17/04/2023
Evolution of Observatories. Part 3
LSO (Luqa Shack Observatory)
A Metal pipe frame, corrugated roof, and thick net wall
Enjoyed and survived for 1 whole summer.
Demise: Gone with the wind
LSO was my first usable obs. I got the idea from a friend and soon started buying long pipes, cutting them to size, sticking them together with special attachments (no welding needed), and building them in my workshop.
When I was happy that everything was in place, I dismantled everything got a Furniture lift, and transported everything in pieces up to the roof, including my heavy mount, heavy telescope, and the rest.
Finally, I reattached everything on the roof, set up the mount on its (not so) new metal tripod, which was built by a friend of mine and donated to me, asked my wife to sew the net around the metal pipe chassis, and attached the wheels under the pipes so I could move the entire shack to uncover the scope.
Finally, I was ready to use it and started to shoot astrophotography from my own rooftop. It was early summer when I started, and it was a very comfortable setup for summer. Sitting inside the shack with a soft breeze passing through the net and yet not getting wet in case of dew. When finished using it, I would just move it to cover the mount and telescope, close it, and off we go
This went on for the entire summer until October came and disaster stuck.
I had used it the night before so the scope, mount, and everything else was still connected apart from the camera and laptop which I never left up there. I even forgot to tie it down as it was very calm weather… But on that faithful day, a freak storm came with very strong winds and a deluge that came with it. I was in the room below when I heard a huge ruckus happening on the roof and a very loud crashing sound as the observatory shack was blown off the roof into the street below… As my roof was never intended to be used as a leisure roof, there was no need to build the opramorta (low wall or railing at the edge of the roof) thus the shack just fell right off.
I was in total shock looking down from my window and seeing the shack below and to be honest, I was looking for someone underneath it… cause if there was, it would have been involuntary murder. I went out to remove it as it was blocking the street with a deluge pouring down and completely forgetting that my scope and mount were still on the roof, though I was expecting the worst, probs destroyed by the blown shack. The metal frame was twisted and once the shock started abating, I turned my attention to the mount and scope still on the roof.
Both mount and my 1-meter scope were completely untouched by the blown away shack and that day I realized that my mount, the EQ6R is waterproof, because it stayed for half an hour under pouring rain, and not one drop went inside it and it is still my main mount today, 3 years later.
Eventually, I dismantled the broken shack and started to work on a new project…. But that's another story in my Evolution of observatories.
I did learn some very valuable lessons from this event and the main one is….
TIE DOWN YOUR EQUIPMENT!!!!!
