RE: My TASS Observatory

["Michael Gutzwiller" <deepsky@fuse.net>]

It's not easy to see in the pictures but the shelves don't go all the way to
the east and west sides of the enclosure but have a 1 1/2 inch gap between
the shelf and the panel.  The enclosure also sits up on leveling blocks that
give about a 1 inch gap at ground level all the way around.  This should
allow heat to be dissipated without causing too much adverse effect on the
seeing.  The 7.5 arc second pixels help avoid seeing problems anyway.  The
computer system also will be quite minimal with a 100 MHz Pentium so not
much heat is generated anyway.  In the winter the only component much
affected would be the disk drive and we can wait and see if just leaving it
always on is enough to keep it warm enough to avoid errors.  If these become
problems I can move the computer into the garage which would require about
15 to 20 feet of cable to reach.

From my calculations the north and south horizons will not be limited by the
enclosure as much as they will be limited by the surrounding trees.  In that
case I can get to about 40 degrees above the horizon.  If my calculations
are off I can always raise the camera platform a bit.  In my suburban
location it's much more important to shield the system from the neighbor's
lights than get the greatest expanse of sky under view.


Mike G.


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tass@listserv.wwa.com [mailto:owner-tass@listserv.wwa.com]On
Behalf Of aah@nofs.navy.mil
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2001 10:57 PM
To: tass@listserv.wwa.com
Subject: Re: My TASS Observatory


Nice, Mike.  It is fun to see the different ways people
are enclosing these systems.  How are you going to ventillate
the computer, both keeping it warm in the winter and cool
in the summer without affecting the telescope just above it?
What sky limits does the slideoff roof place on the north
and south horizons?
Arne