AMcD

I have managed to get everything connected. All the equipment appears to to talking to the mini-pc on the mount and the mini-pc to indoor computer LAN connection remain fast and reliable over a 50M Cat 7 Ethernet cable. The wireless connection to the CCTV camera has remained stable. Things have been made much easier with the newer versions of ASCOM and Gemini.net which seem, to me at least, to allow multiple programmes (PHD2, Cartes du Ceil and SGP trial version) to connect concurrently to the Losmandy Gemini much more reliably than they used to. It occurs to me that when the observatory and indoor computers are connected it should be possible then to connect to the indoor computer from a third computer, via MS Remote Desktop, for truly remote operation. However, as I say, walking before running!

You are not wrong Steve. I just get one thing sorted and then something I thought was sorted becomes 'unsorted'. Perhaps that is the defining characteristic of the hobby of astronomy, or at least of the hobby of astrophotography. I laid the hardwire LAN connection today and, after an afternoon of head scratching regarding IP addresses, now have the computers talking to each other over an ethernet connection which, needless to say, is much more stable and much faster than the wireless.

As I have got older I am increasingly disinclined to stand in the cold for hours trying to obtain passable astro-photos. I am still however, willing to sit in the warm and spend hours trying to obtain passable astro-photos. I have over the past decade set up an observatory in my back garden using mostly second hand equipment. I now have a Celestron C8 with Fastar that I bought second hand in 1999, a WO Zenithstar 66mm Apo that I purchased new in the US some ten years ago and a TS6 achromatic refractor that I purchased second hand last year. The Zenithstar is piggybacked on the C8 and is used with a second hand Starlight Xpress SXV-M7 for guiding with PHD2. I have an original QHY8, again purchased second hand, that I use with the TS6 or the Fastar and Nebulosity. The mount is a second hand Losmandy G11 with a late Gemini I system attached that I purchased from California some 15 years ago . The observatory is from Alexander Observatories. My aim is to be able to control the mount and equipment from my study in the house. As I work away, it would also be nice to be able to have the capacity for truly remote operation, but one step at a time. It seemed to me that the minumum requirements for remote operation from the comfort of the house were (a) the ability to reliably control the mount and cameras using a remote computer, (b) the ability to reliably see the equipment in the observatory whilst using it remotely and (c) the ability, ultimately, to remotely control the observatory roof, which control would have to have built in safety features to prevent weather and impact damage to the equipment. For remote control of the mount and equipment, I decided to use Windows 10 Pro Remote Desktop to communicate between a computer in the observatory and a computer in my study. Whilst I was attracted to a Windows based system that could be piggybacked on the scopes, I was not willing to pay the high price of bespoke systems like the Primaluce Eagle 3. The solution I arrived at was a HNSUN industrial mini-computer purchased from Amazon for £290. It has a 128G solid state drive, 8G of RAM and has Windows 10 Pro pre-installed. It is also small enough to mount on the TS6 notwithstanding that it has four serial ports, four USB3 ports and four USB2 ports, as well as two LAN ports. Its only drawback is that it does not have the power ports for astro-equipment that solutions like the Eagle 3 Pro give. But it is over £1000 cheaper! Using a wooden backboard, I mounted the mini-PC on top of the TS6's scope rings. On the mini-pc is installed the software for controlling the mount and the cameras via ASCOM and Gemini.net scripts. At present, the computer in my study and the mini-pc on the scope communicate wirelessly over our household broadband, which reaches the observatory by virtue of a wi-fi range extender. Remote Desktop replicates the mini-pc's desktop on the computer in my study, allowing me to control the mount and the cameras. I hope shortly to introduce digital focusing. It is becoming clear however, that this wireless link is not the most reliable. In particular, when others are using up bandwidth the link drops out relatively regularly. As such, I have decided to install a hardwire LAN link between the two computers by running a Cat 7 LAN cable from my study to the observatory. This will involve drilling a hole through the outside wall and running the cable out from the house to the observatory. To view the equipment as it being used, I have installed a Reolink wireless CCTV camera in the observatory, which can be viewed wirelessly on the computer in the study. This allows me to keep an eye on things and to make sure the mount is doing what the programmes on the remote desktop are telling me it is doing. It will also in due course permit me to check that the scopes are parked before the roof shuts and that the roof has closed at the end of the session. The wireless link to the CCTV camera seems to be a lot more stable than that to the mini-pc, perhaps due to using less bandwidth. As to the roof, I am now investigating options for automating the roof. I think the Talon systems looks to be the gold standard but, again, the price for such a bespoke unit is commensurate with its specialist / dedicated nature. Any cheaper ideas would be very gratefully received. The challenge now is to point the scope, centre the target and take the pictures without leaving the house. Wish me luck!

I have engaged in amateur astronomy on and off for over forty years. As a child I had a small and rickety Tasco refractor. As the delights and distractions of my teenage years took hold I put away what I mistakenly considered childish things. Building a career took me further still from the hobby. But I never forgot the concluding comments in the small instruction book that came with the Tasco telescope. It told me that whilst the flame of the hobby may sputter and dim from time to time, it will never go out. And it has never gone out. Over the past ten years I have slowly put together an observatory, my work life again taking me away from this endeavour for months or years at a time. As I get older, I find myself less inclined to stand in the cold, so am now engaged in a project to introduce remote operation that I hope will let me engage in astrophotography from the comfort of my study. I find the help and advice of other amateurs to be one of the best things about the hobby and am looking forward to learning from those whose knowledge is infinitely greater than mine, A