I keep all my equipment in my backyard ROR observatory year round. Every thing is always handy and ready with just a few minutes notice.
Elliot

 

All my gear is stored in the house. There are four scopes in the living room mounted all the time ready to go. Two of these require one trip out the door and two of these require two trips. One of the mounts has three scopes which are regularly rotated on it, depending on the target(s) for the night/previous night. This mount is a dual saddle and it sees its share of two scopes quite often as I like to compare views.

Peace...

 

In a shed which happens to have a roll-off roof. Misc. stuff is in the house.

 

House for refractors and eyepieces and mounts, the big dob stays out in the carport. I move the dob with either my big hand truck (800 lb. capacity semisolid wheels) or a dolly, but i don't need to move it far.

 

My equipment, except my laptop and DSLR, stay in the observatory. The scope is covered witha Telegizmos cover. Mallincam, eyepieces, filters, etc are stored in Orion eyepiece cases. Miscellaneous pieces parts are on shelves or in plastic drawer units.

 

Indoors - which is only a few feet away from my observation-platform. So lugging the biggest beasts is easily done. A recently aquired blue roofers'-tarp will be secured and used as a roll-up temporary shelter for fast-response to that one Big-Black-Thunderhead that never fails to make a B-Line straight for me once I'm all set-up - not another cloud in the sky. But this headed dead-on for my exact location!

The Universe has a sense-of-humor. But it's warped!

Dave

 

Cool survey, Ed. I keep all of my equip in the house and carry out what I need. I used to store one of my bigger scopes in the garage about 50 ft. from the house, but it got tiresome having to go to the garage to haul it out when I got the bug to observe with it. Plus, I had a break-in that spooked me (fortunately, nothing was taken; maybe the security light and the neighbor's dog scared the interloper), so I just keep my scopes inside

Reggie

 

I keep my nice scopes in the house because of the high summer heat in South Florida. The Vixen A70Lf in my avatar lives in the garage, near an internal wall that is much cooler than the outside walls. It's my early morning and variably cloudy night grab-n-go. The Vixen does not have any rubber 'O'-rings, grease, or anything else that can be adversely affected by heat.

Ed D

 

I keep them all in my shop-area. Safe & sound.

And hello Ed! We do have an introductions thread somewhere, but this will suffice: Welcome to A-C! Nice to have you aboard. Make yourself to home! I was wondering what that interesting-looking refractor was - I love them (and most all other scopes, too). Long & slow refractors are not often found these days.

I look foreward to your input here - bring your friends, too. We're trying to dispell the image of us astro-nuts in the US as cliquish, narrow-minded Cloudy-Nighters.

Have fun!

Dave

 

Hi Dave. The scope is a Vixen A70Lf on an aluminum tripod and homemade mount. It's a really light setup that I mainly use on planets in the mornings before getting ready for work.

Ed D

 

I have to keep my scopes indoors as I live in a 3rd floor flat and carefully carry everything down the stairs.

 

I keep all my optical kit in a draw as it's all small except my reflecting telescope which I kept on top of a cupboard.

 

I don't have much yet- (but you know how that goes) and I live in a small, 2 bedrm duplex, so I keep my AstroView 90EQ and all accessories in the spare bedroom, and my Towa 60mm in my living room as an accent piece. My bedroom has a back door that opens to a massive back yard so I can carry the 90 out for a quick look-see when I don't feel like driving to my dark site. Not sure where I'll keep my Sky View Pro 8 EQ when I finally get it though. Bathroom?

 

I'm toying with the idea of adding a low loft into my shop - or a spare-room - which would cheaply give me half-again as much floor-space to put things. Just some lumber, box of nails/screws, and tools I have on-hand.

Dave

 

While you're at it, make a roll-back roof and have yourself an observatory?

 

I was thinking of an 'Astronomy-Yurt' on my upper-deck. This can be easily put-up and struck-down for daylight Sun. And pulled-up for night use. It would keep my equipment dry and wind-free and a single fold would expose the telescope - whichever one I want to use - to open sky.

Required Material:

20' by 20' tarp.

A couple & screws and a power-drill.

Some weights.

Two 2 X 4's.

A fleet of tools of various purposes.

Some warm weather to entice me outdoors for a day.

All Hail Mongolia!

Dave - a fan of Mahayani Buddhism outlook and understandings.....

 

Sounds simple enough. Post those pix when you're done!

 

When I lived in Manhattan, I used to keep my scope inside my apartment, in my bedroom. I would take an elevator and a flight of stairs to observe off of the building's roof, or just throw it over my shoulder and lug it about half a mile to a local park on the East River where my club had its outreach sessions.

Since I moved to Denver last summer, I now keep it on my balcony, which has another balcony directly above it. I keep a heavy plastic sheet over it, and this has worked really well to keep the scope safe and dry, although the winds get pretty crazy here, just east of the Rockies, so if they start really getting nuts (50 mph gusts are actually pretty common), I will take it in until the winds literally blow over. I have a southern exposure, so I do my "quick peek" viewing (moon, planets, Orion) just off of the balcony.

When I want to really observe, I can climb three flights of stairs and take it to the apartment building roof, where I have an excellent easterly and southerly exposure and overhead views. Because the scope lives on the balcony, it's nice to have it pre-cooled and ready to go.