Fully remote observatory for imaging

[VilleM]

Hi, me and my friend have been working on this project for about 8 months now. Thought I would share it with this community aswell.

Nicknamed "Castle of clouds" -our observatory is located in Varkaus, Finland. Its built in the vicinity of Taurus Hill Observatory (our local astronomy club owns the land but we had a chance to rent a piece of it).
We chose this place for our project mainly because everything from electrical grid to internet (and sauna!) had already been built there and it was easily accesible. Light pollution on the site is next to none (Borttle 3), SQM reading from lightpollutionmap.info is 21.83.



Our observatory is fully automated and can be opened remotely with a DIY USB relay control. The same control system also can switch on infrared LED lights for our security cameras and turn on two flat panels. For moving the roof we are using garage door motor with bicycle chain. The chain is attached to a set of heavy duty springs that soften the start. Motor stops automatically when limit switch is hit by spring loaded metal rod. This prevents limit switches from breaking when roof touches them.



Inside of our observatory there is two telescopes, mine is very wide field narrowband imaging setup. Im using HEQ5, ZWO ASI1600MM-C, QHYCFW3S -filter wheel with Baader 36mm filters, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM. Focusing is done with USB Focus V3. The other telescope is my friends 6" f/4 Newton with ASI1600MM-C and EFW on EQ6. This setup is autoguided with guidescope. Mine doesnt need it with only 135mm focal lenght.

Because our observatory is fully remote, we ensured power to the telescopes and PC's with UPS. Its protected from the cold with insulated box and a small heater that keeps inside temperature at 5°C. A small battery powers the roof so we can always close it if there is a power outage. Inside the gray box is all of the control electronics, fuses, etc. for every device. Also we placed ASI120MM inside so we can monitor the weather and shoot timelapses etc. Focus is a bit off though, will fix that soon. UPS is underneath the control electronics inside that wooden box.





Also lately we installed heater cables to melt snow and ice off of our rails.



Roof opening. 😎





View from the "almost all sky" -camera.



We have had alot of clouds lately, but here is my first light. 52x180s H-alpha. Planning to do a narrowband mosaic with Sh2-129.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2019 by VilleM

[steppenwolf]

A great project! Having completed my own remotely operated observatory I know how much work is involved and I wish you great success for the future.

[andrew s]

Yes indeed a noteworthy project. Can the roof shut whatever the telescope is pointing?

Regards Andrew 

[PhotoGav]

Love this, what a great project, congratulations. Above all I love the image that all of this has made possible. Excellent field of view and composition. Look forward to seeing the completed image. Good luck with it all. 

[Erik P]

14 hours ago, andrew s said:

Yes indeed a noteworthy project. Can the roof shut whatever the telescope is pointing?

Regards Andrew 

My scope wont fit under the roof whenever the declination is >60N, so custom park position is needed. The next step in automation field would be getting the roof to discuss with SGP. Also - we will st some point need some kind of a weather sensor to close the roof automatically as the session ends due to the sunrise or clouds (or rain)

I've had my problems with the f/4 Newt, but I've managd to get a couple of projects finished. 

HOO bicolor of M27. 6 hours on integration

16 hours of Sh2-132 in SHO

Edited September 30, 2019 by Erik P

[Erik P]

And here's project pictures from the summer

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Erik P

[CedricTheBrave]

brilliant. looks like a decent obsy next to you as well!

[sloz1664]

Fabulous project and well done completing what you had designed to do. I am part way through fully automating my Pulsar Dome, The last hurdle is to automate the opening & closing of the shutter. 

Steve

[VilleM]

Here is some images Ive shot recently, as Im typing this both of our telescopes are at work. Its 3rd clear night in a row! 🙂

Heart and soul nebula, two panel mosaic.
Total exposure time is 22 hours (11 hours of Ha and 11 hours of OIII, 180s subs). I think I could improve my processing but for now Im quite happy with it.



This is my latest project, Simeis 147 also known as Sh2-240. 16 hours of H-alpha (320x180s). I might shoot some O3 and S2 to get coloured version later.

[Gina]

As I recall, I didn't find any OIII or SII in Simeis 147 when I imaged it several years ago.

[tomato]

Great thread, looks a real professional job, and look at those images, wow!

[Ouroboros]

Very impressive and professional work this!

How remote is "remote".  

It never ceases to amaze me that people trust a remote observatory to work properly.  I'm not so much techno-phobic as  techno-sceptic. 🙂 

[carastro]

Brilliant project and opportunity especially with Bortle 3 skies, Best i have ever seen was Bortle 4. 

Just wondering how much of a bite out of your sky the Main observatory takes and which direction it is in in relation to your obsy.

Carole 

 

 

[VilleM]

Thank you all for your kind comments. :)
 

On 11/11/2019 at 14:44, Ouroboros said:

Very impressive and professional work this!

How remote is "remote".  

It never ceases to amaze me that people trust a remote observatory to work properly.  I'm not so much techno-phobic as  techno-sceptic. 🙂 

Erik lives ~300 kilometers and I live ~150 kilometers away from the observatory. So yes, its quite far away.
We both were sceptical about everything and tried to do as much fail safe solutions as we can, while keeping the mechanism and electronics as simple as possible.

Carole: The main dome is west of our observatory, it only takes ~10 degrees above the tree line so its not a big deal at all.

Here is my latest image, Auriga region in SHO palette. This is my first SHO processing.
Ha 79x180s, OIII 72x180s, SII 70x180s. Total integration time little over 11 hours, I might need more Ha because some of it is very faint.

[VilleM]

Lately weather has been co-operating and thanks to three clear nights in a row Ive had plenty of data to process. Here is some new projects and some that Ive reprocessed or added OIII and SII channels to monochrome images. 🙂

Simeis 147, now in color. This is my longest project so far with 24 hours of exposure time. SII channel is suprisingly strong in this target, but OIII is very faint.


IC1318 and NGC6888


Orions belt


NGC2237, Rosette nebula


NGC7000, North America Nebula


Reprocessed IC405

Edited March 10, 2020 by VilleM

[RobH2020]

This is such an impressive project Ville!

I can't even get my printer to work remotely one room away, so i could never conceive of doing something like this 😂

[Viktiste]

Amazing build and images. 

Do you get snow in this location? If so how do you deal with that? 

[VilleM]

Thank you! Yes we do get alot of snow here, it depends on the climate (this year has been extremely warm so most have melted away) but around 60-90cm per year.
We are using heater cables on the rails to melt the snow off our rails so the roof can open smoothly. However snow can be quite heavy so to prevent our roof motor from stalling we are using remote controlled human with a shovel to clean the roof every once in a while. Very hing tech solution!
 

[VilleM]

Our observatory now has weather camera installed outside. Previously this was inside the observatory so we had to open the roof to see the sky. We installed the camera in the autumn but stumbled on USB problems that we couldnt solve. Solution was to use completely separate PC to avoid problems. I happened to have LattePanda and now its used to monitor the weather and to act as a backup camera for our indoor camera in case there is a software issue in my imaging laptop or the camera itself fails for some reason. Its unlikely but since I had webcam laying around aswell - why not? :)
Also I plugged in my Stickstation to the LattePanda to get temperature / humidity data. I dont want to move my telescope when it gets below -25C to avoid breaking cables or gears in the mount. Now its easy to check what the weather is like.

BTW, does anyone know a good lens that would give allsky (circular) view with ASI120MM? We might upgrade the lens in the future to get more FoV. It doesnt have to be super sharp since plexiglass infront of the lens will affect image quality anyways.

[VilleM]

Final image of the season for me, for the first time our roof actually got stuck. Thankfully it was closed during the time. There was one loose wire that caused power loss to the roof motor, it took me 4 hours to fix it because there was alot of wiring to go though with a multimeter to sort the issue. Now it is fixed and ready for autumn season.

Details in Astrobin:


For next year I will upgrade my dslr lens to a telescope and mount from HEQ5 to EQ6 to get longer focal lenght. Thinking of getting SW Esprit 100mm because it is very sharp and doesnt require any collimation. Also I will ditch my laptop and build a better pc for the purpose. Biggest need is definedly wake-on-lan which isnt an option in BIOS in my current setup.

[VilleM]

Ive been collecting bits and pieces to upgrade my setup and its finally coming together! I built a power distribution box that is attached on top of the telescope to minimize cables that come down from the scope. Only thing that is going up from the pier to the scope is one USB 3.0 cable and power cable. Inside the box is 8 chanel usb relay to unplug equipment remotely and fuses to every power outlet so in case of a short circuit I hopefully only blow a fuse. Startech USB 3.0 hub is attached on top of the DIY power distribution box. The scope itself is SkyWatcher Esprit 100mm optimized by Teleskop-Austria, it is paired with Starlight Xpress 7x36mm filter wheel, USB_Focus V3 and ASI1600MM-C. For guiding Im using ASI120MC with a finder guider. Also I sold my old HEQ5 to make room for EQ6 which is more suitable for this scope. I cant wait to get my first light with it. 😎

 

[wimvb]

That's a very nice setup you have. But looking at the condition of the wood, you seem to have problems with high humidity. Won't that affect your gear as well?

Edited August 7, 2020 by wimvb

[VilleM]

I agree that the humidity is quite hing. We have improved ventilation recently but so far nothing has changed. It hasnt been issue to any equipment because they are warmer when turned on than air around them. They dont seem to collect moisture at all. Same cant be said about our walls though.

[wimvb]

You probably have a lot of moisture coming from the woods around the observatory. Ventilation won't help then. But you can always have the dewheaters at a low power so as not to get any fungus on your glass.

[VilleM]

I think the fungus invasion has stopped, or atleast I havent noticed any change for worse after we improved the ventilation. Its only on the surface and doesnt seem to affect the condition of the wooden walls.

Ive been having major issues with my new setup, mainly the mount. I bought second hand EQ6 a while ago and havent been able to test it because summer time here is daylight almost 24/7. Now that I have tested it the RA axis seems to wobble around 40" (!) so the mount is currently unusable. Erik has more knowledge of the mount mechanics so I asked him to help with it and last weekend we dismantled the entire thing from head to toe. There was dried lube and backlash on both axis - but the error only went down to 8" peak to peak even after changing greases to superlube and eliminating all backlash. I think it might be an electrical issue because nothing seems damaged inside the mount.
Luckily I was able to borrow our astronomy clubs NEQ6. Club members prefer the two paramount ME's over NEQ6 so there is almost no use for it, so they offered it to me to use until I get my mount working or a new one. It was a very kind act and I got my first light yesterday.

Also, we installed new security cameras for the observatory. Outside camera has a fixed position and its mainly used to see how much snow has accumulated on the roof so its safe to open. Inside camera rotates 360 degrees so we can easily see if something is wrong with equipment inside the observatory. Both of them have IR led's which can be turned off on command to avoid light leaking to imaging sensors. Also the inside camera has a two way voice so it can be used to give advice to a person inside the observatory, for example if something needs to be booted or unplugged. Also the cameras can send photo or video to email if they detect motion in case of someone is breaking in.