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Well this it what started it all off.

I aquired an 8 foot length of 'ex' mobile phone mast which would make an ideal pier for my scopes so I just had to do something with it.
After demolishing my old shed I was left with this wasteland.

All of the fencing needed replacing anyway so this was ripped out and the ground levelled.
Two eight tonne skips, 4 tonnes of sand gravel and concrete and lots of nice new fencing later this was the result.

The pier is set into the ground by about 3.5 feet in a hole 3 foot square, I can only image that there is at least a tonne of concrete round it so I won't be moving it any time soon
The observatory was built from scratch using a framework of 3"x2" and the floor was raied up on a row of bricks to give support and to raise it from the ground.
Having got this far I figured I ought to try it out and see if I had got all of my measurements correct and that I was actually going to be able to see things.

As it happened it worked out far better than I had hoped and I can see a lot lower down that I expected to.
Observatory walls now clad in 18mm exterior ply and the pier in place.
The warm(ish) room.

Still lots to do in here but that will have to wait until the credit card has healed a bit.
Fully loaded and operational.

here we have the Celestron 9.25 SCT with the Celestron 90 Maksutov piggy backed on it for guiding.

This setup was quickly changed as the C90 proved poor for obtaining a guide star, the Zenithstar 66SD now takes it's place.
Roof open.

here we have the roof open showing that half slides over the warm room and the other half folds out acting as a screen to the lights from the neighbouring houses.
Warm room in use.

This has to double up as my office which explains the three phones, two PCs and intercom, it's basic but it'll do for now.
View from above.

This shows in a little more detail the operation of the roof.
If you would like any more info on The Dog House constuction please feel free to drop me a line.

Email The Dog House