Maurice Gavin’s observatory

Worcester Park, Surrey

In August 2001 my large dome – which for twenty-five years housed a 17.5-inch Newtonian and other equipment – was stripped and converted into a workshop. The smaller wooden observatory, built in 1995, is under 6 feet in diameter and is raised on stilts. The dome is made of thin aluminium sheet over a plywood frame, and the lightweight flexible aluminium shutter is removed and set aside during observations. This observatory houses a 12-inch LX200 which is now used almost exclusively. The space between the two observatories serves as a computer room from where telescopes and CCD cameras can be viewed but are remotely controlled.

E-mail : m.gavin@freeuk.com. . . . . Web site : www.astroman.fsnet.co.uk