Astro Nut » BackYard Observatory

New Computer

Russ — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:18:29 +0000

I did not like having to drag my laptop back and forth from the Astro Hut.

So we went looking on E-Bay for a computer and found a
Gateway Model E4600, Pentium4 1.3GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 37GB HD, 250MB Zip, DVD-ROM. 10/100 Ethernet card included!! for 40$.
While its not a top of the line, it is more then what I need!

I dropped in a:

and am a happy camper!

Now comes the battle of installing all of the astro software from all of the computers…
I have to say that this is going to be one of the better upgrades to the Astro Hut I have done.

CG5GT and Cables

Russ — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:55:02 +0000

My CG5GT was getting to be a MESS with all of the cables coming and going.

I have come close to tripping and ripping some of the cables out. THAT would have been BAD VERY VERY BAD!

I have 4 cables
2 are for the cameras,
the Orion LPI and the Meade DSI C
2 are for guiding
GPUSB guide port interface and
the Hand Controler.

So I got a couple of 4 port USB hubs
Now I have to spend some time routing all of them out of the way!

BackYard Observatory Inside

Russ — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:32:56 +0000

Here are some pictures of the inside
This is the South Wall

This is the West Wall

This is the East Wall

and the North Wall

One of the plus things about having the 5′ clearance for the rolloff is that I can build 5′ shelves on 3 of the wall.
I wired in 6 plugs 2 on each S,W,N walls can’t have to many plugs!
I have LOTS of work space.

BYO BackYard Observatory

Russ — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:23:00 +0000

I have finished my backyard observatory.
I really REALLY like it.
In the last week I have gotten 12 more hours of observing then I would have without my backyard observatory!

I have finished my backyard observatory.
I really REALLY like it.
In the last week I have gotten 12 more hours of observing then I would have without my backyard observatory!