Since I was tired of always setting up everything, aligning it and then taking it down again, as well as the time that is “lost” in the process, I converted our unused attic into a small rooftop observatory in summer 21. Even though it is located in the middle of Oldenburg (Bortle 5/6), it offers enormous advantages such as the use of small weather windows.
After careful preliminary planning, I decided on a retractable roof solution. A hinged roof would have been too costly and would have disturbed the look of the roof too much. Due to the low height of the pointed floor – approx. 1.40m to the ridge – I had to find a compromise. This leads to the fact that the parking position of the telescope does not correspond to the pole alignment, but it has to be parked approximately in a horizontal position.
Fortunately, I had a load-bearing wall under the planned position for the mount. Therefore, I was able to install a concrete column with a column adapter quite easily. Contrary to initial fears, there are no vibrations, neither from impact sound nor from the use of the room below.
Here are a few pictures showing the individual construction phases:
After some time of use, I have not regretted it. I now use even the smallest weather windows, even if the sky here is anything but dark.
The effort was kept within limits, a total of approx. 5 days of working time went into this. The costs amounted to approx. 500€.
In case you have further questions, don´t hesitate and contact me.