ASIGN Observatory II - The Complete Construction Movie

[A.S.I.G.N_Baz 19]

Finally! Two years of building - 12 hours of rooting around with video editing programs of which I have no clue how to use - and It's done!

I give you the complete construction of ASIGN Observatory II with a spine-tingling soundtrack.

[scorpius 176]

A great project and well presented. Its always great to see your dreams come true. By the way, how much do you pay the guy to rotate the dome ? :-)

[A.S.I.G.N_Baz 19]

A great project and well presented. Its always great to see your dreams come true. By the way' date=' how much do you pay the guy to rotate the dome ? :-)[/quote']

Actually, a more fun question to ask would be how much do you think it cost me to build it all? (not including scope and computer equipment.)

It might be interesting to think what people think?

Baz.

[Radar 631]

That is a pretty inspiring video mate. Well done. Cost? Knowing how handy you are? Well I know what a double story observatory would cost to buy from somewhere. Retail a build like that would be upwards of $30,000 and under $50,000 in my opinion.

Ray

[Radar 631]

And Baz, I noticed that in both your observatories you have had a second level. Is this to minimize vibrations when you are moving around?

[A.S.I.G.N_Baz 19]

And Baz' date=' I noticed that in both your observatories you have had a second level. Is this to minimize vibrations when you are moving around?[/quote']

No mate. It was initially to get me higher up off the ground to clear the trees and house line-of-sight, but in the end, it was about having living space underneath with all the comforts.

[A.S.I.G.N_Baz 19]

Ok here you go. :thumbup:

After 30 hours of cutting, drilling, bolting and painting, ASIGN Observatory II is now sporting a very stylish pergola and banister over the front entrance.

And a bonus little screen grab of Johanna Griggs from the Better Homes and Gardens team with me on the observation deck.

[timthelder 206]

Cool Baz. I've been semi-following your posts here and there across the web, that's something you can certainly be proud of. I LUV your stairway! Some very nice work in your obs.

Cheers, Tim.

[A.S.I.G.N_Baz 19]

Bless ya Tim. Thanks!

[A.S.I.G.N_Baz 19]

1. It's been couple of nights of rapid progression at ASIGN Observatory II. First night I got collimation of the mirrors sorted out.

2, 3 &4. Last night I had a fellow astronomer visit and help me through configuring of all the software that runs the telescope and cameras. Here's a few shots of the setup.

5 and finally, here's the first image (60 second single exposure) out of the new telescope through the deep space imager. It should be noted that there was nearly a full moon up and the mist filled the sky with poo. I can't wait to get a clear moonless night on some distant galaxies!

[A.S.I.G.N_Baz 19]

More testing of the new optics. I still have lots of room for tweaking the focus, but I am still fighting a sky full of moonlight and moisture/smoke. Too many people in our bush capital still using wood fires for heating.

The first picture is a single subexposure of M82 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy of ten minutes, guided using an SBIG ST-i guide camera and the Orion Starshoot (V1) as the main imager.

The second image is a single five minute subexposure of the Carina nebula.

Normally I would take twenty or thirty identical exposures, stack them together with dark, flat, offset/bias frames before exporting them to photoshop for final processing, so I'm pretty excited to see this level of detail, brightness and colour at the bottom of the pile.

Focus and collimation both need work, but that will come in time.