My dream come true, a truly dark site to image deep sky objects
The Lozano Observatory is a privately owned, privately operated observatory located near Junction Texas. I built the observatory to capture remote images of deep sky objects. My telescopes are operated remotely from our home in Bulverde, and are designed for deep sky astrophotography. I designed the observatory to be semi-autonomous based on which objects I wish to image. Setting a goal of as close to 100% reliability has been a tremendous challenge! I am hopeful the end result will produce incredible images for years to come!
I have made a commitment to creating
beautiful images of the night sky
The Lozano Observatory, grew from a love for astronomy to a desire to image the night sky. I am completely self taught (and the quality of my images bears witness to this fact). Occasionally, I make some of my images availble for purchase to those interested and offer free information on creating your own observatory. At some point, I may host small, informal viewing sessions.
So, you want to build an observatory? My advice:
Building an observatory is a commitment that will challenge your sanity, family time and finances! One thing is essential when building an observatory, reliability! Building an observatory will be a lesson in planning, desiging, building and testing for weeks or months! Don't even think about installing your expensive equipment until you can safely open and close the dome (or roll off roof) repeatedly with no errors. I have built two observatories and the first one was only 30 minutes from our house and very straining to build. The second site was 135 miles from our house and literally nearly killed me! Lynn was there with me during the most difficult day when we installed the last of the schedule 80 pipe to the meter box and disconnect. Her support and determination to get the work done was essential to the success of the observatory!
I have 20 years of remote observatory experience and would highly recommend the Sky Shed POD-S dome for your new site.
What's your budget?
Do you want a permanent observatory or PVC walls with black canvas set up in a hexagon shape clamped together set up nightly like I started with in San Antonio?
If you plan to build an observatory, you will spend from $5,000 for a small roll off roof to ~$12,000 (including shipping) for an 8' Sky Shed POD-S with 4 bays.
Our slab added another $2,500 to the budget. Keep in mind, these costs are just to house the telescope and equipment. Installing the electric was outragously expensive for installing a single pole but given the situation, it was essential. Solar power would have been just as expensive and I'd have to do all the work!
The telescope mount, a Series Paramount MX with absolute encoders. The mount is the heart of your system, get the best one you can afford!
A telescope worth taking images is expensive. It's not just about the telescope, its about the mount holding the telescope and how accurate that mount is regarding its tracking of the night sky. Presently, I would recommend the Celestron Origin for imaging if you are interested in beginning to capture images. Click on the link below and search for the Celestron Origin telescope.
Reliability
A remote observatory MUST be as close to 100% reliable as possible. I have seperate UPS for my computer and Starlink. 7 thermostatically controlled fans for cooling the UPS, PC and Starlink. I also will be installing an IP KVM to assure I can remotely control my PC.
Recently, Remote PC updated their software and I lost contact with my site. This small error required I make a 4 hour round trip drive to discover and correct the issue! The installation of IP KVM will allow me to access the PC regardless of the state of the computer.
Thinking about what could happen is essential. What if lightening strikes? Power is knocked out, web power switch fails? I have solved all these issues and more by creating back-up systems and auto-boot sequencing within the PC. I will cover what I did to protect my equipment in another part of this site.
Bortle skies matter!
We live in a time when most people don't know or care about the night sky. If you live near a city and want an observatory, GO FOR IT!
Choose your equipment to suit your needs. Most city lights will wash out most telescopes. Choose a scope with fast optics (like an f/5 scope faster).
If you live near a large city select a fast optical scope like a Celestron Origin f/2 scope. You won't be disappointed. Robert Reeves, a well-known astonomer, has taken excellent images from the middle of San Antonio, a city of almost two million people using a Celestron Origin scope!
Dome of Roll off Roof?
I spent months desiging a 14'x18' roll off roof observatory and just before ground breaking changed my mind to build a Sky Shed POD-S Mark IV.
Building the roll off would have been 100% on me if something failed or didn't line up properly. I've built houses as a side hustle and know how precise construction needs to be when something repeatedly moves. The POD-S is a proven system with amazing support and cost about $2,500 less than my roll-off design. As a bonus the dome would be better for imaging during slightly windy nights and protect from light pollution (fortunately, this is not an issue for me).
CMOS Cameras Deep Sky or Planets?
Choose wisely: When I first started I wanted a camera to just place on a telescope and take pictures. I quickly found out it doesn't work this way. Your choice of telescope and camera will be essential to your success. This site will provide you a guide to match your telescope to your camera astronomy.tools
Decide what you want to image, galaxies, clusters and nebulae or planets and the Moon.
Deep sky cameras collect image data with dim light and take HOURS to collect images worth processing and posting. Planetary images typically use faster optics and cameras and are in a different class of cameras.
DSLR Cameras
If you desire to get started right away, buy a DSLR camera with a wireless remote and the largest sensor you can afford (used cameras are fine). I personally started with a Nikon D40 and loved it! I have a D5200 now and use it occasionally. Make sure you can manually adjust the f stop and ISO settings. Purchase a lens that is an f/1.4 or f/2, say a 50mm. These lenses are moderately priced and will yield great results. Remember, the sky moves so you will only be able to take a 20 second or so image before stars become oblong. Take 10-20 images and use a photo program to stack them to create an impressive image.
Partial solar Eclipse
90 foot 28" deep trench
Starlink, USB Hub, Cooling fan
Main power and Cat6 lines outside the observatory
M63, The Sunflower Galaxy
The pier base, 20" in diameter, 36" deep, conduit for main power
Astrophotography- How do I do it?
Learning how to capture images of the night sky has been a journey, sometimes a soul-crushing journey. The learning curve is steep and requires patience and humility. I have had many dedicated imaging cameras throughout the years, all of them strictly for deep sky imaging.
Camera technology has made dramatic advances recently and the current wave favors back illuminated CMOS sensors which are more sensitive and offer less noise.
To capture images of deep sky objects requires a very steady mount, a quailty telescope and a lot of patience. Typically, to acquire the image you leave the camera shutter open for a full 10 minutes or so. Remember, the sky moves so the telescope mount must be prescise enough to not create oblong stars. Click on the DIscover More button below for a more comprehensive explaination.
The image to the right is the Iris Nebula which was taken by me during the summer of 2020. The image was captured with an Astrotech 10" RC scope, SBIG STT-8300M camera and Astrodon Gen II LRGBHA 36mm filters. Each filter was exposed 80 minutes for a total exposure of 6 hours 40 minutes.
Exhibits and Displays
Experience our carefully curated exhibits showcasing the latest in astronomical research and technology.
