Here's the New Mexico Cosmos observatory, built in my back yard.   It is located at 6800 feet in central New Mexico.the observatory houses an iOptron CEM120 EC2, C11 EdgeHD, WOStar 71, ASI1600MM Pro, Esatto Focuser, ZWO OAG with Lodestar X2, and ZWO EFW.  The dome is a Nexdome on my own wooden ring, but with Nexdome rotator and shutter control.  The building is in two levels, and the observatory is separated from the Control Room.  The Control room is insulated, while the observatory is not.  There is plenty of separation between the concrete pier and the building and the concrete pad.  The concrete pier is 20" diameter and extends five feet below the ground (four feet above).  The facility is controlled via INDI and KStars within the control room and remotely. 

To show how stable the pier is, and total lack of any wind inside, check out the RMS rates in the EKOS guide screen below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow very impressive. Congrats!

OMG. Envious. Congrats!

Beautiful setup and setting.  Congratulations! 

Very nice observatory.

And there I was thinking Well at least I'm not deep in the African bush like poor old PK.

 

LOL! Yeah, I retired from the Foreign Service and settled down in New Mexico.

Very nice setup! Congrats!

Wonderful job.

Dreams come true!

Looks like you have a big backyard.

Prepare for me to set up camp there. It's just an easy 9 hr drive for me. You may want to put some more beer in the fridge....



One question, though: I don't think you are guiding through your main telescope at almost 2000 mm FL, are you? So I think the calculated RMS value is overly generous. You should substitute that with your guide scope in the drop down menu. That will probably bring your RMS into a more normal range.

I would also guide at 1x1 bin, not 4x4 bin for maximal resolution.

Looking forward to talking more about this around the campfire.

See you soon,

Jo

I do guide with an OAG at 1956mm focal length - f/7.
Note these are 10 second guide exposures, at the CEM120 EC2 tracks really well in between.