Outpost #81 'Stapledon' Observatory

 

Sky Rover 115 Refractor on the NEQ 6 GEM. Finally housed in the observatory, polar aligned and ready for action. Guidescope is the ZWO 60280 fitted with QHYII mono guiding camera.

 

With the move to Tasmania, it had always been my objective to build an observatory, or at the very least a container to house the scope. After imaging the Carina with the goto capability of the scope I was hooked. I couldnt go back to the Redcat 51 setup if I had this gear at my disposal. After arranging a budget and sourcing materials the next step was to get permission from the council. This is a heritage area and so with this in mind, the design of the Observatory had to reflect the weatherboard, late 1800's style of the house.

 

It took a month to get permission in writing but by then the concrete was already laid, the shed which I would 'upcycle' purchased, and the gear ready to go in. II wouldn't describe myself as a builder but more a Jack of all trades. Therefore, the plan was to see what was out there and borrow ideas I felt would work and be in the best interests of the Observatory. building the box of the shed was easy as it was following the directions of the guide that came with the shed (Stella sheds - Bunnings), but the integrity of the walls is dependent in some part on the roof, which I intended to separate. The walls therefore, were strengthened with an internal frame which would also support the tracks for the sliding roof.

 

The ideas and many of the materials were sourced from R.O.R. observatories facebook page. Some real amazing examples of human ingenuity and know-how in the number of designs - a really supportive group of people all with the same goal of building observatories to observe the stars. I was advised to get the wheels and track from a company called Tigerlink who specialise in gates and fencing and are based in Victoria. the wheels are designed to take an amount of weight and to run freely over the track. This was ideal for my design as the roof would be fairly hefty and would require additional support in maintaining its shape. As it turns out, the roof was lighter than I originally thought, but overcompensating for this issue worked out well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our house has oriental elements in its design, and I wanted to convey this with the Observatory. I had seen many designs for the support structure that the roof would roll onto, but they were usually more practical in their look than aesthetically pleasing. I used the pagoda type design for the cross beams to help support the weight and keep the squareness of the supports. It worked out better than I had hoped in terms of a simple design that complimented the surrounding buildings.

 

 Outpost #81 is named Stapledon in reference to Olaf Stapledon, the author of 'Starmaker' and 'First and Last Man'. I read this science Fiction whilst traveling and have copied the protagonist's behavior early on in the book a number of times. In short,  the main character walks out into his garden during a moonless night and looks up at the stars. Pondering the nature of things, he sits and stares at the stars and falls into them - the first steps of his journey towards the star maker. It's a great creative and imaginative book written at a time where astronomy was still mostly conjecture. A lot of people haven't heard of him though Arthur C. Clarke was a huge fan. This is why Outpost #81 has the alternative name of the Stapledon Observatory.