a remote unmanned pico observatory

[Tinker1947]

There are WiFi Boosters on the market, BT do list them so i would think they work....

http://www.shop.bt.com/mini-sites/bt-connected-home/broadband-extenders/?s_cid=con_ppc_maxus_vidZ59_T5&vendorid=Z59&gclid=CKG24q-Ej8cCFQb4wgodqb8Oxg&dclid=CNyh7a-Ej8cCFUwQGwod08sPVg

[Zakalwe]

I'd use either Ethernet or an Ethernet-over-power cable. You will need power in the box (unless you are running DC to it?) and the Ethernet-over-power works very well. WiFi can be problematic and sometimes you just have to reboot it and fiddle about with it.

[Tinker1947]

As Zak says, my Power adapters just work one does a 20 metre run no problems, the WiFi router does need the odd reboot though.....

[Gonzo]

I got myself a Devolo powerline 500 wifi network kit. It's installed, and I got to say, I'm quite impressed with the performance of it.

Wifi the obs will be that is how

I've noticed that the dome of the all-sky-camera is obviously dew'ed up....

Taking it back home (UK) for improvements.... doh

[Gonzo]

A video is worth a gazillion words.....

please be patient, the video is 2m46s long, there is a delay after the lid opens up and the telescope deploys.

(the thumbnail picture was taken with my GF1 and an old 50m Minolta lens, single shot, 8sec)

Hope you enjoy it.

[gnomus]

Magnificent.  Congratulations on the new set up.  Looking forward to seeing some images from it..

[Zakalwe]

Very, very clever.

It might be an idea to put some sort of guttering on the front edge of the lid. If there is any water on the edge then it might run down the overlap of felt and straight onto your scope? A piece of aluminium J-moulding would run it off to the side.

[MrOD]

Wow fantastic You have made it so far. Let it serve You well.

[Macavity]

Fantastic!

Maybe when / if I make it to an "old peoples' home" it could be ideal.

(I never needed a full sized obsy for remote video astronomy anyway)

Doubtless mentioned (often) before, but I never have to align my setup

visually these days. A budget, sensitive "spy camera" with a 50mm f/2

lens (> five degree field) means that initial alignment stars for EQmod

are always in field, even if the software alignment configuration is lost. 

[Scorpius]

Amazing display of ingenuity and knowledge of electronics. Surely marketable to the masses once tested and refined. Just one question - is there absolutely, positively no way the roof could close electrically - or by external force - when OTA is deployed? Looking at that beautiful scope (Williams Optics?) just the thought of such a castastophe would give me the jitters!

[Gonzo]

Amazing display of ingenuity and knowledge of electronics. Surely marketable to the masses once tested and refined. Just one question - is there absolutely, positively no way the roof could close electrically - or by external force - when OTA is deployed? Looking at that beautiful scope (Williams Optics?) just the thought of such a castastophe would give me the jitters!

It is a Megrez 72, Atik 314L+, QHY5, SX wheel....

There are three micro-switches on the roof they tell me the position of the roof as in open, opening, fully open, closing, fully closed.

I also have a 3 axis gyro installed in the dovetail. That tells me what angle it is pointing at.

Believe me, I'm not taking any chances.

In fact, the all setup will be turned off (power off) when I leave for home on Sunday. 

My weather station is un-operational as I left the power supply at home (it's a waterproof 12V-5V converter). I also need to install an anti dew system in the all-sky-camera.

Once that sorted, I will fly to Germany for a week-end....

[Gonzo]

Here I am waiting for enough darkness so that I can align the mount..... tense moments.....

[Scorpius]

It is a Megrez 72, Atik 314L+, QHY5, SX wheel....

There are three micro-switches on the roof they tell me the position of the roof as in open, opening, fully open, closing, fully closed.

I also have a 3 axis gyro installed in the dovetail. That tells me what angle it is pointing at.

Believe me, I'm not taking any chances.

In fact, the all setup will be turned off (power off) when I leave for home on Sunday. 

My weather station is un-operational as I left the power supply at home (it's a waterproof 12V-5V converter). I also need to install an anti dew system in the all-sky-camera.

Once that sorted, I will fly to Germany for a week-end....

Your knowledge of electronics is so far over my head it isn't even funny. Guess I was thinking more about some kind of external force that could slam the roof down on the scope. At the risk of sounding like a broken record - first thing that comes to mind is the wind. But guess the weather station would tell you it's too windy to raise the lid in the first place. So unless something in the roof-raising mechanism fails after the scope is deployed (physical hardware connections) looks like you've got all the bases covered.

Ingenius concept and superb implementation - anxious to see some pics once it's officially up and running.

[Gonzo]

I will be thinking about how and where to install more sensors when I'm back home, at the moment my head is not quite into this. I need to be calm and away from people (ie: locked up in my man cave for some deep thinking).

The wife has even thought about something today, so I've implemented it as it's brilliant!!!!

I have installed two block of woods, they must touch the balustrade and one corner of the box must be aligned to a certain tile on the floor.

This will allow to sort of re-align the entire box in case someone knock it off its position.

[Pan Euro]

Really, really impressive. As said before superbly implemented.

[Gonzo]

Thanks for all the nice comments, appreciated.

After aligning the mount, which is good I must say, I went on trying the Atik.

Well.... as a first light for this observatory, it's a failure..... It seems that I cannot find focus.

see attached a 10min exposure, anybody know that that round big smudge is? serious out of focus?

What about the dots? dead pixels?

I will be taking the scope back home, but will leave the mount as it's aligned now.

[Zakalwe]

It looks like you are well out of focus. What looks like stars are hot pixels. The "smudge" is a massively de-focused star.

[Gonzo]

It looks like you are well out of focus. What looks like stars are hot pixels. The "smudge" is a massively de-focused star.

ok, cool thanks for the help, I'll give it another go tomorrow night as it's quite late now and I've shutdown the box.

[gnomus]

It looks like you are well out of focus. What looks like stars are hot pixels. The "smudge" is a massively de-focused star.

I agree with Zakalwe's analysis.

[Gonzo]

Read quite a few posts about the atik and focusing.

I think I wil have to review the way I've installed it, I must have done something wrong.

Atik , spacer , SX wheel , field flattener.

[gnomus]

Thanks for all the nice comments, appreciated.

...

I will be taking the scope back home, but will leave the mount as it's aligned now.

Can't you get some extension tubes from http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/index.php/language/en ?

[Gonzo]

I will have to, can't order them now as I'm going back home this Sunday.

[Tinker1947]

Does the Field Flattener require a precise distance to the CCD Sensor...???, the large blob as said is a out of focus star, the out of focus distance won't be huge.

[Gonzo]

I thought I had all that covered a few months ago, that precise distance, CCD etc...  I bought some spacers (little plastic rings of different thickness).

Either I got it majorly wrong, or the focuser tube has to go out quite a lot.

[Oddsocks]

I thought I had all that covered a few months ago, that precise distance, CCD etc...  I bought some spacers (little plastic rings of different thickness).

Either I got it majorly wrong, or the focuser tube has to go out quite a lot.

The W.O. M72 would normally be used visually with a diagonal.

For imaging, with the diagonal removed, and the camera positioned directly in the beam path you have to add a distance spacer of at least 50mm between focuser draw tube and the flattener because the M72 does not have a huge focuser movement range to compensate for the diagonal not being there.