Telescope Reviews: Why so few mobile observatories?

I agree 100%. I've been in quest of a mobile observatory for a while for the very reasons you mention, going somewhere dark with all the nice touches of home. A regular trailer mounted observatory has been done by several people, but the issue I see there is stability and getting it into a site to use it. Stability from the stanpoint of isolating the pier from the trailer. I've seen some rigs where they lower jacks for the trailer itself, but to be useful for imaging, you really need to have the pier mounted on the ground. I'm not real sure that can be done well. The other issue is you have to get the trailer to the site, drive it in. Most places you drive are lighted or have lights close by. So I'm not so sure a true trailer observatory is all that practical.

I had an Exploradome that traveled on a tilt trailer. The concept is great, taking a fully equipped observatory on the road that could be unloaded and setting up equipment in 10 minutes. It really was a sweet setup. It was nice getting somewhere and being able to set up and just leave the equipment, lock it up during the day and know it was safe. The Exploradome is fine for one person, so when I went to remote sites alone it was ok. But going to outreach events or star parties, everybody wanted to pile in and there wasn't enough room for more than one or two people and gear.

I switched to an Astrogazer and mounted my portable ED at home. There were some tradeoffs. The AG is like a tent, metal frame and fabric covered. It has a rotating dome and is larger once set up than the ED. The downside is that it is really not lockable or as weatherproof as the ED. The setup time is also longer, about an hour, then you have to load the gear. The AG is much easier to store when it is broken down and easier to trail. It's three bags would easily fit in my truck, but wouldn't leave enough room for telescope gear so I built a box for the trailer I had the ED on. The box has less wind resistance and a lower CG so it is easier to trailer.

I thought about a POD for a while but just didn't see any practical way to disassemble it, haul it and set it up alone. Short of buying an enclosed trailer I don't know how you could strap down all the pieces of plastic and not worry about losing some of them. Then there's the setup time on site. I imagine it would be about the same setup time as the AG.

Of the three "portable" choices, there's no hands down winner. The portable ED probably offered the best as an all-round portable observatory, a shutter, solid weather protection, lockable, good temperature control, fast setup. But it was like pulling a camper for my little truck. The AG just made more sense as a portable, much smaller to store, easier to trailer, sets up larger, offers everything except the lockability and has a longer setup time, those were the main tradeoffs. I guess what tipped the scales for me is the AG's ability to get into remote sites you can't really drive to and the ability to set up on uneven ground.

Some people just shake their heads when they see me setting up the gear, but once it's done, nothing beats having the comforts and protection of an observatory, a large aperture scope under a remote site perfect 10 sky.

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-Jim-
Happiness is a clear sky and a Denk II

old AP images and some new C14 Hyperstar images