Design

I bought the book "More Small Astronomical Observatories", edited by Patrick Moore, and spent some time in the internet learning from the experience of other amateur astronomers.

The choice between a dome type observatory and a roll-off roof one seemed obvious to me. The dome observatory provides a better shelter against the wind and humidity and that was one of my main objectives since I live in a quite windy and humid area.

One web site that caught my attention as being cost effective, functional and well documented was Michael Cook’s. Michael based his design on standard sizes of plywood arcs which he cut out from plywood sheets.

I started the detailed design of the observatory in Autocad.

After several essays, checking and re-checking the scope dimensions and its accessories (guidescope, dew shield, pier) I intended to use inside the observatory, and after checking for local availability of the necessary parts, I decided to apply the following dimensions:

Base:

• diameter: 2350 mm

• height:    1500 mm

Dome:

• diameter: 2400 mm

• height:    1100 mm

The 50 mm gap between the base and dome diameters was necessary to allow for the installation of a wheather skirt to seal the area between the dome and the base.