In autumn of 2015, I fulfilled my dream and built a permanent observatory in form of a massive wooden hut in the garden. Now the equipment could be permanently installed. However, the next upgrade did not take long.
A new Apo
Somehow you are always looking for "the final telescope". On the way, at least for the shorter focal lengths, I bought the Takahshi FSQ85. The four lens refractor with 450 mm focal length is the top end of the flagpole in terms of image quality and sharpness. The setup completes a Starizona focusmotor. For the time being I run the Tak piggyback on the APM.
In order not to get into sudden rain with the observatory, I installed a cloud sensor with which I am even able to close the roof automatically in near future.
The Cloudwatcher of the company "Lunatico" was also equipped with a small web server (Cloudwatcher Solo), which gives me a nice visual representation of the current sky conditions - accessible via the Internet from anywhere in the world.
A 10" f4 Newtonian
Searching for a larger focal length and above all a fast system one can hardly get around a newtonian telescope. In spring of 2016 I bought a 10" Newtonian of Telescope Austria with the opening ratio f4, which allows theoritically up to 25% shorter exposure times with simultaneous higher depth of details. Before the first exposures I had to learn many new things and, above all, adjust everything as precisely as possible. I entered new territory. The first test images are certainly promising. In particular, galaxies are to be captured. I am curious what will be possible with it.
Additional optimisation
The new Newton, together with the MGEN stand alone guider, unfortunately showed signs of a guiding scope shifting. A movement of the image field between the individual images was perceptible. For longer exposure times > 15 min. this caused unnecessary blurring and a change in the star shape. So I decided to change to Off Axis Guiding and bought a short build OAG (Off Axis Guider) and a Lodestar X2 Guiding camera. In the interplay with Maxim DL it is also very easy to use dithering, which improves the image quality in the image again.
The Takahashi FSQ-85 I extended in the summer break by a new focuser. The original was replaced by a FeatherTouch with a corresponding focus motor. This meant that focuser issues were once and for all a things of the past.
Security
In order to further expand the remote capabilities of the observatory, I installed a surveillance camera, which sends me a live image of the observatory on every internet-enabled device during the daytime and at night - so also on a smartphone. The camera is equipped with a motion detector and acts as a theft alarm system as well. As soon as a movement in the observatory is detected, for example because someone is entering it, a video recording starts and I will receive a notification on the mobile phone or by e-mail.
