 

The garden where I live is looking to be landscaped and am wondering whether to try and include the pier in it, putting the ASGT mount on if and when I use the 8" or consider getting rid of the 8" and Skywatcher 80 and pier, just keeping the Skywatcher 120 and Meade (so I have a driven mount). If I did keep the 8", I would need to keep the pier and ASGT mount dry WITHOUT an observatory. 

 

So here are the questions. Does anyone have any good ideas about keeping the C8-NGT etc dry without an observatory? The other question is what sort of price could I get for the C8-NGT with ASGT mount, 1m40cm pier, Crayford focuser, etc?

 

Thank you in advance for your help/advice.

 

Chris Newsome

Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

[Doc]

Welcome to EMS Chris.

 

You don't need a permanent observatory how about a roll away one. Put an image search in google for "roll away observatory" there is loads of ideas. As for how much your items I don't know, use the past for sale search in astrobuyandsell, your items might come up.

[BAZ]

Hi Chris, I agree with Doc, you need something secure to keep the gear in, otherwise it gets a chore dragging it in and out. A roll off roof, or an entire roll off obsy might be the answer. The roll off roof idea can be incorporated into the garden scheme with trellises etc to keep the garden looking nice and hiding the whole point of the building.

 

Have a squint round, Felix made an entire roll off building and others such as Red Dwarf have roll off roofs. Search this and it should turn something up to give you an idea. 

[Chris Newsome]

Thank you Mick and Baz for your replies. I had considered a RORO housing of somesort, in fact my previous observatory was a roll off roof that had a footprint of 12'X6' (including the supports for the roof in the off position. A full RORO observatory or housing would be a possibility although the garden and location isn't lending itself too much due to trees, size  etc and also the house....I can't even see a summer full moon from the back garden! I would be able to get away with having a pier permanently fixed in concrete but don't want to have the ASGT mount outside all the time due to risk of dampness (My RORO observatory was drier than the Sahara and I kept a computer in there that worked with no problems despite wind/rain/snow outside). ALso by bringing the ASGT mount in and out each time, means a good polar alignment that has been set up by drift aligning would be gone.

 

Hence my questions above.

 

Any further replies from other members of eastmidlandsstargazers or any further comments from Baz and Mick would be gratefully received, especially if I decided to take the plunge and get rid of the 8" but keep the SKywatcher 120 and Meade ETX 105.

 

Many thanks to you all.

 

Chris