Newbie Confusion

[Chris J]

Hi guys and gals.

This my first post so please be gentle.

I’m getting myself very confused and wonder if you guys could help me.

I have the following.
William Optics Zenith 61
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro mount

What I’d like to do is control things from inside my conservatory.
I’m thinking I need a guide scope and camera, maybe WO and Zwo Colour.

I have an IMac, IPad Pro and an Acer Laptop

In an ideal world I’d like to use one of the Macs and not the Windows thing.
I also have a Rasberry Pi 4 but I’d prefer to sell it on.
 

[M40]

Hello Chris and welcome. Can't help with your questions I am afraid, but I am sure someone will be along soon. Looks to me like you have a very good starting point so what you could try is to carry out a search on here to see if it will uncover a few clues for you, I put in star adventurer and it returned lots of pointers. Enjoy.

[The Lazy Astronomer]

I'm in the early stages of getting a remotely operated setup going. I'm a Windows user, so will be making use of 2 laptops and remote desktop. l assume there is a similar remote access protocol for Apple, not sure if it would work between a mac and an ipad though.  

Another option would be a long usb cable, although that comes with it's own problems.

You don't necessarily need an autoguiding setup for remotely controlled imaging, although obviously it would help with longer exposures.

[Ande]

Maybe couple up your iPad to the ASIair Pro. It offers a remote solution. I’ve bought one, but haven’t had a chance to test it yet, as I’m awaiting a power pack.

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by Ande

[Chris J]

22 hours ago, M40 said:

Hello Chris and welcome. Can't help with your questions I am afraid, but I am sure someone will be along soon. Looks to me like you have a very good starting point so what you could try is to carry out a search on here to see if it will uncover a few clues for you, I put in star adventurer and it returned lots of pointers. Enjoy.

Hank’s for the welcome. The trouble is searching, its doing my head in. 🙂  What is comparable with what is an absolute minefield. One step forward one step back.

Still its better than gardening.

[Chris J]

21 hours ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

I'm in the early stages of getting a remotely operated setup going. I'm a Windows user, so will be making use of 2 laptops and remote desktop. l assume there is a similar remote access protocol for Apple, not sure if it would work between a mac and an ipad though.  

Another option would be a long usb cable, although that comes with it's own problems.

You don't necessarily need an autoguiding setup for remotely controlled imaging, although obviously it would help with longer exposures.

Ah a long USB cable, if only it were that simple. I’m not certain what should be at one end of it 🙂.

[Chris J]

20 hours ago, Ande said:

Maybe couple up your iPad to the ASIair Pro. It offers a remote solution. I’ve bought one, but haven’t had a chance to test it yet, as I’m awaiting a power pack.

 

That could be a good solution. The ASiair looks like a solid bit of kit that might be plug and play.

I’m going to get hold of one and give it a whirl. Thanks very much.

 

[Shimrod]

1 hour ago, Chris J said:

That could be a good solution. The ASiair looks like a solid bit of kit that might be plug and play.

I’m going to get hold of one and give it a whirl. Thanks very much.

 

You might want to consider an electronic focuser as well. Even if the scope is only in the garden, you will find it hard to focus the telescope manually when the laptop and telescope are several metres apart.

[Chris J]

7 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

You might want to consider an electronic focuser as well. Even if the scope is only in the garden, you will find it hard to focus the telescope manually when the laptop and telescope are several metres apart.

Thanks, will do.

[KP82]

You can load your RPi4 with Astroberry, create an INDI profile of your mount, camera, guiding setup and focuser on it, then connect to it remotely with Kstars/Ekos from your Mac. This is by far the cheapest solution. If you don't like to fiddle around and prefer something more plug'n'play, get a copy of Stellarmate OS for your RPi. Either of these are vastly cheaper than the ASIAIR which is basically a RPi4 + some power delivery circuit + ZWO custom software.

Edited January 25, 2021 by KP82

[Chris J]

Thanks for your thoughts people.

I’ve ordered an ASiAir pro, a guide scope and a pair of Zwo Cameras.

An electric focuser seems a good but expensive option so I’ll try to source a reasonably price one in the future.
 

I’ll report back with my adventure.