The Taurus Observatory at DAV

                        - The Sign of the Ox

Observatory sensor readings (under construction)
Temperature .
Humidity .
Dew Point .

Light Sensor
Light Level

Observatory Roof
Open/Closed
Limit North
Limit South
Roof motor


This website is hosted on Raspberry Pi 3 which resides at the observatory.

Lat. 33d 33m 26.5s N
Long. 82d 45m 46.83s W

Information:

The observatory was built in January of 2007. The above pictures were taken just after it was built.

My observatory is built on leased lot C at Deerlick Astronomy Village (DAV).

The observatory is a CJE MAX 15'6"x15'6" roll-off roof type observatory with warm/control room built by Scott from Backyard Observatories.

My main scope is a Celestron 14 (C14) on a Software Bisque Paramount ME mount (controlled by The SKy X) which is mounted on a Big Bear Pier. My focuser is an Optec TCF focuser.

My electroluminesent panel for taking "flats" is by Optec/Alnatik.

I'm using a SBIG STL-1001E CCD imaging camera with the Astrodon Photometric BVRI+C filter set to do photometric imaging. I may be expanding to include a couple of Sloan Photometric filters in the future.

I run the observatory, telescope, camera and focuser completely remote including opening and closing the roof, doing Flats, Darks, and remotely controlling 24 AC power outlets and one camera. The roof is controlled by an M1AOSYS roof and telescope control system.

I'm using two Windows 10 computers to run the telescope, mount, camera and focuser and 5 Raspberry Pi computers to support VPN at the Observatory, Web serving, environment sensors and other tasks. My Son set up Home Assist on a RPi to control power switches, routers, cameras other things!

I take scientific images of Long Period Variable stars for an organization called AAVSO.Org in Boston Massachusetts. I specialize in Long Period Variable (LPV) stars that have a "hump" or stall on the raising part of their light curves. I have a webpage concerning LPV Humps at the AAVSO LPV Section website.



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