Remote Telescope Photography

[Millarkie]

Has anyone ever tried Remote Telescopes for Photography?

I read an article in S@N Magazine and tried one of their cheaper options www.telescope.org which is operated by Bradford University and I wondered if anyone has had any amazing photos from it.

I managed to take a very amateurish pic of Orion Nebula a while back which is my display pic.

[ChrisLX200]

Part of me can see the attraction of this, the other part asks... why bother?  The process of using one of these remote telescopes, which you had no part in setting up, seems to lose that personal achievement feeling. If you want to see a photo of any particular object then just type the name into Google and you'll get 100 come up. If you're on a restricted research grant and need some specific data then yes, there is a point to it, but for general amateur astro picture collectors (like me ) then no. Am I missing something?

ChrisH

[nmoushon]

i could see the appeal on targets that you never get to see. Such as those in the southern hemesphere or really really small or faint targets that require a large telescope that you could never afford. But then again theres google and Hubble archives. There are targets out there though that have never been imaged in great detail. But these remote scopes get most of their income from research teams around the globe that cant afford to borrow Hubble for a couple hours.

[Alien 13]

I have to agree with ChrisH that first blurry moon shot or image of Andomeda are priceless to me i am into imaging to get the best pictures i can get with a cheap mount in a small light poluted garden and most of the enjoyment is from tweeking everything so that each session gets a little better.

Alan

[Millarkie]

 The reason I tried it is I have a 6" Dobsonian for observing and cant take pics. I have a real passion for astronomy but not got the budget to match so thought why not give it a try...

I hear where you are all coming from though and got bored pretty quickly so I left the site last month then found this one

[johnrt]

What about supplementing your own data with some taken from a remote scope? Perhaps with the UK weather an amateur trying to fit in imaging around work and general life commitments might only manage a few hours on a target, but could boost the exposure time with some remote data.

[Earl]

If (and i mean a big if as il be disapointed if i really cant) my health does not improve enought to use my gear ill sel up and go remote as its the only viable option for me to process the data I want to gather, id rather do it all myself, but i dont view it as a lesser option just another option. Some people drive to get to B some people catch the bus to get to B, others walk to B as long as you get to B who cares how you do it really?

[ChrisLX200]

If (and i mean a big if as il be disapointed if i really cant) my health does not improve enought to use my gear ill sel up and go remote as its the only viable option for me to process the data I want to gather, id rather do it all myself, but i dont view it as a lesser option just another option. Some people drive to get to B some people catch the bus to get to B, others walk to B as long as you get to B who cares how you do it really?

Fair point Earl, but you could also investigate the free Digital Sky Survey and Hubble image archives where you can download raw data to process yourself. The PAIG forum has a sub-board dedicated to this kind of activity ( http://www.progressiveastroimaging.com/viewforum.php?f=77 )

ChrisH

[ollypenrice]

I host four robotic scopes (not available commercially, they are just for the enjoyment of their owners, and I'm now out of space so this isn't a plug!) so these guys do have the satisfaction of having made the rig work (which it often does and will doubtless do increasingly reliably!!) as well as the chance for more clear nights and the chance to sleep at night. All but one of the team are at work, still.

I like the idea of using rented scopes but since I like to collect 10 to 20 hours' data for a picture the simple truth is that in a few images I could have funded my own rig. Scope rental time is seriously expensive and not all rent-a-scopes are really well fettled, alas.

Another option we all have is to buy into a commercial hosting location and set up a rig there. It's your gear, you specify it and you pay considerable rental charges. But, and this is a big but, a whole gang could get together to share the cost and the data. This is a financial game changer. 

Olly

[Scott]

I don't see a problem myself although I have my own kit and soley use that. but as far as collecting data, you decide which filters, exposure length, number of exposures and then and this is the main point, you process it and at the end of the day, these are the main aspects of imaging so it's your image. all that said, I'm masarcistic and enjoyed setting up my pier and getting p.a. as good as I could. Getting the focus spot on and framing just right is another satisfying aspect.

Anyone else wanna join me upon this fence I'm so precariously balanced

[ronin]

I think that someone else from up Glasgow way did the same about 8-9 months back. The weather being what it was they gave up and joined one of the remote scope sites - not sure if they drop into SGL anymore.

It is certainly an option and would allow "you" to collect data for a good number of objects and to work on. It is another aspect that is worth considering.

If you feel up to it then perhaps go search out the Hubble site, NASA put all the image data up for access some time back, so you could go play with whatever they have. Suspect it could be a lot however for some objects. I seem to recall they held a competition for it, as in here is the data do whatever you like and let us see the final product. One was so good they took the guy over to NASA for 2 weeks - the resultant image (M42) was very good however.

Would half guess that there is also data from Spitzer and Chandra available, they would be fun to process.

You don't have to sign up for life so you could give it a go for say 3 months and see how you get on with it. One site has an introductory free go or two. Maybe find that and have a couple of images done to see. Not sure what Slooh supplies.

The situation is moving ever more over to "electronics" and the internet, kids now just download an app to their smart phone and navigate the sky, so a remote scope I can see becoming more and more popular/common. It is apparently something called progress.

[Earl]

Fair point Earl, but you could also investigate the free Digital Sky Survey and Hubble image archives where you can download raw data to process yourself. The PAIG forum has a sub-board dedicated to this kind of activity ( http://www.progressiveastroimaging.com/viewforum.php?f=77 )

ChrisH

I have dabbled with some hubble, its excellent, a little confusing at first.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

I opened an account to experiment with a few weeks ago, at £3 a month I thought it was worth a try given I can cancel at any time. I'm hoping to get a few images I can experiment processing on. I also wanted a widefield with C2012 K in it to give me an idea of whether I might be able to capture it with my own camera.

Unfortunately the cameras used give massive vertical spikes on any overexposed objects. This is what I got when I requested a two minute exposure of M13 using the constellation lens:

I'm not sure to what extent this can be worked around by using the different filters and reducing the exposure times, while still getting some details on faint objects. It may be fun to play with, but looking at their gallery I think it would be a struggle to get any high quality images out of it.

I need to queue up some more requests. I have a few ideas in mind, for example I'd like to capture the motion of the outer planets and asteroids over a few nights against a background starfield. I don't see it as a replacement for even my very modest imaging rig.