UK Imaging vs remote site

[Andyb90]

I do like the idea of my own kit being hosted somewhere with better skies. That's something I may look into in the future. But if it wasn't my own kit I'm not sure I'd feel the same sense of achievement. I think overcoming equipment issues and trying to hone my setup is part of the hobby.

Andy.

[Petergoodhew]

14 minutes ago, Andyb90 said:

I do like the idea of my own kit being hosted somewhere with better skies. That's something I may look into in the future. But if it wasn't my own kit I'm not sure I'd feel the same sense of achievement. I think overcoming equipment issues and trying to hone my setup is part of the hobby.

Andy. I think that sums it up for me.  In the end it's an emotional, and maybe slightly irrational, thing - but having selected, and paid for, the kit makes me feel the results are 100% mine - no matter whether it's in the obsy at the bottom of the garden, or in one in Spain. If someone else owned it I wouldn't feel the same. Quite illogical, totally emotional.

[alacant]

Hi. The other begging question is what do we all do when we're -that most awful of non-artistic phrases- acquiring data . At one end of the scale there's the guy who still lives with his mother who only knows it's turned cloudy if PHD2 tells him. Then there's the warm inside/asleep sofa type. A third one I've seen; the guy who presses the shutter, picks up binoculars and yes, actually looks at the sky. I'm sure there are other categories. I'd move that if you're one of the latter, you'd be less likely to consider remote. JTOL. Oh, and nice thread. Thanks.

[Red meteor]

Personally I do not use remotes sites for imaging but retire indoors and monitor progress from the warm or use binoculars for casual stargazing. Astronomy is such a wonderful hobby that there are so many possibilities to explore. This discussion has not been joined by those who only believe that photons detected by the human eyeball count but that is a view at the other extreme.

Remote observing has been made possible by the advances in technology during my lifetime and it never ceases to amaze me the results that can be obtained with modest equipment. What will be the next step for remote observatories? The Hubble observatory never has to stop work for clouds, so are we anywhere near an orbiting observatory that amateur astronomers could use to acquire data? A cubesat would be sufficient for a small telescope, as used by many amateurs, even without any modifications to the optical system. I know that that there are amateur astronomers that also work in the space industry - are you on SGL and could give an opinion on whether this would be a possibility now or in the near future? I am sure it will happen but will it be at an affordable price and when?

[carastro]

Actually that is a good point about Hubble.  Maybe when NASA has finished with it, they could rent it out to astro-imagers and earn some money out of it. 

Carole 

 

[PatrickGilliland]

As an exponent of both areas I think it simply boils down to your objectives and what you enjoy.  It is a hobby so enjoyment first in my mind!

I have access to DSW and even some kit there now with the new 305 set up.  Other than owning kit I have had nowt to do with set up.  But i have data from good location to process.

I also have another set up going to Spain very shortly.  I will go there, set up curse at it and then delight in 'my gear' that i set up working.  Will i feel more attached than my DSW set up, probably yes.  

I still have an obsy here too and will use when weather permits.  At the end of the day I like to produce best quality images I can, UK is always a struggle, Spain allows me to do 'my way' and DSW is a data source to achieve that.

Still something nice about driving to the obsy and being hands-on, but the data will rarely be top drawer so resolved logically.

Summarising - I get frustrated in various ways not rather than just the one .  But I get data required to make my images.  For me I like the hands on element, but the objective is the best picture I can make.  Is this viable just from UK, no.  Or if so for very few nights per year.

Paddy

[GuLinux]

I share the same feeling as many in this thread, I wouldn't feel my pictures as 100% mine if I didn't buy, setup, test, and struggle with my own equipment.

Being in the UK as a "guest", anyway, has almost forced me to get some sort of "middleground" with might help getting better skies: buying equipment with portability as the most important feature. For instance, I bought a Star Adventurer for deep sky imaging, and I'm also planning to buy an airline portable dobsonian.

This way it will be easier to just travel to get better conditions: this summer I'll bring everything on the Alps, for instance

[Ouroboros]

I hope people won't feel offended by what I'm about to say ..... but to me, emphasise me, it feels like cheating. Perhaps I should rephrase that .... I would feel like I hadn't really done the job properly if I down loaded data from a remote site. 

But on the other hand that's a rather silly way of looking it is, isn't it? After all, few professional astronomers gather data at the observatory site, let alone were involved in setting up the observatory and maintaining it. Presumably those who process Hubble images are professional software engineers perhaps with highly developed graphic skills, not rocket scientists anyway. 

But despite all that, and despite knowing someone who produces some lovely images from a remote site, I still feel that for me at least it would feel like a bit of a cheat to do it that way.

P.S. A bit of rider to this .... as I get older I find it harder to stay up late in the cold and face all the frustrations of cussed kit not doing the decent thing and working for me. So maybe, just maybe, I could see a time coming when I wouldn't mind cheating.  

[gnomus]

In addition to cheating in New Mexico , I have two imaging observatories in my back garden.  The first of these was set up a little shy of 2 years ago.  I don't want to tempt fate, but It has been surprisingly stable since that time.  All I do when I image from home is flick a couple of switches and run a couple of computer programs.  I don't feel any special sense of 'oneness' with the equipment - to me it is just kit.  Getting going requires no real input from me and it is poses no technical challenge.  Is it cheating to have a permanent set up at home?  Would setting up and tearing down every night be more proper?  If I get someone to help me set up, does that invalidate the end result somehow?  Is there 'artistry' in setting up, or is it more of a mechanistic 'chore'?

And then of course, there is the most important question of all - should you open your boiled egg at the pointy end or the fat end?

The DSW thing is certainly not for everyone.  Someone else has set up the kit, and you don't get exclusive choice of targets or exclusive use of data.  An argument could be made that DSW is an excellent way for a beginner to get into astro-imaging.  You know that the gear is reasonable quality and that it is set up correctly.  Furthermore, you can get going for relatively little outlay - less than the cost of a typical mount.  Finally, you get a reasonable quantity of data rolling in.  This gives plenty of opportunity for practising processing (very important), and testing out f you like the hobby.  

Imagine spending several thousand on kit only to come to the realisation that the hobby wasn't for you.  In many endeavours it makes sense to 'rent' for a time before you buy.  

 

 

 

 

[tomato]

Wahay!!

I have finally managed to start a thread that's gone to two pages. 

I too think it's great having the option to get good data remotely if you reside in the cloud bound UK. 

Having started out with slide film and manual guiding, I appreciate the  point about where do you draw the line with technical progress before you lose the "personal touch". I certainly wasn't a dyed in the wool Old School Astrophotographer, I beIieve I owned one of the very first ST-4s in the UK.

For my own part, I will prioritise building my own automated Observatory in the UK first, followed by having a portable rig to travel to dark sites second, with buying time  on a desert located rig third. I guess my data processing skills will never get to a fine art.

[Pete Presland]

As much as I curse the UK weather, nothing would substitute being outside moaning about the seeing conditions, light pollution, and how cold my extremities are  

That said the images D Peach is getting with the Chilescope team are fabulous!