In addition to my existing observatory I have started building a second one in at my house. Here I wont be doing any deep-sky astrophotography due to heavy light pollution but instead focus on solar astronomy during the summer months.
The building is relatively small, only 2x2 meters and 1.5 meter tall. I wanted to keep the footprint of the observatory as small as possible and as I only need views to the south I decided to invent an opening mechanism for the entire roof instead of a more traditional roll-off-roof. This design has it's flaws, as it's not safe to open it in heavy winds, but I don't seek to image anything during windy days anyways as air will be polluted with flying sand and dust that I don't want on my equipment. The roof opens with a pair of heavy duty linear actuators that have a rated push/pull force of 150 kilos each.
This observatory will house two telescopes each with their own solar filters. The main scope will be 80mm f/7 refractor with a DayStar Quark that I took off from a SolarScout and fitted it on a larger scope. In addition to that I will have a second refractor, 100mm f/5 achromat, paired with Antlia Calcium K-line Herschel wedge. This way I can shoot two bandwidths at the same time, hopefully capturing great views of the sun.
Ville Puoskari
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