The
Blaber Observatory Main Page
Depending on whom you speak
with, this is either...
- An outbuilding that was constructed in willful and
flagrant violation of the covenants and restrictions of the Ox Bottom Homeowner's
Association (if you spoke with certain of my neighbors)
- A shack that is an eyesore, and should have been
built in a less-sturdy manner so that it would be easier to tear down.
Although, it does block the view of the old lady across the way when she
sits outside and smokes a cigarette and coughs like a
- An observatory, an inner sanctum and refuge from the
madness of the world, a place to study astronomy and cosmology - the
greatest scientific disciplines known to man (if you asked me)
Building the observatory
was a great experience.
Mostly because half-way through I freaked out and decided I had no idea what I
was doing and that it was going to be an utter disaster and a terrible waste of
money. At the same time, neighbors (that desired to remain anonymous)
complained to the homeowner's association that I was insane and building a
hideously ugly giant box in my back yard. I came to the conclusion that the
situation was probably perfect: any thing more grandiose and I would have
crumbled under the stress. Anything less, and it would have been a trivial
endeavor.
Florida
- the lightning capital of the USA.
Summer in
I have had two occasions
where electronics in the observatory have been fried by nearby lightning
strikes (despite having surge protectors). Mostly COM ports burn out. Here's a
list:
- Robofocus controllers (2x)
- PC motherboard (COM port)
- Sidereal Technology servo
controller (2x)
- Scope shaft encoder
Combined with software
glitches, the system is always challenging (and expensive) to use!
Here is more information on
the observatory, as well as images I have taken:
- The type of observatory - a
"Roll-off roof" design
- The telescope it houses - a
Meade 12" LX-200 Schmidt Cassegrain design
UPDATE
2005: MOVED TO CONDO DOWNTOWN
Yes, moved downtown, closer to work
(can walk in if I feel motivated to do so; otherwise, drive is only 5 minutes).
What to do about my telescope? I donated it to the Tallahassee astronomical
society. After about 12 months of no telescope I had to try again. I purchased
a Takahashi P2Z mount and 8" Celestron optical tube (both used on Astromart). The mount has a clockdrive
on the RA axis, but he DEC axis is a tangent arm (i.e. manual). The drive
electronics were not very good (although the RA gear is quite good). I
purchased a new SiderealTechnology controller and
retrofit it to the P2Z. I take it out to my kid's old high school (about 2
miles north of the old house) and its reasonably dark.
The telescope is mounted on a portable tripod (two foam-lined cases holds scope
& mount) and has a polar alignment scope built into the RA axis. I set up
the scope as a Schmidt camera (with a CCD at the front of the scope where the
secondary mirror normally is (this uses a lens called Fastar).
This yields a wide angle, but fast (F/2.0) scope. I can take about 2 min
unguided exposures with this set up. I usually take 20-30 and stack the best
ones. Here is a picture of the scope & mount when the lab went to see a
Shuttle launch. The secondary is still atached and
the Schmidt camera is not installed.
2001
Michael Blaber