Welcome to my Astronomy Den
Welcome to my astronomy den. This is a special area of my home exclusively dedicated to my astronomy hobby. I have filled this room with all the things that alllow me to best enjoy the hobby. The 50 inch 4K TV screen on the wall is always active showing Stellarium, allowing me to keep a real time view on the night sky. The computer that it is connected to runs Stellarium and also serves as a file server.
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The fireplace is a nice addition. There is nothing more relaxing than putting your feet up and reading a good book, watching a YouTube video on a TV that is also connected to the internet, or doing an imaging session on the Origin and/or Seestar while you are kicking back staying warm. I've actually fallen asleep in front of this during some late imaging sessions.
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The east wall has some 18 inch enlargements that I had made from some of my Hyperstar imaging sessions, and I also store my tripods and mounts in this area. I have a file cabinet full of astronomy documents and a book shelf filled with books and fossils.
The opposite west wall has 2 really nice paintings done by my long time old friend, Eric Erdmann. They were done back in the 1980's. I also store some of my many waterproof equipment cases along this wall. Red rope LED lighting circles the perimeter of the room to preserve night vision. I have some lamps, a pair of USB charging stations and more pictures there as well.
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When it comes right down to it, this is the control room for my imaging systems. I have built a Wi-fi network that spans from a range externder in the house to a router in the garage that runs on high speed cable internet, and it allows me to communicate to all my telescopes in the back yard in station mode direct from this space. This means my scopes and computers are always on the internet in real time.
The laptop pairs up with the big screen on either Apple AirPlay or cable connects via HDMI so I can put my Origin imaging software up on it, and this frees me up to do my logging on the laptop, and I can control my Seestar from the Samsung tablet. Still to come, I plan to buy an iPad to pair up with my MacBook running the Origin system and serve as an additional monitor for my Origin rig. I am very happy to be using the MacBook Pro m4 for my main imaging device right now. I am embedded in the Apple ecosystem, and it works very well for me. I have an iMac m3 in another room that I use for image processing.
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While I am imaging, I will at times hook up with other friends who are imaging using Zoom or Facetime and we will share our imaging screens. In other words, we have virtual star parties. I also run the ZOOM ASTRONOMY TALK gathering from this space. Soon I will be doing night sky tours and astronomy instruction from this station. The possibilities really are endless.
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Hope you enjoyed the tour.