Observatory

On the right you see my observatory at night. Of course, during observations the illumination is switched off. The height of the walls protects against wind, but is low enough to reach objects down to about 10° elevation above the horizon.

The observatory was designed as a roll-off-roof shed, deployed on a maddow at 540 m altitude a.s.l. The zinc-coated roof withstands all weather conditions and is easily pushed off using a crank handle (and meanwhile an electric mechanism). At night, this is a really dark location, providing a splendid night sky around new moon.

On the left a gap cropped in the trees is visible. These trees were hedges in the past. They hadn't been nursed anymore and grew up to become trees, and soon after the observatory was taken into operation they turned out to become obstacles. In order to observe the (sometimes low) planets as well as a couple of southern objects (NGC 253, NGC 6822, NGC 7239), a saw had to be utilised. The house owners in the background were lucky...

Aerial view of the opened roll-off-roof shed. The movie on the right shows the preparation of the observatory for an observing run. The roll-off roof is being opened and the Dobson pulled out.

The roll-off roof is now equipped with an electric gear. Two commercially available gate drives, which operate synchronously, have been installed on both sides. A  securrity switch ensures that activation of the system is only feasible after lifting the gable flap. The video on the left demonstrates the operation.


Image of the observatory from a somewhat larger distance: on November 24, 2018, Alexander Gerst took it from the ISS from about ca. 400 km altitude. The picture shows the observatory fairly well - if one knows its location...