Building a Roll-Off Roof or Dome Observatory Book Review

This the second edition of the popular Guide to designing and building your own Roll-Off Roof or Dome Observatory. There comes a time when it becomes tiresome having to set up telescopes cameras cables and computers each night, a lot of the observing time is lost Polar aligning and setting up. If you are fortunate to have the garden space and dark skies then it’s time to think about making a permanent observatory.

At the start of the book there are various photos of observatory types which show the many ways of building an observatory for your telescopes and equipment. These include twin sliding roofs, log cabins, ‘A’ frame designs, cantilever opening roofs and ‘Clapp Trapp’ folding panels which is an observatory which can be taken to star parties.

This book is all you will need, it explains the benefits of a permanent building and the pros and cons between Domes versus Roll-Off Roof. The first step is to decide the size of the structure, the telescopes and equipment to be housed, this book takes you through all the planning stages with good advice on what to consider in the design and criteria to consider.

Part 1 – Planning

The building stage considerations involve types of footing and provisions for data and mains cables, there are detailed engineering drawings in the book to help you at this stage.

The most important part of the observatory is the Pier design; detailed drawings are included with suggested dimensions which you need to take into account for the equipment to be installed. Isolating the pier from the observatory floor is an important consideration and is dealt with in detail.

The engineering plans for the Framing and walls for the roll–Off roof are shown in drawings and photographs, advice on fabricating the different roof tracks and roof are shown and the methods of construction which can be adapted to suit your own design.

Part 2 – Building

Part 2 is how to build a Dome Observatory detailing the design and construction methods. This is a more complicated build particularly the dome which can be fabricated using plywood, galvanized steel or fibreglass. The design shown is for a 2.1 meters high wall base. This section goes through step by step stages of construction with photos and drawings for various dome designs.

If you prefer an off the shelf observatory Chapter 14 describes the three main commercial types, the Roll-Off Roof, The Rotating Clamshell and the Rotating Aperture including feature of the SkyShed POD, SkyShed POD Max and the UK made Pulsar Observatory.

Overall

To summarize this is an excellent technical book to have if you are planning to build your own observatory or just looking at improving an existing setup, it’s packed with engineering drawing and photos to help you on your way with advice based on years of experience of the author.

Reviewed By Mick Jenkins

Where can I buy the Building a Roll-Off Roof or Dome Observatory Book?

You can buy Building a Roll-Off Roof or Dome Observatory from Amazon UK

Your Guide to the 2017 Solar Eclipse Book Review

If were planning to go to America to see the 2017 Solar Eclipse or you went, then this was the solar eclipse book for you, if not it is still a very good read. There are 25 chapters of detailed information about the Sun and how to observe it safely followed by detailed explanations of the eclipse.

The book starts with a guide to the path of the Moons shadow across America on the 21st of August 2017 from the start point in Palisades Oregon at 10:15:57 am PDT and then progresses through 11 states from West to East finishing in South Carolina.

The following chapters go into detail about the Saros Cycle and Solar eclipse throughout history. The first recorded eclipse mentioned in ancient Chinese tome occurred either in the year 2136 B.C or 2128 B.C. Modern times of the recorded eclipse starts in 1608 after the inventions of the telescope. The author describes various eclipses through the centuries from his collection of 19th century books finishing with extracts from Corona and Coronet being a narrative of the Amherst Eclipse expedition to Japan in Mr James’s schooner yacht Coronet, to observe the Sun’s total obscuration 9th of August 1896 which is well worth a read.

Moving on, the book goes through how to look at the Sun safety, if you plan to observe the Sun it’s important to understand the dangers and the equipment that can and can’t be used, such as sun glasses and compact discs and colour film strip no matter how many layers you stack. This is covered in two chapters in a lot of detail, the book goes on to explain how to observe the Sun Safety and Ten ways NOT to observe the Sun.

If you are planning to go to America then the next few chapters are worth the price of the book, they explain how to rehearse for the eclipse, what will happen during the passage of the Moon in front of the Sun’s disc and the times it takes to totality. If you’re going to take photos then it’s important to understand the types of equipment available and results you can achieve starting with an explanation of the types of telescope, from refractors to reflector with the correct aperture filters and accessories. Hydrogen Alpha narrowband scope and Daystar Quarks are covered in this comprehensive section; this is well worth a read before you buy equipment for the trip.

Appendices

There are a number of DIY projects you can try for observing the Sun such as a simple Sun Viewer and projectors for simple scopes and binoculars with detailed plans and step by step instructions giving sizes and materials.

Finally the book gives common sense tips on your planning for the day of the Eclipse what you need to know understanding the weather along the centre line and a list of things to bring.

Overall

This is a comprehensive guide to the 2017 Total Solar eclipse; Michael E Bakich provides an excellent book for both those wishing to visit America and for readers who wish to understand the Sun, solar observing equipment. This book is highly recommended.

Where can I buy the Total Solar Eclipse Book?

You can buy Deep Sky Observing from Amazon UK

Deep Sky Observing Second Edition Book Review

Deep Sky Observing – Second Edition

The author Steven R Coe has years of astronomy observing and knows all the pitfalls of not preparing for a night of observing. This means there are tonnes of practical advice in this Deep Sky Observing book.

Deep Sky Observing begins with some introductory chapters about who this book is aimed at and why the reader should listen to Steven Coe.

The author then asks some more commonly asked questions with each question answered in a chapter. The questions include ones like “How do I find the best observing site” and “How do I maximise my time observing”, “What accessories are useful?”, “Why should I take notes whilst observing?” and “How can I find all these deep sky objects?”.

The main part of the book covers a broad range of deep sky objects you can observe. Each item in turn has a description, data such as co-ordinates, size, type, name etc. Most objects either have a drawing or an astronomy image taken by the author. Against most objects there are also descriptions of what you will see using various sized telescopes from 4 inch,6 inch, 13 inch, massive 36 inch and even finderscopes and binoculars.

There is also a rather nice chapter asking “Why would I want to use binoculars to view the sky”. The question is answered by giving the reader lots of objects they can use binoculars to see. Accompanying the objects are lots of images of what you may see as well as a discussion on the various sizes of binoculars.

The NexStar Evolution and SkyPortal Users Guide

The NexStar Evolution is a type of telescope made by Celetstron and the SkyPortal is a Wi-Fi control that allows the user to align and operate the telescope mount from a tablet or smart phone.

The book begins by looking back at the early digital telescope controllers including the Vixen Sky Sensor and the LX200 hand controller. Chapter 2 presents us with a look at all the latest Celestron computerised mounts that can be purchased today. Here we are shown nice full colour images of the telescopes and mounts as well as looking at their features, advantages and disadvantages. It covers all prices points from the more entry level Celestron 102SLT right up to the CGEM and CGE Pro mounts.

The book then mentions which telescopes can make use of the SkyPortal software as well as how to set it up, install it and use the features of the software. You will find step by step instructions here on how to complete tasks as well as detailed images and notes on all the menu options.

Chapter 5 leaves the software behind and we move onto just looking at the Celestron Nexstar+ hand controller which accompanies every Celestron Evolution telescope. This chapter again goes into great detail about how to align your mount, search for objects and use the in-built utilities menu using the hand control.

The major flaw in this chapter is that lots and lots of pages are given over to images of the hand controller at certain stages throughout a process. But the actual hand control screen in the image is too small to actually read. What they should have done was just image/photograph the actual screen part on the hand controller. We don’t need to see the actual buttons on the hand controller in every image – they serve no purpose.

Chapter 6 is about lessons the author has learnt whilst using the Nexstar Evolution and SkyPortal. This is a really good original chapter and you can learn a lot from this chapter. It gives tips on using the hardware in cold weather, how to cope with the Wi-Fi environment as well as a bit about troubleshooting.

Patrick Moore’s Observers Year 366 Nights of the Universe

Patrick Moore’s Observers Year: 366 Nights of the Universe by Mike Inglis, 3rd Edition published by Springer

The original text of Patrick Moore’s Observers Year: 366 Nights of the Universe was written by Patrick Moore, and the majority of the text has not been touched but the data has been updated. This version of the book contains data from 2015 to 2020.

There is a page for every day of the year in this book. Each month begins with a look at the sky with the initial pages detailing the constellations in the sky, then there is a list of what to look at throughout that month.

Each day of the month gets its own page. You may just find written text for a particular day or a constellation diagram with a list of objects to view in that constellation. On a particular day you may also get a small box detailing Future Points of Interest – something that will happen on that day in the future, like the ‘Earth at Aphelion’ or the Opposition of Pluto’ in a particular year on that day. The number of pages per day is not massive; you may find that there is just one page or less per day. That means it’s not an arduous read, you could just read a page a day.