We are located at the southern end of the Mornington Peninsula - the 'dot' at the end of the long, narrow piece of land at the bottom of the images here. The sky is classed as 'suburban/rural transition', away from the worst of Melbourne's light pollution, for now.
The learning began when the dome was complete and instrumented
A large mount (the gizmo that tracks the stars) provides the flexibility to add almost any size telescope. My first small refractor has been upgraded to a larger Stellarvue refractor., Details of our equipment are listed in the 'What's in the Observatory?' section below.
Weather near the southern coast can be challenging, this Cloudwatcher system senses cloud, rain and wind so the dome can shut when conditions change. The CCTV lets me 'see' what's happening.
Voyager software (top right in this image) allows a full night's imaging to be scripted for multiple targets in a single night. Weather sensors and CCTV provide information about observing conditions and the position of the telescope.
This video is taken from inside the dome as it opens and the telescope begins tracking and photographing deep sky targets. Watch for satellites shooting across the sky.
Sound on!
This is an overnight recording (without audio) of a time lapse using the all-sky camera located on the deck next to the observatory dome.
This camera provides a quick check of the sky conditions at the observatory.
The video was recorded on an observing night with a clear sky showing the dome as it tracked and photographed deep space targets, and the stars and planets moving across the sky.
Stellarvue SVX130T.
Aperture: 130mm or 5 inches,
Focal ratio: f7
Focal length: 910mm
Astro-Physics 1600GTO-AE mount with high-precision Swiss DC servo motors and Renishaw absolute encoders.
ZWO ASI1600MM Pro cooled mono camera with micro four thirds CMOS sensor
ZWO 8 position electronic filter wheel
Chroma 1.25" LRGB filters
Chroma 1.25" 3nm Oiii and Sii filters
Astrodon 1.25" 5nm Hydrogen Alpha filter
Lunatico Astronomia Cloudwatcher sky monitoring system with sky temperature (cloud), rain, wind and light sensors.
Lunatico Astronomia Dragonfly observatory control
Pegasus Astro Ultimate Powerbox V2 power and data hub
Voyager astrophotography automation software. Integration software developed by Leonardo Orazi that supports remote operation, providing scripted imaging integrating multiple pieces of equipment through a single management console.
The black mini rack in the photo above contains a universal power supple (UPS), plus power and network distribution rails. The dome is controlled by an industrial fanless Windows computer. There are two CCTV cameras inside the dome and one outside on the building next to it to provide visibility in case of difficulties.