For many amateur astronomers the dream begins the same way. Carrying equipment into the backyard night after night. Polar aligning in the dark. Waiting for cables mounts cameras and software to cooperate while clouds threaten the only clear skies of the week.
Then one day you imagine something bigger.
A small observatory quietly waiting outside. Powered on. Connected. Ready at a moment’s notice. A system you can access remotely from inside your home or even from across the world. Click a button. The dome opens. The telescope slews. Imaging begins automatically while you sit back and enjoy the night sky from your screen.
It sounds futuristic. Expensive. Out of reach. Right?
But in the May 2026 issue of ScopeTrader we follow one amateur astronomer who proves otherwise.
Meet Engelbert Vollmer of Germany a retired physicist and lifelong builder whose passion for astronomy led him to create something extraordinary. A fully automated 3D printed mini observatory designed entirely from scratch.
What started as frustration from repeatedly setting up and tearing down equipment evolved into a deeply personal engineering project blending astronomy electronics software automation and creative problem solving.
And perhaps most inspiring of all he built it himself.
Using Fusion 360 a Creality K1 Max printer PETG filament Arduino controllers ASCOM integration N.I.N.A. automation software weather monitoring systems and countless hours of experimentation Vollmer created a compact robotic observatory capable of fully remote astrophotography operations.
The result looks like something straight from a professional observatory campus only miniaturized for a backyard rooftop.
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