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13-06-2017
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Building a remote station

Submitter: Albert van Duin
Description: Since light pollution is getting worse in Beilen, the sky brightness has risen 0.5 magnitude per square arc second in the last 5 years, I have been looking for a better location for my telescope. And I finally found it in Germany, in the back garden of friends who bought a small farm house there 8 years ago.

When a second hand 3 meter telescope dome was offered to me by the family of a recently deceased member of our astronomy club, the decision was quickly made to relocate it to this much better location.

During the past winter and spring a platform was built, the pier for the telescope was moved, and finally the dome was re-assembled in April with the help of many hands during a "Teleskoptreffen" (Starparty) which is held at that location. About 20 amateur astronomers from both Germany and the Netherlands gather there twice a year, enjoying both Astronomy and Gastronomy...

At the moment the motors and automation electronics for the dome are being fitted, with that job I got help from some ASTRON colleagues. During the summer the telescope mount will be serviced by the manufacturer, and when it gets back, the telescope will be mounted in its new location.

There it will run an autonomous observation program, starting up the observatory automatically when conditions permit, under a sky that is at least a magnitude darker than in Beilen. Stay tuned for the first light images...
Copyright: astropix.nl
 
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