Protect your equipment.
Your POD can house a large scope like an 11 or 12" Cassegrain. In fact - more customers are already using 14" fork mounted SCT's on piers. The door is designed with a weatherproof seal, and tough locking system. The dome material is made of high density Polyethylene giving a wipe-clean surface with a low friction feel - also a first, and a superior material in every way. It's extremely durable, almost impossible to stain, and features temperature and UV resistance. It's also resistant to scratches and cracking, absorbing shocks really easily - unlike thinner, inferior single walled plastic designs which distort easily. For the ultimate in strength and heat blocking, you can order black-lined Bays, foam filled walls or door frames, and foam filled dome segments (of which only 2 out of the total 4 dome segments are required to be filled). Weighing about 11 lbs more per panel, this is a negligible increase in weight which stops infra red heat entering the POD (and therefore heat build-up in hot climates), with a massive increase in strength as a side-effect. A cleverly designed ventilation channel allows air to circulate under the dome, which doubles back,  eliminating dust and moisture ingress. The dome can be easily fixed to the ground for use with a tripod mounted scope, or preferably bolted to a raised decking kit, which allows better ventilation with cool air able to flow under the decking and up through it into the POD. A steel pier with concrete block foundation can be used to eliminate vibration for longer exposure CCD imaging. The pier protrudes up through the decking without touching the wooden slats (about a half inch gap is fine) thereby isolating the pier from vibration caused by footsteps. We don't recommend you anchor your POD and pier on the same concrete pad as your scope, as vibration can be transmitted through the concrete. We provide piers and can help with installation and decking kits - please contact us for details or join the SkyShed POD UK user group to share tips with other friendly POD users.

Check your scope, mount fit & pier height. You can check to see how your scope fits into the POD with this nifty piece of software designed by POD customer Ian Shatwell. The file is available on the SkyShed POD UK user group. Simply join the group, click on “Files” in the left-hand navigation, download Observatory.exe, and double click to run it on your PC. You can enter your scope and mount size, even your counterweight length, and slew the virtual telescope around in real-time to check your sky view, finding the best offset position for your mount. Very useful for big Newtonians & refractors and to order one of our custom 8" piers.

POD Review in SkyNews Magazine
Astronomy journalist Steve Barnes wrote a review in Canadian Astronomy Magazine SkyNews. Read the SkyShed POD review.

Read the Insight Magazine article about the POD Observatory and it's role in science & physics education for UK Schools. We're also proud to announce we've our first POD in a UK School, and we've just delivered a POD Observatory to Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics.

POD Assembly Video Online Version 2
For those of you who are about to receive PODs and would like to get a jump on the assembly video, you can view an online abridged version of the setup DVD you will receive with your POD. The video will show you just how easy it is to set up your POD.

View Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6 , Part 7 , Part 8 , Part 9