Stratis Observatory

[nakbrooks]

Hope no-one minds a bit of flagrant self-promotion:

 

https://www.facebook.com/stratisobservatory

 

My observatory, currently sill being commissioned.  Feel free to Like if you are on Facebook.

 

Hopefully I will get to first light by the end of the year and can start producing some decent material in the Spring.  It's a long process - partly because of recent very bad weather, partly because of numerous problems with the dome and electrics, but mostly because I can't spend enough time on it given other commitments.

 

Nigel

 

[Waldemar]

Wow, Nigel, that is quite something... congratulations with the results so far. It is really amazing what you already accomplished

I must admit being a bit jalous . I hope to build a dome somewhere in the future also, but not in Holland, too many weather issues 

First move to a better place. 

 

Again: congratulations with that beautiful piece of work.

 

Best regards,

Waldemar

[nakbrooks]

Yes, I hope to move full-time to France in the next couple of years which is why I built it there. Much better seeing than in South West England where I live now.

[w0mbat]

Nigel,

Your work is very impressive! It has surprised me just how complex and time consuming designing, building and commissioning a remote controlled observatory is. And I am only working over a 60 metre distance! I have just checked and it is 16 months since I took delivery of my DDM60 Pro and N10 and I have not taken a serious image yet! All of the same delays that you mention. And the additional worry that equipment warranties will run out before I have seriously used the gear. At least you live in the Northern Hemisphere. Sometimes we southerners have additional issues to deal with. I have just had Diffraction Limited tell me that they are not certain how to set up dome slaving in the Southern Hemisphere and it appears to me that there may even be a problem with the dome slaving algorithm they use when it is operated in the south!

Well done Nigel!

Ian

[nakbrooks]

You are right. It will be good to be able to move on from engineering and start doing astronomy. I estimate it will be a good 21 months from first hole in the ground to first light. Domes complicate things.