My observatory is named after my late father, and while I did not get into astronomy until after he passed away, I'm sure he would have enjoyed the wonders that the universe has to offer. So, my efforts in astro-photography are dedicated to him, mind you, he has a prime viewing spot from his hill in Yorkshire......
Prior to 2020, I had embarked on a project to (finally) install power to the observatory and to implement automation to maximise the (rare) clear sky opportunities here in the UK. You can read about those exploits in the Old Projects section on the right.
2020 comes along and with the world in lockdown and unable to travel, we took the opportunity to get on and sort out the garden. This was always planned to be a patio - it's not the biggest garden in the world after all. To do that, the observatory had to be dismantled and rebuit. As part of that I took the opportunity to get rid of the roof entirely. As pat of the automation project, I was rebuiolding the roof anyway, so I thought this would spur me on! Well, to cut a long story short - it didn't quite work out that way, and I finished up building a new observatoyr from scratch! You can read about the rebuild and why here...
The new observatory build is now complete, and I now embark on a revised and new project to implement the automation.... I'd best get on with it! --> The 2022 Automation Project
