Astronomické fórum

Dobry den,

Stal jsem se majitelem hvezdarny Skyshed POD.



Moje review v anglictine: http://www.bcsatellite.net/bao/skyshedpod.html

Dekuji!

Gratuluji k porizeni hvezdarny.

Pokud se to vyplati ze skoro centra Prahy muze to byt motivace pro nas ostatni co mame alespon trochu lepsi podminky.

Mozna by bylo zajimave zverenit par praktickych postrehu z vlastniho porizeni a instalace v Praze. Nariklad u koho bylo porizena, za radove jakou cenu, co stala doprava ci pripadna intalace. Detaily do posledniho halere nejsou nutne ale spise obecnejsi informace pro potencialni nasledovniky by mohla byt zajimava...

Co bylo spravne ci ceho se radeji vyvarovat.

dekuji

Hi Max,

congratulation on the new observatory! dreams are meant to become reality looking forward to hear from you soon (will the Sun be your imaging target as it was in the past?).

The SkyShed Pod looks great (definitively like a part of a space ship). I believe that it's not only me who would like to know all the issues (and their solution) you had to face with the installation of the Pod and its transportation (shipping costs) of the Pod from the USA.

Many thanks for your experiences and once more - congrat's on that nice Pod

Dekuji Pavel a Pavel!

My Czech is not as good to proceed fully in it yet, so I'll answer in English.

I have purchased the dome from Valkanik in Spain. The shipping was very expensive - that is 700 Euro, by ground, however my priority was to get it fast, because my temporary astro-tent was completely damaged by recent storm winds and flooded with rains. Valkanik has these pods in stock, so they delivered it just in a few days. I know that Meade sells pods also from German warehouse, however they are restricted to sell to Germany or Austria, so you will need to find a mate who can pick it up there for you. Overall, Enric from Valkanik is a good person to deal with, so if you ever decide to take the plunge I would not hesitate to recommend him.

Initial assembly took a few hours, nothing complex at all. The dome comes with a CD with detailed 30 min video manual covering the whole process.  

There's one thing you shall know about Skyshed Pod: a very limited zenith view. Before purchasing, by all means I urge you to do the homework first and model how you are going to position your scope. Fortunately, my AP900GTO mount can track many hours past the meridian, so I start imaging on the 'wrong' side of the mount with counterweights looking upwards. This allows to offset the OTA towards the dome opening and reach zenith. As I write this, the telescope is busy capturing M57 and I am yet to see how much zenith I have, but right 90 degrees above the OTA is fully visible. If your GEM has limited tracking abilities (such as CGE Pro) then you shall probably consider other domes, i.e. ExploraDome that is said to have better zenith opening. You can also order a so called PZT option (Zenith Table) that allows to slide the pod's dome off the panels and reveal zenith, I believe that's a good workaround, although it takes additional physical space outside the dome.

Asides from limited zenith availability, I am very happy with this purchase. The room insight is tight for visual observations, however OK for photographic use. (If you ever interested to see and touch it personally, just let me know and I would be glad to run and grab a few beers to share before your visit!)

Finally, I am looking into motorizing this pod so I could CCDAutopilot the whole imaging process. I haven't found a solution yet, although heard there were successful attempts, so if you are looking for a fully motorized dome this is something you may want to research in advance as well.

Thanks for info, Max !

If you will be looking for fully motorized dome, you should consider this:

www.scopedome.com

Dome is 3m in diameter and price is very fine and dome seems to be quite well made. It is made in Poland. I visited such one in Poland. You can simply place it on terrace. I'll buy one for my new house.

Hi Martin!

I agree this is an interesting option, however 3m was above what my terrace could accept, so I had to go with a smaller option.