When I'm not building Iron Man, I build my space observatory.

[BuildsByBaz]

Just saw this thread now, and read through the whole thing. My mind is blown. Firstly from all the space jumbo (I don't mean that offensively in any way, its quite fascinating), and secondly, from the beautiful work you've done. I had goosebumps, seriously, as I read through this thread, thinking "why is it 10 pages long, it looks done already." and you kept adding to it, making it more and more amazing with every new post. The stairs made from the Eucalyptus (hope I spelt that right) made my pick my jaw off the floor over and over. And don't get me started on those pictures you took.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, amazing work, and I hope this project brings you much more joy and good memories.

God bless ya mate! That's a big effort, reading through the whole thread from beginning to end! Thanks for the encouragement!

Baz.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Twenty seven exposures of eight minutes captured last week are now stacked to create this image of Messier-78, a bright reflection nebula in the Orion molecular cloud complex. M78 is 1600 light-years away with a radius of around five light-years.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Working on three images from the last two nights out of the telescope. Here is the first one. NGC3372 - The Great Carina Nebula, lies between 6500 to 10,000 light-years from Earth.

 

[morkar78]

THIS IS AWESOME!!! I work in astronomy since 10 years and I met only another person capable of doing what you did! This is a rare gift!!!! The quality of you images is great! Seriously, congratulations....Can't wait for more pictures!

 

[BuildsByBaz]

THIS IS AWESOME!!! I work in astronomy since 10 years and I met only another person capable of doing what you did! This is a rare gift!!!! The quality of you images is great! Seriously, congratulations....Can't wait for more pictures!

Thank you sir! Just for that, here's another one for you....


Number two of three from this week. NGC 1977 The Running Man Nebula is a reflection nebula approximately 1500 light years away from Earth.

 

[morkar78]

I didn't know this one Impressive...really impressive! The quality of these images is great. What are the typical sky conditions in your location?

 

[BuildsByBaz]

I didn't know this one Impressive...really impressive! The quality of these images is great. What are the typical sky conditions in your location?

Canberr is 650m above sea level, a fair way inland so cool and dry atmospherics are an advantage. Light pollution isn't too bad here in the suburbs - far better than Sydney i can tell you! Biggest problems are smoke in winter because of all the fireplaces in people's homes and bushfires in the summer around the state.

 

[morkar78]

cool....sounds like a good location for amateurs astronomy! I hope I'll see some of your pictures in Astronomical Picture of the Day sometime!

 

[Daniel382]

This is really cool, It must be expensive. Ive never thought of someone building their own observatory like this.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Finally! Two years of building - 12 hours of rooting around with video editing programs of which I have no clue how to use - and It's done!

I give you the complete construction of ASIGN Observatory II with a spine-tingling soundtrack.

 

[Jester19]

That is something beyond superlative! I don't think I've ever seen something as impressive and unique go from vision to reality like that. You must (and should be!) very pleased with your work there. I have to say I am more than a tad envious! You have a freaking observatory in your front yard!! And you built the thing yourself!! Excellent work! And I'll be checking in on your website regularly. Thanks very much for sharing this.

(also excellent use of the Tron: Legacy soundtrack!)

 

[BuildsByBaz]

That is something beyond superlative! I don't think I've ever seen something as impressive and unique go from vision to reality like that. You must (and should be!) very pleased with your work there. I have to say I am more than a tad envious! You have a freaking observatory in your front yard!! And you built the thing yourself!! Excellent work! And I'll be checking in on your website regularly. Thanks very much for sharing this.

(also excellent use of the Tron: Legacy soundtrack!)

You're very welcome mate! Glad you have enjoyed the story with me!

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Here's a rough stack and process of a deep space object captured through the telescope a couple of weeks ago. I might try to get more data on this one when the moon racks off.

Caldwell 39, AKA the Rosette Nebula is a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of our Milky Way Galaxy. Estimated distance from 4,900 to 5,200 light-years from Earth and roughly 130 light years in diameter. To put that in perspective, our closest star besides the sun, (one of the two pointers near the Southern Cross) is five light years away. You would have to travel at 300,000 km per hour for five years to get there.

 

[morkar78]

WOW! simply WOW!

 

[BuildsByBaz]

WOW! simply WOW!

Glad you like it mate.

 

[Halo Master]

The jealousy has overcome me!

 

[BuildsByBaz]

WOOT! With the sale of all the photography gear, the EQ8 has now been bought and installed! The new RC12 Carbon fibre truss telescope arrives late Jan to mid Feb.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

After many months of research and selling nearly everything that is near and dear to me, I finally drove to Sydney today to pick up a shiny new GSO RC12 inch Truss telescope. Let the steep learning curve begin!

First cut

OOOH SHINYYYY!

Careful... don't tear the wrapping paper!

Back-heavy this one.

Balancing.

First light at the Moon.

Pointing at Jupiter.

Southern Cross and Pointers out the window...doesn't get much better than this!

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Get this - I sold all my pro photography gear to buy all this, then I had to get a pro photographer in to take these photos for my website and Facebook group.... go figure...

 

[mkshane81]

Love it Barry! I've thoroughly enjoyed following along on Facebook.

-Matt