I've left it running....

[scotty38]

Had a few hours on IC1848 and now I'm having a go at M13, due to finish about 2am so I'm going to bed and leaving it to do its thing. Will I get up and go and put the lens cap on at least? Surely most folk without an automated observatory must be doing the same and risking the elements?????

[Clarkey]

Yes. I set mine to run all night if the forecast is OK. I use a rain alarm app on my phone to warn if there is an rain in the area to give me a bit more peace of mind. So far I have not had any problems. The other option is sleep with the computer and when it starts pinging due to lost guide stars I can decide what to do. If I did not do this I would not really be able to image due to work / kids / exhaustion. I get up in the morning to see when the clouds came! I don't bother with lens caps or anything - if the rig has been out for 6 hours imaging, more won't hurt. NINA does allow you to park the scope and warm the camera which I sometime use.

[AMcD]

I take the same approach if I get to the point where I need sleep on a work night and can be relatively confident of the weather forecast.  I use SGPro, which will run everything, park the scope at the end of the imaging run and will email me if there are any grave issues during the run so I can decide whether I need to get up (if I hear the email ping).  Ultimately, I would like to install a Talon system and a Cloud Watcher module so the roll-off roof will also close when SGPro is done or the weather changes but need to save the pennies for a while yet 🙂

[scotty38]

Thanks both. I'm using NINA and have it set to park the scope and warm the camera too.