It has been a long time waiting. But here it is first light from the new Hills Observatory. I thought I would pay homage to Messier's no 1 in his collection of fuzzies to avoid the great Crab Nebula M1. The last two nights have been clear if somewhat damp. A good test or the new home of my scopes. Water has been dripping off the outside of the dome and the grass is soaked you can feel the damp in the air. But I still wanted to have a play. The observatory has worked incredibly well no damp on the internal walls or inner dome. Now moisture build up on the mount or Pier. The optics remained clear too. I didn't even power up the dew heaters. So here is the pic. A wide field shot of M1 in all its glory. A 3 hour guided exposure over 2 nights of 2.5 minute subs at ISO 800 Dark's subtracted. I will do a series of flats over the weekend and re post if I get an improvement. Let me know what you think.
I also continued work on the main shutter, I have added a bit of weight with 2 coats of fibreglass aswell as overlapping seams to go around the corners. I also have fiitted the roller wheels. An ingenious idea that was made possible by a local company. I have also fitted the front and backstops for the main shutter and a long hook allows and simple opening mechanism without too much fuss. Today also allowed me to add a few security features for which I wont go into detail but it does stop the shutter being removed from the outside as well as stooping gusts of wind to ripping it off. Bolts are also positioned to stop unwanted rotation when not in use. And the inside of the dome got a coat of black paint. My daughter has a few of those glow in the dark stars on her ceiling and has donated some for me to add to my ceiling when complete.
The day had finally arrived. I was not looking foward to doing the fibreglass. Have read a great deal and so many contradicting statements had left me a little unsure as to whether I wanted to undertake the task myself. A good conversation at work with a colleague and I felt much better about doing it. The plan really was going to be a little at a time. So here we go. Started off a little shaky by trying to press out the air bubbles to hard and spreading the matting across the surface, I ripped that piece off and tried again. Once you get used to what you are trying to do it was plain sailing. Overall I am very happy with what I have done. I give my thanks to the guys at J.W Morris Mouldings for their help and supply of a few gallons of resin
Before I can get the dome raised I need to get the main roller wheels on and aligned. Quite a simple job. The not so easy job was to align the lateral guide rollers to exactly 1800mm end of wheel to wheel apart and aligning them centrally to the structure so when the dome turns all wheels are in contact with the inner part of the ring. With these in place I waited for my neighbour Mark to come home as he offered to help raise the roof.
As you can see the dome is ready for the fibreglass. It has been a long slog to get to this part especially as I have done everything myself, the template making of the gores was sometimes difficult as I needed often more hands than I currently own. Clamps help but the size often required a little extra help to hold things in place. Still I am very happy with the result so far.
I have spent the day today making the shutter and the hinged door. The plan is to allow the door to close into position and the shutter slide down over the top.A will post a pic or two when its all in place as hard to descibe without seeing the finished item. I couldn't wait to see what it looked like ontop of the dome. As Rolph Harris would say "can you tell what is is yet"
Managed to fit all my hours into 4 days of graft at work so I could have today off. Didn't start too well though having to take the cat to the vets. He has a scratched eyeball. 2 hours wasted, it's healing well nothing more they can do but I will charge you £38 for looking. As you can see I have managed to get the back panel on. Previous pics show some bracing pieces at intervals these provided excellent spacers to allow the curve to run smooth. I think it looks really good. Two gores also in place. These were much more difficult than I expected. I have studied other designs and they suggest using wall paper to make a template. Easy enough I thought until the wind took the first piece across the road. The second piece tore itself away from the pins holding it as another gust came along. Only to find when I did get a template piece and transferred it to the hardboard. Cut it out really carefully BINGO it doesn't fit. When you stretch the wall paper tight it stretches across the shortest distance not taking in curvature the that thicker more solid hardboard needs. So I spent a great deal of time offering up and clamping a piece and trimming it until I have a good fit. Thankfully as the structure is square or round the template spun around has cut the gores for the opposite side. Before I picked the kids up I also managed to finish the corner gore. This one was really tricky as I can only clamp it from one side. Needed an extra set of hands to hold it in place against the rib so I could draw the angle directly on to the panel. Well I am happy with what I done today I think it looks really good. What do you think?
You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you you are about to do someting and you are not sure if it is going to work. I had that feeeling this evening. It was the first clear sky since the pier was installed and I wanted to get the mount fitted and do a polar alignment. From day one when I dug the hole I had been relying on the fact that I had found north accuratly. When I poured the concrete and set the bolts that hold the pier. The shape of the building was also set the the north alignment give allow an easy access when scopes are parked. So I cannot put it off any longer it was time to carry out the mount attatch to the new top plate and level it to the pier. It was an agonising 45 minute wait to see polaris. Finally the wait was over and I nervously I peered through the finder scope and wow there she was right there where it needed to be.Success I didnt have any doubts at all what was all the worrying about.Dont know what all the fuss was about.
Today I looked rather suspicious in the car park at work doing what looked like a dodgy deal from the back of 2 open car boots. Let me put your minds at rest. I havent turned to the dark side but I was collecting the custom made pier made by a work colleague Nathan.
Good morning all, things have moved at pace this week. The base ring has been completed . Just a couple of coats of protection before bolting into place. 
As you can see the dome ring is nearly there. A small upgrade to the jig had made the cutting process smoother. This job really takes time as each piece is glued and screwed and clamped. I lost several clamps during the move so having to make do. Millimeter perfect on it's shape and looks fantastic on to of the base ring giving me a 30mm clearance for rotation. I was going to use the 6 castor's from the previous roll off roof but they look just to darn big and out of place. I know they will never be on show externally just not happy with them. 
