Alovera Observatory
Description
Our Observatory is set in the attic of my flat in Alovera. Two set ups are located under corresponding roof windows. The set up on the left is referred to as Alovera-1, provided with J.L.F.C. equipment (Takahashi TOA 150B tube on 10Micron GM2000 HPS mount) while the set up on the right is referred to Alovera-2 and hosts P.M.'s equipment (Sky-Watcher Esprit 100ED on GEM45G mount).
Alovera 1 - A & B
Alovera-1 is based on 10Micron GM2000 HPS mount on a Triple90-I column. The optical tubes set on it are Takahashi TOA 150B (Alovera 1-A) and William Optics GT71 (Alovera 1-B). Set up characteristics are the following:
A
- 10Micron GM2000 HPS, on Column “Triple90-I”.
- Takahashi TOA 150B Triplet Ortho Apo (1100mm/f7.3) with Pegasus Cube focuser.
- Camera Moravian C3-61000 with Moravian Filter Wheel (2" x 7 slots) and manual filter slider.
- Guidance Baader Planetarium Vario-Finder 61x250 f4.3 with camera ZWO ASI290MM Mini.
- Communications Pegasus Ultimate Powerbox 2.
B (*)
- 10Micron GM2000 HPS, on Column “Triple90-I”.
- William Optics GT71 f/5.9 FPL-53 Triplet APO, with WO Flat6AIII Field Corrector. Manual focus.
- Camera EOS 1 D Mark III not customized.
- Guidance Baader Planetarium Vario-Finder 61x250 f4.3 with camera ZWO ASI290MM Mini.
- Communications Pegasus Ultimate Powerbox 2.
* This telescope is attached to a plate on top of the Takahashi support rings. So it shares mount and guidance.
Alovera 2
Alovera-2 is based on iOptron GEM45 mount and hence it can only tackle with lighter tubes.
- iOptron GEM45G, on Column “Triple90-II”.
- Sky-Watcher Esprit 100ED Super APO Triplet (550mm/f5.5) with Sky-Watcher 100 Field Corrector, and Pegasus Cube focusser.
- Camera ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro with ZWO Filter Wheel (2" x 5 slots).
- Guidance Sky-Watcher Evoguide 50ED (50/242mm) with camera QHY 5III 290.
- Communications Pegasus Ultimate Powerbox 2.
Alovera-3
This is a non-fixed station allowing us to set any tripod-based device. Aligning the setup for guiding is facilitated by marks on the floor.
An example of setup:
- Markarian R1 Equatorial mount developed by us, with motiorized A.R. (DEC motorization pending), on an ioptron GEM45 tripod.
- Truss Refractor telescope, 92 mm aperture, F.L 680 mm, also developed by us, using an achromat doublet.
- Electronics developed by us.
Currently the aforementioned setup is been used for testing of our SunCorGraph I coronograph, developed by us on the basis of a Lyot design (follow the project in the project sections).
Workshop
We have a small workshop aimed at debeloping optics and mechanic components of our own design. Mechanic parts are ordered to external workshops and assemmbled here.
Setting up Alovera-1 and Alovera-2
The observatory has been set up during 2021, encompassed with the arrival of the equipment. At the beginning we set everything on the corresponding tripods, while developing the columns necessary to get the condition of "fixed facility". As the different components came or were built, the columns were fixed to the floor structure with bolts and resin bonding.
Top: the beginnings, with mounts on tripods. Bottom Left: Versatile (own design) support plate in Taka, where guider and WO GT71 are mounted. Bottom Right: Taka fully armed.
Two columns were designed and set up using heavy duty aluminum profiles from Minitec, to which adaptors for the mounts were fixed using m14 threads. For Alovera-1 the standard 10Micron pier adaptor was modified so that it could be fixed to the m14 threads of the column's profiles at the correct positions. For Alovera-2 an adaptor for GEM45 was designed from scratch and machined with water cut on 3cm thick aluminum - machining was kindly done by colleague Warren Smith at IMDEA nanociencia taking advantage of the tests required for the commissioning of the cutting machine recently received at the institution. The aluminum profile in Alovera-2 has the same height than that of Alovera-1, and three robust rods extend the column to the final height for the GEM45 adaptor. This allows for interchanging mounts when necessary or for installing another (heavier than GEM45) mount, without the need to change the column profile's height. Lathe and milling works were done in different provider's workshops.
Top left to right: the column design. Bottom: Alovera-1 completed. WO GT71, Vario-Finder and Pegasus HUB can be seen attached to the Taka./p>
Left: Column set up for Alovera-2. Right: Alovera 2 completed with the Sky-Watcher final set up on top of the GEM45G.
The "astrocuates" working late at night during the commissioning of the set up, all the windows were open, and it was pretty cold that night.
Alovera-3 and workshop. The truss refractor can be seen withj SunCorGraph set on it, as well as a Celestron Ultima 11 PEC under refurbishment, among others./p>
Present and future
We are very active at developing advanced instrumentation aimed both to asthetic astrophotography and scientific research, including photometry and spectrometry in the vissible range, soon to be extended to near IR or UV.
Among the most relevant developments: Tilted Newton 300 mm f/5 telescope, truss refractor telescope 92 mm f/7.4, compact optical fiber transmission spectroscope, solar spectrograph on a refractor telescope 50mm f/5, a solar coronograph, equatorial mount for up to 15 kg load. In addition, we recover old fork mounts for refurbishment, reinstalling motor and electronics of our own design. You can find more in project section.
Under recent collaboration with Alovera Major House we are going to install a methorite tracking station so us to provide information for the international tracking network.