Practical Astronomy

MAY 2010

Telescope Friction Drive

Home Observatory Project
Practical Time Travel
Practical Astronomy May 2010

In this month’s issue..

First Light
3 PRACTICAL TIME TRAVEL
Welcome to
Looking into the past with astronomical observation the May
4 TELESCOPE CONTROL - FRICTION DRIVE issue of
Practical
Developing a friction drive system for a large reflector Astronomy
7 ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE - METEORITES This month, I
The different types, plus a historical perspective get to show
off the new cover design - by
9 PRACTICAL CONSTELLATIONS an Italian design studio, no
less! Hope you like it and if
Mythology and astronomy of Ursa Minor and Major you voted in the website
10 GLOBAL REVIEW survey, thank you again.

A new look at the Moon But PA has substance, as well

as style..
11 READERS’ IMAGE GALLERY
You’ll find a good variety of
Your astronomical images interesting articles in this
issue, I think. And again,
14 HOME OBSERVATORY PROJECT please welcome the new
Building a Pulsar 2.2m dome (Part 2) writers to the magazine.

16 SKY VIEW - MAY Perhaps leave a comment on

the Feedback page to
Maps of the Night Sky - looking East, South, West, North encourage all contributers?
20 OBSERVERS’ DELIGHTS Clear skies and all the best,
Special observing sights not to miss this month Kevin Brown

Cover design: Pixeljuice snc

Find back issues and related resources in the Image: Dr J Dehghani (Sunspot 1057)
Members’ Area (subscribe to get the password, if
you’ve not done so yet)
Sponsored By CADSAS.com

Practical Astronomy May 2010 Practical Astronomy magazine is published monthly

Editor: Kevin Brown FRAS
editor@practicalastronomy.com
Advertising: ads@practicalastronomy.com
Website: www.PracticalAstronomy.com
Publisher: Structure Ltd
Telephone: +44 (0)1622 891151
online. ISSN 2042-2687
Views expressed are not necessarily those of the
editor or publisher. May include errors and
omissions. Trademarks are the property of their
respective owners. The publisher is not responsible
for the conduct of advertisers or external websites.
Compensation disclosure: may contain advertising
and affiliate hyperlinks, which may pay compensation
to the publisher for purchases made.
©2010 All contents copyright. No reproduction
without express permission.

Practical Astronomy May 2010 2

Practical Time Travel: Astronomical Observations
Like everything else we know about in the
universe, light has a speed that changes
according to the medium it traverses.
So when you turn on a lamp, the light takes a
certain time to
traverse the
media between
the light source
and you. But
since the speed
of light in air is so
fast, it seems
that the lamp
lights
immediately you Astronomical “Time Travel” (not to scale)
switch it on.
[Albert Einstein declared and it’s since been
confirmed, that the absolute ultimate speed of
everything, is that of light in vacuum. This
absolute is denoted by the small letter c]
Calculating Optical Delay
Let’s look at some numbers..
The speed of light is equal to 299,792,458 m/s.
Let’s assume that the lamp is 10m away from
you, so according to the formula v=d/t where,
in this case, v is the speed of the light, d is the
distance from lamp to you, and t is the time
taken; the time the light takes to reach you is
just 0.00000003335640951 second (the merest
fraction of a second).
It is obvious that this delay is negligible to the
human eye.
Astronomy And Time Travel
What has this to do with astronomy?
Observational astronomy, from its name, means
observing the night sky and studying the
motion and the physical and chemical
characteristics, of the different celestial objects.
Stars, planets, galaxies, nebulas and all the
other celestial objects that twinkle in the night
sky are distant, so the light they send takes
time to reach our planet, the Earth. The time
the light needs to reach the Earth ranges from
seconds to centuries.
By Yassin Abboud
The average distance between our star, the
Sun, and our home planet, the Earth, is
150,000,000 km (this distance is dubbed one
AU, or Astronomical Unit and it’s used by
astronomers, as
a distance
measuring unit).
Using the above
equation again,
we find that light
from the Sun
takes 500.3461
seconds or
8.3333 minutes,
to reach the
Earth. This means that the Sun rises almost 8
minutes before we see it in the morning. We are
therefore looking back into the past.. that is, to
the moment the light left the Sun.
Different celestial objects have different
distances from Earth, of course. So looking at
the night sky, means looking at different
moments from the past, all at the same time!
Some More Examples
For example, light from planet Jupiter takes 45
minutes to reach us, so you see it as looked
that time ago.
The nearest star to our Sun, Proxima Centauri,
is over 40 million million km (4 followed by 13
zeros) distant. When you look at Proxima
Centauri, you see it when it was 4.2 years
younger than the “real now”.
And looking at our galactic center (center of the
Milky Way galaxy), means looking at a region
26,018 years (or about 260 centuries) younger
than the “real now”.
The Andromeda galaxy is the closest other
galaxy to our own. It’s light takes 2.5 million
years to reach us, so it’s usually said to be 2.5
million light-years distant.
Wow! It’s really a spectacular idea, to know that
the sky is a multi-momental sphere.
From now on, remember that each time you
look upward and glance at the night sky, you
are gazing at different and separate moments
from the history of the cosmos.
Practical Astronomy May 2010 3
Telescope Control: A Friction Drive System
This article discusses telescope drives in general and then
describes the development of a $iction drive system, for a
Newtonian 0.5m telescope.
Introduction
Astronomical telescopes require that they are
driven in rotation about their axes. To provide
positioning, it needs to be driven quickly, but to
track an object, it must driven at low velocity
around the polar axis.
Telescopes are often driven by electrically
powered motors (AC synchronous motor, step
by step motor, etc). Usually the motor shaft is
coupled to a “secondary” drive stage which
gives a few turn per minute output. A
“primary” (or final) drive, then links the
secondary drive stage to the polar axis of the
telescope, which must rotate at one turn per
sidereal day.
There are some properties of a driven system
that are very desirable... stiffness and
smoothness being the most relevant.
When external and inertial loads are applied to
the telescope, the telescope structure and
drives must resist these loads with very small
deflections.
The telescope should be very stiff to allow fast
motion commands and to resist wind loads;
correspondingly, the drive system also needs to
have the necessary mechanical stiffness.
Backlash (lost motion), caused by the play or
clearance between the gears’ teeth mesh, can
reduce the stiffness to zero for small motions.
This clearance can be reduced to nearly zero in
one direction, by preloading the gearing.
The smoothness of a drive system is related to
its ability to make very small incremental
motions, so the rotation of the axes appears to
be a continuous movement at very slow
speeds.
It is now possible to build a drive system which
is seeing limited, for many minutes of tracking.
Among the various existing drive systems,
there are two that outperform the rest.. Worm
Gear Drives and Friction Drives. These are
briefly described below.
By Elvio Alanis and Graciela Romero, Salta, Argentina
Worm gear drives are the traditional means to
provide the final gear stage for telescopes.
Their primary benefit is the large gear ratio,
possible in a single stage. A high numerical
gear ratio at the primary stage is advantageous,
because it reduces mechanical complexity,
cost, and the effect of errors in the secondary
gearing.
Often a gear ratio of 360 to 1 (360:1) is used.
As a rule of thumb, the diameter of the Right
Ascension worm wheel (the large gear attached
to the polar axle), should be the same size or
larger than the telescope primary mirror. This
advice is still valid for any of the 'gear' drives
used today.
Accurate machining is critical and the worm
shaft axis of rotation must be very concentric
with the tooth form. The worm can be spring
loaded into mesh with the worm wheel, to
minimize backlash. A well made worm gear
stage can be very accurate and smooth,
because there is significant averaging of the
tooth to tooth machining errors. The worm and
gear can be lapped together to reduce the
machining and concentricity errors.
A friction drive consists of a small diameter
roller pressed against a large diameter disk. A
'gear' ratio of 20:1 is often used. No lubrication
is needed, the drive is very smooth and this
drive is the stiffest form of gearing.
The accuracy and smoothness depends upon
the machining, but the machining is very
straight forward as only cylindrical surfaces are
needed.
The concentricity and roundness of the roller
are very important. In order to avoid slip
between the roller and the drive disk, the
contact stresses must be fairly high at the
contact surface. The friction drive has zero
backlash and because there are no teeth acting
in bending, the stiffness is very high compared
with other gearing system.
The secondary drive gearing is not as critical as
the primary drive stage because the errors
introduced by the secondary drive are divided
by the primary drive ratio.
Practical Astronomy May 2010 4
Telescope Control: A Friction Drive System (cont.)
By Elvio Alanis and Graciela Romero, Salta, Argentina

Development Of A Primary Friction Drive The system consists of a train of discs in

We now describe the primary stage of the
friction drive system, that was designed and
constructed for a 0.5 m Newtonian telescope.
contact by lateral surfaces, so that the
movement is transmitted by friction. Despite its
simple construction, this system works
correctly and has the advantage over a worm
gear system, of a lack of backlash or play
among its components.
In the following sections, details of the device
are shown.
Description Of The Drive System
Figure 1 is a photograph of the complete
system (motor, secondary and primary stages)
mounted on the telescope, while Figure 2
shows a layout of the primary drive system.

Figure 1: Photograph of the drive system

mounted on the telescope, showing the motor,
secondary and primary stages.

To enable the telescope to track objects in the

sky, a system clock was designed to move it at
the sidereal rate. Due to budgetary constraints,
a friction drive was chosen for this, as it’s
considerably cheaper than a worm gear drive
system.
Power is provided by a small 5W synchronous
motor, fed by a source that allows the
frequency to be changed slightly, so that small
speed corrections may be made.
The motor incorporates a small gearbox
(secondary drive stage) and the output shaft
from this, rotates at a speed of 1 rpm. Figure 2: Layout of the primary drive
To make the telescope turn at sidereal speed (1 system. Numbers refer to Fig. 1.
revolution per sidereal day), the gearbox output The discs are loaded together by means of
shaft is coupled to a primary drive stage with a springs to generate enough friction, as shown
total gear ratio of approx 1 / 1440. in Figure 1.

Practical Astronomy May 2010 5

Telescope Control: A Friction Drive System (cont.)
By Elvio Alanis and Graciela Romero, Salta, Argentina

Disc 1, which rotates at the sidereal rate, is

concentric with the polar axis and coupled to it
through a clutch, which will be described later.
The diameters of the discs and the
corresponding gear ratios, are given in this
table.

N∫ref. Dia [mm] di /dj

1 d1 = 460 7.66
2 d2 = 60
3 d3 = 180 5.14
4 d4 = 35
5 d5 = 90 3.05
6 d6 = 29,5
7 Gear box 12.0

TOTAL 1,441

Table: Gear diameters of the primary drive

system and corresponding gear ratio. The
numbers refer to Figure 1.

Coupling The Drive System To The Polar

Axis
The coupling between the drive system and the
polar axis of the telescope, must allow
independent movement of both systems under
certain loading conditions, i.e. it must allow
positioning or guiding the telescope, without
disturbing the progress of the clock.
The way to achieve this behavior is through a
clutch device. This can be by friction, as in our
case, or electromagnetic.
The coupling device (clutch) designed for our
telescope is illustrated in Figure 3 (the drawing
is not done to scale).
Finally, we must say that the telescope has an
appreciable moment of inertia, which is
maximum when the tube is perpendicular to the
polar axis and minimum when is parallel.
Therefore, the system described should have
sufficient stiffness (and indeed it has), to ensure
that induced vibrations have small amplitude
and are damped quickly.
Figure 3: Drawing of the Clutch: 1, gear attached to
polar sha'; 2, hub; 3, pressure plate; 4, prisoners; 5
spring to press the plate; 6 tension nut; 7 screw fixing
hub to sha'; 8 polar sha'; 9 clamping flange (sha' to
mount).
Closing
It should be noted that both the telescope and
the dome that serves as a shelter, were
designed and built by amateur astronomers.
These facilities are part of the Observatory of
the National University of Salta (Argentina),
devoted entirely to the spread of amateur
astronomy in the educational community of the
Province of Salta.

Practical Astronomy May 2010 6

Essential Knowledge: Meteorites
For centuries, meteorites were considered
mysterious objects.
While the Inuit people in the vicinity of the Cape
York meteorite in Greenland used bits of the
meteorite for tools, the Native Americans
recognised these rocks as something special
and often treated them as ceremonial objects
during the burial of their tribal leaders.
Even in more recent times, when the origins of
meteorites was thought to come from space,
the American President Thomas Jefferson once
said.. “Gentlemen, I would rather believe that
two Yankee professors would lie than believe
that stones fall from heaven”.
Where Do They Come From?
We now know of course that meteorites
originate in space and fall to earth through our
atmosphere.
The majority of them originate from the early
days of the formation of the solar system, 4-5
billion years ago.
Others however, are thought to come from
comets, asteroids, other planets and even
other moons.
The asteroid belt is located between Mars and
Jupiter. While on a map, the asteroid belt might
look like a band of densely packed objects,
asteroids are in fact separated by great
distances.
However, as we rewind the clock backwards
over thousands and millions of years, asteroids
have bumped off each other. This can result in
pieces breaking off from the impact and
spinning off into space on a new trajectory.
Occasionally, these pieces can work their way
to Earth and enter our atmosphere.
Comets on the other hand are generally located
in the outer reaches of the solar system. They
are normally made up of ice and rock, lying
dormant in the cold distant reaches of our solar
system.
Occasionally, they get pulled towards the inner
solar system due to the gravity of the Sun and
Jupiter.
By Michael O’Conne(
As the comet is pulled closer to the Sun, it
heats up and dust & ice spew out leaving the
signature trail we normally associate with these
celestial objects.
Some comets have an orbit which pass close
to Earth. When this happens, Earth can bump
into the comet tail resulting in a sudden burst of
shooting stars which we call meteor showers.
A prime example of this is the Perseid Meteor
Shower every August, caused by Comet Swift-
Tuttle, which orbits the Earth every 130 years.
Each time the comet passes near Earth, it
replenishes the dust trail leaving us with many
more years of meteor showers.
Four Types Of Meteorites
There are four main classifications of
meteorites: Chondrites, Achondrites, Irons and
Stony Irons.
Chondrites are the oldest and make up
approx. 85% of all known meteorites. They are
stony meteorites that have not been modified
since the early days of the formation of the
solar system. The word Chondrites comes from
the word “chondrules” which relates to the
Ancient Greek word for “grains”. These
meteorites contain grains of non-volatile
silicate-rich elements such as olivine and
pyroxene. They play an important part in our
understanding of the early solar system.
Achondrites on the other hand do not contain
chondrules. They are much younger rocks and
are formed from the reprocessing of material in
objects such as asteroids. Achondrites make
up approx. 8% of all known meteorites and
have been shown to originate from asteroids,
the Moon and Mars.
Irons are metal meteorites which are made up
of iron and nickel. They are generally formed at
the core of asteroids which later became
shattered from impact with other asteroids.
They comprise about 5% of all known falls but
make up approx. 90% of the mass of
Practical Astronomy May 2010 7
Essential Knowledge: Meteorites (cont.)
By Michael O’Conne(

meteorites found to date. There are a few
reasons for this:
1. They are easy to recognise,
2. They are much less inclined to weather
3. They are much more likely to survive
passage through the atmosphere.
Stony-Irons are a mixture of iron and stone
and form approx. 2% of meteorites found thus
far.
They are formed in asteroids near the boundary
between the iron core and the stony outer shell.
When sliced in thin sections, these can be
some of the most beautiful meteorites to look
as they show the shiny metal surrounding
chunks of colourful minerals.
Studying meteorites provides a great deal of
information about the formation of the solar
system, the Moon and our nearest rocky
planets.

FORTHCOMING EVENT

4th National Annual Star Party of Greek Amateur Astronomers

Mt. Parnon, Greece July 9th - 11th 2010

The Star Party will take place at Mt. Parnon, in Pelloponese, southern Greece. A flat field, the
main site of the Star Party, lays at altitude 1420m, at the end of a picturesque driving route
through mountainous forests. It is surrounded by forests of tall pine and fir trees, under which
camping tents will be set up. In 300 meters distance is the George Pierce Mountain Refuge of
the Spartan Alpine Club, the only building in the region.
The driving time to get there by car is 1 hr from Tripolis city and 3 hrs from Athens.

http://www.astroexormisi2010.gr/english.html

Please use this magazine for free publicity for your astronomy events. Just send details to
editor@practicalastronomy.com. Your event details will go out to our readers worldwide.

Practical Astronomy May 2010 8

Practical Constellations: Ursa Minor (And Major)
Last time, we started our discussions on Ursa Minor and
here, we continue with more mythology and astronomy
about this conste(ation and also Ursa Major.
The Myth
There are many stories
concerning the
mythology of Ursa
Minor, but the Roman
myth is the most
interesting of all... it’s a
story that all practical
astronomers should
know and involves both
Ursa Major and Ursa
Minor.
Jupiter was the king of
gods in Roman
mythology, and Juno
was his very jealous wife. Once upon a time a
charming maiden called Callisto was in the
forest when Jupiter saw her and was attracted
by her beauty. Callisto later gave birth to a son
called Arcas.. Juno was sure the father was
Jupiter and wanted to take revenge. So she
changed Callisto into a bear, so that Jupiter
was no longer attracted to her. Callisto lived in
the forest and Jupiter was not able to change
her back into a human.
But what about Arcas? Juno left him living in
the forest. When Callisto saw her son Arcas,
she rushed to him, which made him think a
bear was attacking! Arcas defended himself by
shooting an arrow at Callisto. Fortunately,
Jupiter arrived just in time to stop the arrow
killing Callisto.
Jupiter was not pleased and decided to protect
Callisto and her son from Juno. He changed
Arcas into a little bear and placed him and his
mother in the sky, so they could live peacefully
among the stars. To do this, he grabbed both
by their short tails and swung them up to the
heavens, which made their tails elongated as
we see them in the sky.
However Juno was not satisfied and she
wanted to punish Callisto and her son. She
went to Neptune (the brother of Jupiter and
god of the sea) and asked him to prevent
By Dr Firas Safadi, Syria
Callisto and Arcas from bathing in the water of
the oceans and streams.. they both had to stay
around the north celestial pole, without being
able to touch the water
on the horizon!
So in the most popular
myth, Ursa Minor is
Arcas, Jupiter's son.
This story also tells us
about the origin of other
important names in
modern astronomy...
Jupiter (the king of gods)
is the largest planet in
the solar system,
Callisto is the farthest
Galilean moon from
Jupiter and the third
largest moon in the solar
system, and Juno (Jupiter's wife) will be the
next mission to study Jupiter and its satellites
(scheduled for launch in August 2011, to reach
Jupiter in 2016).
Reality: Three Things About Polaris
Let us go back to reality. Have a look at Polaris:
the North Star, or alpha Ursae Minoris. It is only
430 light years away from us. As a practical
astronomer, you need to know three main
things about Polaris. First (of course), it’s the
nearest bright star to the north celestial pole
and is used as a direction reference. Second,
Polaris has a magnitude of 1.99, so it can also
be used as a reference to judge all other
second magnitude stars.
Third, and most importantly, the North Star is a
double star, with an angular separation of 18
arc seconds. All you need is a clear dark sky
and a telescope with aperture of 3 inches or
more to glimpse the tiny 9th magnitude
companion; this is Polaris B.
More interestingly, recent observations have
revealed that Polaris is in fact a triple star!
Spectroscopic observations found that Polaris
itself has a very close companion and Hubble
imaged it in 2006, which makes the North Star
really a distinct one!
Practical Astronomy May 2010 9
Global Review: A New Look At The Moon
By David Scanlan, UK

I think everyone is always struck with a little My own little Moon sitting on my study desk,
wonder and awe, when they look at globes measures 12” in diameter and 14” in height and
of the Earth. has a scale of 180 miles per inch.
Even though we know full well they are just The surface is amazingly well detailed, with
lumps of plastic, wood, metal, glass and so on, only the smaller crater names being omitted
with what’s from the globe.
basically an Then again, if
atlas marked they included
upon their everything, I
surface, they think the globe
always draw a would be awash
lot of interest. with names and
that would
detract from the
Recently I
overall quality of
decided to
the product.
purchase a
Moon globe. I
have a particular The globe
penchant for the comes supplied
Moon and what with its own
with the 40th Perspex base
anniversary of which it just sits
Apollo 11 The Moon Globe with David Scanlan, i(ustrating the dimensions of the on, plain and
recently taking globe and showing its unusual base simple, and at
place, I decided first I thought
to take the this base was a
plunge and spend the required £50.00 for the little bit of a cheap option, but soon realised the
Moon globe. reason behind the base... it allows people to
pick up the globe nice and easily and examine
it in closer detail.
Everyone I have shown the globe to so far, has
instantly picked it up and looked at the lunar
south pole and also the far side.

The Moon globe truly is an interesting extra to

have amongst your astronomical collection and
would look at home in your study, front room,
bedroom or observatory, or even on public
outreach events

A sma( portion of the detail A very worthwhile purchase.

The globe is officially endorsed by NASA and is

made by an American company called
Replogle.

Practical Astronomy May 2010 10

Readers Image Gallery (1)
We welcome your images for publication. Beginner, advanced or expert, just send to: editor@practicalastronomy.com

Mars in the Behive cluster

(M44) by Lynn Francis
Equipment: Canon 300D with
60mm lens, riding piggyback
on a Celestron 8iSE mounted
on a DIY wooden wedge.
Exposures: 20x1.5 min +
10x3min at ISO 800 + 15
darks, 15 bias frames, 15 flats
and 15 dark flats
Lynn comments.. “Essentially
I just fed them all into DSS
[Deep Sky Stacker].  But I did
take the final result and
adjusted the white, black
points, cropped a little, and
hit it with a smidge of
sharpening. All I can say is
I’m glad I’m learning this
hobby after the advent of
digital photography.  I can’t
imagine doing it with a film-
based camera.” 

Moon Image by Robert

Slack

Captured from
Nottingham UK on 22nd
March 2010

Robert wrote, “I recently

bought a Meade DSI pro 2
mono camera, with colour
filters and had a chance to
do a few images of the
Moon in mono, which I
thought I would share with
you all..”

Practical Astronomy May 2010 11

Readers Image Gallery (2)
We welcome your images for publication. Beginner, advanced or expert, just send to: editor@practicalastronomy.com

Zanjan Sky by Amir

Ali Nasiri

Taken on 14th March

2010
Location: Sohrein,
Zanjan, Iran

Description of what
appears in the photo:
Winter stars rising
over scenic Sohrein
preserve, 350
kilometers northwest
of Tehran

M 100 by John Theil

Pedersen

M100 is a grand spiral

galaxy in Coma
Berenices and part of
the Virgo cluster of
galaxies
Image captured from
Denmark on 13th April
2010
Scope: Equinox 120 at
f7.5 on EQ 6 pro mount
Camera: modified 6
megapixel Nikon D50
Exposure total: 3 hour
and 4 min at ISO 800
Stacked in Deep Sky
Stacker and processed
in Photoshop

Practical Astronomy May 2010 12

Readers Image Gallery (3)
We welcome your images for publication. Beginner, advanced or expert, just send to: editor@practicalastronomy.com

Jupiter, Venus and Moon

by Jun Obille (Philippines)

Jun wrote.. “I'm sending a

series of photos I took on
December 1, 2008 as my
friend and I made our way
home from bird watching. I
was expecting Venus,
Jupiter and the Moon to
cluster in a triangular
formation days earlier
because I checked my
Skyglobe program to see
what was in store for the
coming week. However, I
did not expect that it would
be as striking as this...
...I had with me just a Canon
PowerShot S3 IS.”

Sunspot 1054 by Dr J
Dehghani

Scope: 120mm ED
Skywatcher

Mount: EQ6

Camera: Sony alpha 200

DSLR

Orion solar filter

Details: 120 images

stacked together by
means of Registax 5

Practical Astronomy May 2010 13

Home Observatory: Pulsar Dome Assembly Part 2
Mitch continues his DIY observatory story (see
February issue for Part 1)
Since assembling my Pulsar 2.2m observatory
pre-Christmas, we have had torrential rain,
gales, heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures!
Not too much chance to do any real observing
then, but plenty of opportunity to check out the
observatory and its operation.
Quite we( camouflaged in this weather!
What, No Pier?
I have the telescope set up, leveled and roughly
polar-aligned, on its original tripod. I didn`t
want to commit to a pier at present, partly
because of the cost, but also since a house
move might be imminent in the not so distant
future.
Even so, there is a reasonable amount of room
to move around the scope inside the
observatory. Cables run through a small hatch,
which I cut out of the panel side, into the shed,
where I can sit with my laptop to control
operations [the scope is a WO FLT 132mm,
sitting on a Celestron CGE equatorial mount].
Fixing Down And Sealing
The observatory is sitting on a paving slab
patio area; the first thing I did was to peg it
down. Using fairly substantial metal tent pegs, I
drove these through four equidistant drilled
holes in the base flange, into the cement joints
of the paving slabs; this won`t stop the base
lifting vertically but it will certainly prevent any
rotation.
I then sealed around, between the base and
paving floor. I used the silicon seal supplied
By Mitch Fry
with the observatory to do this (two tubes were
provided, with plenty left over after sealing the
observatory panels).
The next job was to seal the floor inside the
observatory. To do this I purchased a 3 x 3m
black butyl rubber pond liner, and cut it to
shape to cover the inside and overlap the panel
base flange. The telescope tripod sits on this;
pieces of rubber left over were laid around the
perimeter of the floor to provide extra
protection for when walking around inside.
It might well be that the butyl rubber will also
help dampen vibrations in the scope?
Cables from the scope run under the rubber so
they are “out of the way”.
Dealing With Damp
Condensation in the observatory was very
evident, although this lessened once the butyl
rubber flooring was in place.
However, I
decided to buy
myself a
dehumidifier unit.
The one I bought,
and one often
recommended, is
the DD122FW-
MK4 dehumidifier. Dehumidifier unit
I have this running
continuously at present; apparently it costs
around £5 a month in running costs. I`m using
the continuous drainage option, the tube from
which also runs to the outside through the
hatch.
Subsequently the inside of the observatory is
“bone dry” and the small amount of heat
produced by the dehumidifier, is a welcome by-
product.
Is It Weathertight?
So how has the observatory stood up so far, to
the elements?
Very well!
No water leaks at all from the dome or walls, or
indeed under the floor. No vibrations to speak
Practical Astronomy May 2010 14
 Home Observatory: Pulsar Dome Assembly Part 2
(cont) By Mitch Fry
of in the wind and even with the observing
hatch open, it is very sheltered inside.
Hatch access arrangements
I mentioned in the first article, I might be
investing in a pulley system for the hatch. At
present, I`m using a small child’s chair to give
me the extra height needed to open and close
the hatch, which is not a problem.
Looking good
The hatch opens easily, even with a couple of
inches of snow on it.
It is very easy to swivel the dome around from
the inside, to view that celestial target.
The head height inside is ample; it`s great to be
able to “park” the scope in any position.
The hatch opening allows viewing almost to the
horizon; I was looking at Jupiter the other night
without any difficulty (quite low down for me,
near Sheffield).
Views $om the hatch
I mentioned previously that the top of the door
collects water, which will fall inside when you
open the door (it also freezes, to “stick” the
door). Once the temperatures improve a little, I
am going to place a silicon beading along the
top of the door to prevent water ingress.
The door lock seems reasonable, but a good
application of WD40 is necessary to improve its
operation, especially in the present
temperatures!
So What’s The Overall Verdict?
All in all, I am very happy with my purchase.
From the straightforward assembly, to being “fit
for purpose”, I really have no criticisms at all.
Well done Pulsar!
Once the weather improves and I have some
time, I need to calibrate the mount and its Go
To settings. I have recently purchased T-point
to use in conjunction with The Sky, so I`m
looking forward to getting that set up and
achieving some very accurate pointing and
imaging.
I`m also retiring this year, so bring it on.. and
clear skies (except to the West!)
Happy observing to you all.
Practical Astronomy May 2010 15
Sky View Mid-May 21:00 GMT (lat. 51N)

Looking East
These maps show the sky view looking in different directions at 21.00 GMT in mid-May, for an
observer at latitude 51 degrees North.
Further South? (but still in the northern hemisphere) Objects are higher above your local
southern horizon, but patterns are the same.
Local time zone not GMT? The view should be much the same at 8pm in your local time (9pm
with Daylight Saving).

Practical Astronomy May 2010 16

Sky View Mid-May 21:00 GMT (lat. 51N)

Looking South
These maps show the sky view looking in different directions at 21.00 GMT in mid-May, for an
observer at latitude 51 degrees North.
Further South? (but still in the northern hemisphere) Objects are higher above your local
southern horizon, but patterns are the same.
Local time zone not GMT? The view should be much the same at 8pm in your local time (9pm
with Daylight Saving).

Practical Astronomy May 2010 17

Sky View Mid-May 21:00 GMT (lat. 51N)

Looking West
These maps show the sky view looking in different directions at 21.00 GMT in mid-May, for an
observer at latitude 51 degrees North.
Further South? (but still in the northern hemisphere) Objects are higher above your local
southern horizon, but patterns are the same.
Local time zone not GMT? The view should be much the same at 8pm in your local time (9pm
with Daylight Saving).

Practical Astronomy May 2010 18

Sky View Mid-May 21:00 GMT (lat. 51N)

Looking North
These maps show the sky view looking in different directions at 21.00 GMT in mid-May, for an
observer at latitude 51 degrees North.
Further South? (but still in the northern hemisphere) Objects are higher above your local
southern horizon, but patterns are the same.
Local time zone not GMT? The view should be much the same at 8pm in your local time (9pm
with Daylight Saving).

Practical Astronomy May 2010 19

Observers’ Delights May 2010

MOON Full New Full

28th April 14th May 27th May

METEOR SHOWER eta Aquarids, May 3rd - 10th, peak around 6th (but
effectively, Southern Hemisphere only)

VENUS MARS JUPITER SATURN

Improving in the Moving from west to Rising in the Still favourable

western evening sky east into Leo - now morning sky and high in the
rather small to before the Sun south, but moving
observe - near Uranus west into the
from late May twilight

DEEP SKY Starts ~ Ends ~

“WINDOW” 8th May 20th May Make the most of it!

Enjoy BACK ISSUES and BONUSES...

Become A Member
www.PracticalAstronomy.com/subscribe
Simply visit our website and subscribe. You’ll be sent the
current password for the Members’ Area.
You’ll also get priority notification when the next issue of
Practical Astronomy is ready to download.

Practical Astronomy May 2010 20