What £70 on remote scopes can get you (Warning: Big Images)

[Euan]

I've spent the past month packing up and selling all my imaging gear, and I thought I would post an update for those it might interest. I know for a lot of people, having your own gear and doing your own thing is irreplaceable, but there are so many people on the fringes of serious imaging that have the money to put into it but not necessarily the time or the technical knowledge. It's also perfect to cure those UK weather blues or summertime frustrations.

This is all done on iTelescope.net (formally GRAS), a network of scopes on three sites (New Mexico, Spain & Australia) with two news sites in Greece and California in the works. It all hangs together using ACP, which is a great interface for imaging. You subscribe to month plans which give you points you can spend on the different scopes, usually the higher performance the more points it costs. Its hard to describe just how bizarre and satisfying it was on Sunday afternoon past to sit down to do some imaging looking a completely clear Australian skies and start to pull an image together as the subs rolled in.

I've just spent my first 100 points, which at the moment equates to $100 Australian Dollars, so around £70. I've spent most of my time on the Carina Nebula from Siding Springs Observatory in Australia, as it's just too fascinating an object not too. What you see below is the result of that and also some test single subs I've taken of other objects. Keep in mind the shortness of the exposure numbers and lengths is only really possible due to awesome kit in an awesome location.

So here we begin, NGC 3372 The Carina Nebula in RGB (4 x 5 mins per colour)

Taken on T12: http://www.itelescop.../telescope-t12/

Next, the same again in Narrowband (Hubble Palette, 4 x 5mins per colour)

Same again, Ha only (4 x 5 mins). There is a slight gradient in this I had to get back too....

Next, some single 5 min sub test shots on T12 again in Ha, prizes for recognising them....

Last but not least, a 5 min Ha test sub on T11, which is a 20" Planewave CDK absolute beast of a scope. This is stunning considering a full moon was nearby....

http://www.itelescop.../telescope-t11/

[twotter]

I'd say that's £70 well spent

[laser_jock99]

Certainly an interesting concept. I like to get out under the stars myself but I can see the atraction for city bound astronomers.

[StuartJPP]

Although they are great images to me it is like using a remote control camera to take a photo of a lion at a remote location somewhere in the middle of Africa.

However if that is what you enjoy doing then that is all that counts.

[sologuitarist61]

They are fantastic shots - all of them. I know you have given us the 'bare bones' of how you did it, perhaps you could post fuller details of how to go about doing this, you know, web sites, how it works etc etc, as has been said, that is money well spent!

Although they are great images to me it is like using a remote control camera to take a photo of a lion at a remote location somewhere in the middle of Africa.

However if that is what you enjoy doing then that is all that counts.

Could agree less! This is a modern world and the advantage of being able to use a scope you could never afford in a place that you are unlikely to ever visit, is great - no more remote to me than having the GoTo find the star for you.

[StuartJPP]

Could agree less! ...no more remote to me than having the GoTo find the star for you.

I don't have GoTo

As I said each to their own, to complement during bad times I agree, but as a replacement? I have also heard that you can pay Chinese guys to do the laborious task of processing the images as well. Where does the convenience end, the hobby of downloading a completed high resolution HST image for a fee?

[nytecam]

Although they are great images to me it is like using a remote control camera to take a photo of a lion at a remote location somewhere in the middle of Africa.

However if that is what you enjoy doing then that is all that counts.

For UK APers I can understand the frustration and reason to sell-up and going overseas remote. But whilst these widefield images are great they have no appeal for me and I wouldn't even bother from UK. I'd consider remote for transient comets, SNe, variables, specta etc as part of some oganised programme via a telescope but not wideangle long lens.

For me the astro buzz is going to my garden obsy on a clearish night and catching those long travelled photons revealed on my laptop and later stacking and 'play' at leisure.

[Euan]

This is a modern world and the advantage of being able to use a scope you could never afford in a place that you are unlikely to ever visit, is great

At last! Someone who gets it

I'm on my phone just now but will post up a wee guide later...

[fredster]

Great shots and i can really see the appeal of this. The sort of imaging i would be interested in. The kind you can do on a cloudy night in the UK without wasting a rare clear night here.

I watch the imaging guys at our club and to me they may as well not be there. They arrive, setup the kit and then bury their heads in their laptops the whole night. Never once take their eye off the screen or gaze up at the heavens. All openly admit they have never really looked at the night sky or peered through a scope. The Goto does it all for them. I really do not get it personally. It's like a completely different hobby to the one i do. But as someone else said, each to their own. And they certainly do enjoy themselves, which is all that matters.

[Grotemobile]

I have just had a look on the site & it looks

very good.At least you dont have hundreds

of pounds worth of gear, hanging around, most

of the time doing nothing.Something different.

Steve.

[IanL]

I have been 'looking up at the sky' since I was a kid, and done plenty of visual observing the hard way, i.e. with a star chart, a pair of bins or a manual telescope, and it is a very satisfying experience. Equally I have been interested in technology since about the same time as I got interested in Astronomy. Whipping out the soldering iron and building or modifying some kit, screwing together some nuts and bolts, writing a bit of computer code, mastering some complex software or grasping a technical discipline are all equally satisfying experiences to me.

Being able to combine all of these things in one hobby is the best of all worlds. My problem is that I have invested as much as I reasonably can right now in AP kit and software and have had very limited opportunities to use it due mainly to the appaling weather that seems to have been afflicting us since pretty much this time last year. On top of that, I would love to get a decent CCD camera, filters, etc. but I can't justify the expense due to other priorities. I really want o spend a lot more time getting to grips with advanced processing, but I just haven't been able to get enough raw data to progress yet (wouldn't be very satisfying to me to use someone else's data). This might be a way of overcoming some obstacles in the short term.

The results you have got so far look fantastic for the price one would spend of a couple of widgets needed to connect item 'A' to recepticle 'B'.

[Euan]

They are fantastic shots - all of them. I know you have given us the 'bare bones' of how you did it, perhaps you could post fuller details of how to go about doing this, you know, web sites, how it works etc etc

How it works

Here is a snapshot of the iTelescope dashboard at the moment, you see this when you log in. This allows you to see the status of each of the sites and go into each of the scopes. You can either reserve a time on a scope or just dive in if something is available, you can see here I've started on T12 as it is free for half an hour between bookings. This also displays any warning messages if a system goes offline because of a fault (T9 in this case)

You can see here New Mexico has just gone offline, Spain is also asleep but Oz is off and running. You can have access to scopes 24/7 if the weather is good at all the sites.

When you go into one of the scopes you are then onto using ACP on the PC connected to it. From here you can build imaging plans, make reservations or launch previously saved plans.

Here is what I'm doing at the moment, you see lots of feedback of what is going on

At the end of your plan, you are emailed a quite detailed receipt showing how much points you used, snapshots of all the weather conditions, JPEG previews of your subs, and you are given FTP access to your data. This comes in the form of un-calibrated and calibrated FIT files. You get access to all the calibration files and you can do this yourself, but I've found the calibrated files to be really good.

How much does it cost?

You have to be on a subscription plan to use it, these vary from $19.95 AUS (£13.74) to $999.00 AUS (£687.96) per 28 days. There are a range of these plans, giving different numbers of points to spend. Each scope has a different "points-per-hour" rating, this also changes dynamically depending on what plan you are on and what the current illumination and position of the moon is. The higher the plan you are on, the cheaper in points each scope is. The brightness of the moon in the FOV can get you an up to 50% discount of the scope rates, great for narrowband.

You can try it for free, but this only gives you access to the one shot colour CCDs at each site, I would highly recommend the starter-trial at $19.95. You can top this up just by buying more points as well rather than going to a bigger plan. You can cancel at any point as well. It's worth signing up and just watching what people are doing on each of the scopes as you can see everything they see, including previews of images taken.

Other points

One of the hardest things I've found, especially with navigating the southern sky, is knowing what is where and when. This is when you need a really good planetarium program. I've bought TheSkyX Pro for this, and it's great for planning imaging runs, it can also plate solve images to help with pointing.

Also, TheSkyX is great for keeping track of timezones. You can have a serious brain malfunction trying to work out imaging times and booking slots relative to the time in the UK!

If you are even remotely interested (no pun intended), give it a go as for less than £15 you have nothing to lose. Just remember to cancel your plan if you decide it's not for you

http://www.itelescope.net

[skir]

I'm pretty new to astronomy and I've always thought that at some point I'd like to get into ap, but with all the discussions on here about how bad the weather has been over the last couple of years it does make me wonder if there is any justification in having thousands of pounds worth of kit sitting about doing nothing for long periods.

I can understand part of the fun of Ap is working out what kit you need, putting it all together and making it work as a system. I made some major engine modifications to a sports car and a lot of the fun was in putting it all together and researching what was needed and then of course finally driving it!

I can see how this type of Ap would be like driving the car, but not actually building it first. So some of the interest is lost depending on your point of view. However the upside is you can pretty much get data any time you want it and from kit that I personally would never be able to afford to buy.

I might give it a try as for a subscription its a low cost and it seems if you don't use up the points you buy in one month then they carry over to the next.

My only concern is that as a beginner I will have all this nice data and no knowledge of how to process it!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[skir]

Euan, one thing I can't really work out from having a good read of the website is how much it really costs to create an image. I guess that really is a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' type question, but could you offer some examples at all?

I've signed up and like the look of their 4.95 aus deal for 30 extra points.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Jessun]

Great images there!

I think this is really cool! On top of already using a camera I didn't design, and software I didn't write, I wouldn't mind using a telescope I didn't pay for! Bolting a few bits and bobs together sure doesn't elevate an imager to a higher level than that of anyone using a remote setup.

But I think it's a lot of fun to tinker though, browse around for parts etc. I like the 'hunt' aspect of the imaging, the struggle and the reward when it all comes together. I also think imaging rigs look good! So I will always want to have one at home.

I wonder how your data is managed. Do you calibrate and stack on a remote PC, and only download the stack? Can you go back later and add more?

Amazing images!

/Jesper

[Sp@ce_d]

They really are cracking images... and in so little time!! I signed up with iTelescope a couple of weeks ago, I looked at it before when it was GRAS but now after the lack of imaging weather I totally get what Euan is doing. Although since I joined it's only been the SSO (Australia) site thats had clear skies. New Mexico a few but I haven't seen Spain open. So I've been trying to learn the southern skies to get my head around whats where and plugging the scopes and cameras into CCD calc to work out FOV. It's quite hard to get your head around as you can't just pop your head outside so I'll take a look at the TheSkyX Pro as I haven't found Stellarium & CdC too friendly switching timezones. The other thing to get your head around seems to be imaging time, you certainly seem to get much more data with less time than we are used to from the back garden thats for sure.

I "remote" image from my Obsy now so I don't think it's too different a concept.. although you can't just run out to the obsy to check stuff or look at the sky. I'm not sure I'll be selling up to do it full time though as part of the buzz for me is knowing that I've put all the gear together and achieved those round stars in between the clouds..

[Sp@ce_d]

Snip.............

I wonder how your data is managed. Do you calibrate and stack on a remote PC, and only download the stack? Can you go back later and add more?

Amazing images!

/Jesper

They retain your data for 90 days.. you can get the calibrated or uncalibrated. they make the control files.. (flats bias etc..) available for each scope

[ollypenrice]

I'm sympathetic to the idea and love the pictures. I'm a provider myself and see different reactions. Some people really don't feel a picure is their own if they don't use their own gear, or at least their own camera. Some don't feel that way. Personally I'm interested in the sky and will merrily use anything I can get my hands on!! It gets increasingly difficult to make any alterations at all to setups so I'm trying, now, to keep one setup strictly consistent and not have folks change it. Another one I can keep more flexible. Clearly we all feel differently about the relationship between ourselves, the kit and the sky. I'd feel slightly odd imaging a sky I'd never seen but is that better than not meeting that sky at all? No, for me it would be a good compromise.

Olly

[Demonperformer]

That seems remarkably good value if it is your thing. And without having tried it, I certainly could not say it isn't, so will probably take your advice and give it a go. I suspect I am not alone in that when I am imaging I tend to set up the kit and set it going then go back inside for an hour or two rather than stand around waiting for it to finish, so is that really any different than setting up via the internet? Until I try it, I dunno.

I like the idea of being able to get images from the southern part of the sky that I cannot see from UK.

Thanks for posting.

[Euan]

Euan, one thing I can't really work out from having a good read of the website is how much it really costs to create an image. I guess that really is a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' type question, but could you offer some examples at all?

That depends on how deep you want to go and what type of image you take. To give you an example though, I'm pretty sure the Ha Carina I did there was on the starter trial points.

[Sp@ce_d]

He he.. I've just noticed your membership plan & points total Euan... that's an addiction you've got there all right.. I'm still on the demo upgrade trying to decide on a Southern target with T9 as I haven't seen T7 & T16 open yet... don't fancy OSC. I take it the 5 days count is to the next 28 day cycle & not when you have to use all those points by

[Euan]

I'm really impressed with the positivity in this thread since the last time I posted about this subject, are the UK conditions finally getting to people?

Here is a list of major plus points for me so far if anyone is on the fence.....

• Use kit you could never afford in a place you might never visit (great point mentioned above)
  
• Image almost any part of the sky - I've learned loads about Southern objects the past few weeks
  
• Have access to any filter on a huge range of fields of view, the possibilities are endless
  
• Image 12 months a year! No more 6 months of downtime in Scotland and further north
  
• Stop yourself getting bogged down with technical issues and concentrate on learning about the night sky
  
• Separate imaging from observing, at least you don't sit under a clear sky looking at a laptop
  
• Spend more time learning about image processing
  
• Join a community that includes some world class imagers (Damien Peach, etc)
  
• Sleep. If you have a busy life / job you will notice a huge difference with this, beneficial to your health overall.
  
• Schedule you time, again helps with a busy life
  
• Social life. Spend the afternoon imaging, then go out and enjoy yourself! This pointed nailed it for me, there has been so many times I can't image because of commitments
  

[Euan]

He he.. I've just noticed your membership plan & points total Euan... that's an addiction you've got there all right.. I'm still on the demo upgrade trying to decide on a Southern target with T9 as I haven't seen T7 & T16 open yet... don't fancy OSC. I take it the 5 days count is to the next 28 day cycle & not when you have to use all those points by

Oh no, someone noticed

I'm in the process of selling a lot of expensive kit, which will fund this for a few years, but aye if you want to get serious it can be expensive.

I got the maximum plan in February as they ran a double points promotion due to SSO being closed during the recent bush fires in Australia. I'm dropping to Plan 290 after this. The points roll over but my rate per scope will drop unfortunately. I'm not convinced I could actually deal with 1000 points per month, it's just too much data to process!!

[Euan]

A good read for people as well, the latest newsletter

http://www.itelescope.net/itelescopenet-newsletter

Showcasing the 0.7m monster that is due for SSO

[Gina]

It's not for me I'm afraid. I get a lot of enjoyment from the setting up and owning equipment and particularly making my own gear and mods and the enjoyment of using my home made things.. Trying any daft thing that takes my fancy - like ultra-cooling a standard camera that was never designed for astro imaging. If I had the facilities and time I'd build my own scope but ATM at least I find that going a bit too far. In various hobbies I've often bought relatively cheap commercial units, had a play and found out where the deficiencies lie and then make my own from the experience achieved. I have always liked making things since I was very young. My father was an engineer and liked making things too and gave me great encouragement. I count myself to be fortunate in having an enquiring mind and I just love learning new stuff. OK I like remote control but not to control other people's equipment with ready made control systems.