Ad Astra Observatory

Seattle weather is not really what I remembered.

From past memory, I recall Seattle weather being solid rain and clouds from October 15 (how many times have I picked a skimpy Halloween outfit only to freeze my tail off when it suddenly starts raining a week before the party?) through May or so, tapering off to a short, but nice, summer of clear weather.

I wasn’t really paying all that close attention to the weather, clearly, because how it really seems to work is:
Oct 15 – Thanksgiving : rain
Thanksgiving – Dec 15 : too cold to rain; clear and very (in the 20’s sometimes!) cold
Dec 15 – Jan 10 : rain (around the Solstice … hmm)
Jan 10 – ? : cold again (first snow this winter came today)
March – May : rain

What this means to an astronomer is that, instead of one long streak of clear sky from spring through fall like CA, the Pacific Northwest seems to get 3 distinct clear sky seasons; one in summer, one in late fall/early winter, one in late winter.

This suddenly turns 6 weeks of decent sky into nearly 4 months, and that makes an observatory sound reasonable. Especially because 2 of the “seasons” are coupled with sub-freezing temps.

Some things went very well with the observatory at Newark, CA. Other things could use some updating. This time, I also have more gear to deal with, and a bit more lofty aspiration for the structure.

With that in mind, I’ve been thinking about designs for the new Ad Astra Observatory at Hilltop.

I’d like to be able to mount up two scopes at once. Having only one mount point meant that if the scope was doing photography, I could either sit in the cold with hand-held binoculars, or I could go inside and watch TV. Needless to say, I am not the greatest visual observer, through lack of practice, if nothing else. There’s a strong possibility that the second mount would (eventually) be a GEM also, either doing visual work, or doing widefields or planetary while the main mount cranks out DSO’s. Anyhow, 2 scopes means more footprint.

I’m torn between another roll-off (or two) vs. a dome (or two domes). I enjoyed the roll-off roof, and it has the secret-squirrel aesthetic appeal of looking like a harmless garden shed. On the other hand, domes offer better dew and weather protection, and a smaller footprint (the roll off roof requires twice as much square footage as the actual usable area, so the roof can roll off to somewhere). At this point, I’m strongly leaning toward a single roll-off roof, but I am really looking at this form all angles. My wife has even given a tentative OK to a two-story structure; might give the house a little more privacy. Hmm.

Building regulations in my area allow a 200 square foot shed to be built without a permit, so I’m currently thinking about a 12′ x 16′ single story or a 10′ x 10′ “tower” or maybe even a 9’x9′ dome over a 9’x13′ warm room… All kinds of options. I’m not sure how to mount a second scope on the second story (as any two-story structure will almost certainly be a dome). Perhaps some kind of “porch” downstairs. The main thing is I don’t want to have to break down scopes every night, so whatever gets done will have to be securable in situ. There may be something very cool that could be done with a SkyShed POD integrated into the lower story…

I’ll need to pull a permit for the 110VAC that I want to put out there, although I’m thinking that I’ll only need a single 20A circuit. Dunno, maybe two — electric space heaters are pretty power hungry and I’d hate to brown out the scope to stave off frostbite.

As near as I can tell, I need to leave 30′ between the shed and the street on the north side, but I only need about 5′ of space between the shed and the fence to the east. I’ve mocked up a bird’s eye view in Sketchup, and will continue to work through the design there.

I need to figure out where exactly the pier is going to sit, and also how high I’m going to mount it. I may end up cutting down my existing steel pier, or recreating a new steel pier, or maybe even mounting up more or less to bare concrete.