Anyone in AAVSO taking advantage of the remote observatories–not AAVSOnet? You pack up your OTA and mount head, ship it, they install it on an appropriate pier, you pay monthly fee… local maintenance provided at a published rate, you remotely control over internet and collect your images?
Any issues? Is it worth it? Any general info to consider?
Jim (DEY)
I work with a team using a CDK 24 Obstech Chile. Overall great resuslts.
But is is quite an ordeal to get it working per se. Get it working ‘remotely’ in the backyard.
One og our team is starting in the backyard.
I am pointing him to using Tailscale, TightVNC with a dongle to emulate
HDMI, RealVNC viewer (not the server). Reader on the remote machines and TightVNC server on the ‘remote telescope’. Install TailScale on all machines, as that will create a VNC channel. I have a JetKVM on order, that hooks up to the ‘remote machine’ and can recover from those pesky lockups. You can do BIOS level startup/changes – even install an OS image all remotely without help from their staff. We are starting a private group to address these things, let me know it you are interested in that. It is literally like sitting in my office with the machine in my backyard. We have multiple people working the system at the same time – like overlapping keystrokes etc. So the real deal is between you and the remote people. Remember travel can get weird check with remote operators for accomodations. One fellow uses a machine in Spain, the TZ difference with me in Colorado means I can start in my AM, their PM. Good stuff.
–Wayne
Thanks for the info! I like it the site! If only I were a younger man…
The 100mm Esprit OTA I’m considering remoting is not a 24-inch CDK! The southern hemisphere would be interesting for sure!
There are issues I don’t know anything about at this point. For example: remote control and image acquisition would be done using remote-desktop software over high-speed-internet connect. Seems reasonable until an uncommanded or error slew gets in and drives the mount to a limit. I haven’t tested my mount here if it allows recovery without human intervention. I presume the site automatically rolls roof off after sunset for cool down and twilight flats could be taken. Not my normal flat process. I’d have to get an automated dust cover which I don’t have at this point. Lots of minor details that could be large issues with no hands on access perhaps.
I appreciate the info.
Jim (DEY)
Hi Jim, I moved my gear to Utah Remote Observatories in August 2024. It’s the best thing I could have done. I’m getting 250-275 clear nights per year with a top quality and responsive observatory team. My work is mainly on exoplanet and some variable star observing. I occasionally will enjoy a night of EAA observing.
Gary
ps: never had any outage or connectivity problems. In order to use RDP when their security provisions don’t allow port-forwarding, I needed to utilize Tailscale. A friend with IT expertise set it all up in no time. He consults if you need any support.
The observatory name is actually Utah Desert Remote Observatories.
Jim and the group, I have my RedCat71 + ASI183MM Pro at Starfront near Rockwood Texas. It has been there about 18 months. It is my first experience so I have no point of comparison other than my back yard.
Overall my experience is very good. I have faced a few issues with my remote system but the onsite staff has been very professional and have been able to work through the issues. It has taught me patience since I naturally compare the time required to putting my own hands on my equipment and troubleshooting, but overall I would give them high marks.
Since the telescope has been there, I have upgraded my camera and my mount, and added a flat panel. I have shipped the upgrade equipment directly from the vendor to Starfront. I have never been charged anything other than the monthly rental of $149.
I have experienced over 200 clear nights per year, and have confirmed the advertised Bortle 1 skies.
Would I do it again, yes!
You should learn to control your setup 100% hands off before you ship your equipment. That is the main caution I would give you.
Clear skies,
John
Remote observing completely changed the hobby for me after I moved my scope from Ohio to a site in New Mexico, Dark Sky New Mexico. Support has been great and the skies dark. Just upgraded the filter wheel to include BVR filters so hopefully will contribute more to AAVSO.
Phil Kuebler
Although it seems the service provided by these groups is very good, I would hesitate to claim 200+ or 250-275 clear nights per year, though this surely depends on the definition of ‘clear’. The larger figure is better than northern Chile in terms of photometric, cloud-free sky. If southwest Utah were really that good, it would have been identified a long time ago, and there would be 4-meter and larger telescopes all over the place. They are not there because it is not actually that good. Likewise central Texas.
I have nightly data for Flagstaff AZ since 1978 here:
http://www2.lowell.edu/cloudiness_data/clouds.html
…where you can see we get about 100 ‘photometric’ nights/year over the long term, defined as cloud-free dusk-to-dawn. I would argue this is representative of places in the US Southwest generally. By the same definition places like Ohio or elsewhere in the eastern US get only maybe two such nights per month.
Bortle 1 sky? Since you are doing photometry from images with some calibration, que no?, would it be possible to actually measure the sky brightness in units of magnitudes per square arcsec?
\Brian
I recently found a processes online that explains what one needs to do to extract sky brightness from standard field images for a recent local club thread. Also some info on and observatory in the Canary Is. I’m no expert but the process seems reasonable. Also there are relatively low cost devices that can estimate background sky brightness…
The following iop science web site wants you to prove you are not a 'bot. Bad-bot…
Also there are relatively low cost devices that can estimate background sky brightness…
Jim (DEY)
Hello! I just signed up for Starfront at Rockwood, TX a few months ago. I have an 8" LX200 with SBIG ST402 with BVIC filters working at focal length of 1100mm. I would run it unattended in my backyard when I lived in Las Cruces - a perfect fit. Weather was very predictable, and I would simply open the enclosure to image without worry about unanticipated rain/wind
However, moving to eastern Tennessee, with the clouds, vagaries of weather, and horizon/tree limitations, I was not getting the system out. Starfront has allowed me to start imaging again. I did not want to spend thousands of dollars on a new CMOS camera/filters, etc., so it is a good fit for me with my old system.
I have used both SGPro and NINA. Some of my learning curve was learning how to use these programs in a robotic setting, especially the safety features. Given the short OTA of my LX200, I’m not particularly worried about losing control of the mount and causing damage. Plus, with the safety features, if the mount continues past the horizon for some reason (usually due to my error!), imaging is lost, and the safety features can kick in to control the mount in whatever way I desire.
My only suggestion would be to have the items sent to you so that you can test drive them at home, especially the computer connectivity, before sending them to an observatory site. This would be a bit more expensive with double shipping costs, but can make the initial setup experience much more pleasant. Have backup connection programs for the computer. I use Remmina since I used a Pi5 as my desktop at home, but I also have RealVNC and Chrome Remote Desktop as backups for the Beelink SER5 that I sent, as well as a compute stick at home for backup for the Pi5. I do reductions and upload date to AAVSO from the SER5 rather than sending images back to me at home.
You can send things directly to Starfront (or most other observatories, I think) in order to let them set everything up. I would consider this now if I changed my system since I have had experience running my system unattended in my backyard and now robotically through Starfront. Starfront in particular tries to make the process as easy as possible since it does not allow people to visit in order to service their own systems. For Starfront, it is important to pay attention to the training videos in order to make the process as easy as possible. They are responsive to emails as well to help with the process. Best regards.
Mike