Robin Leadbeater's observatory

Wigton. Cumbria

	For several years I set up my equipment each time I wished to observe, but with the increasing complexity of additional instrumentation, including a spectrograph, in 2006 I constructed Three Hills Observatory (derived from the name of the village in which I live). The building is a flip-top structure based on a plastic garden shed, and is minimalistic both in simplicity of design (a necessity due to my lack of DIY skills) and in space (only the equipment needs to be inside). The telescope is a 200-mm Vixen VC200L f/9–f/6.4 catadioptric mounted on a GPDX equatorial head controlled by a Skysensor 2000 drive system, equipped with an LHIRES III high-resolution spectrograph, an ATIK 16IC camera and a Stellacam guide camera. An SC3 modified webcam is attached to the finderscope. A computer in the observatory is used to control the camera and drive, and the spectrograph can be adjusted via wireless network. With this semi-automated set-up it is a joy to be observing within minutes, and it is of great advantage to simply close up the observatory at the end of each session. In order to deal with the condensation which tends to accumulate when the observatory is closed, most of the rest of the space is occupied with a climate-control system – a dehumidifier and a small heater, monitored from the house with a wireless weather-station.

E-mail : robin_astro@hotmail.com. . . . . Web site : www.threehillsobservatory.co.uk