Remote Astrophotography

[wimvb]

5 hours ago, varius21 said:

Do you have to have a ZWO EAF or are there cheaper alternatives?

I have compared prices; ZWO is the cheapest that works out of the box. Diy may be cheaper, but you still need to do the metalworking to get it attached to the scope. Btw, I just saw a video from Roboscope, where many if not most of the motorfocus devices were the ZWO eaf.

[Lee_P]

9 hours ago, varius21 said:

Hello everyone,

I am in the process of selling/buying new gear and since I am still fairly new to this hobby of stargazing I would like to ask a couple of questions.
What is the minimum setup for remote astrophotography? When I say remote I mean having a telescope in the back garden and operating it from my office-room computer or living room laptop.
Is there such thing as "remote"? Or even cabled from a 7 meter distance let's say!

I am sorry if this sounds funny to some people but all I've had so far was a 200p dobsonian which is great for a viewing session but that means I have no idea when it comes to astrophotography.
 

• Would a HEQ5 pro be good enough of a mount?
• Is a DLSR suitable or do you need a zwo camera?
• Does a Newtonian reflector do the trick or do you need a refractor?

And in general what will I need? Please, not the most expensive items you can think of The basic side.

Thank you in advance

Vasilis

My set-up sounds like the kind of thing that might suit you. Details here. For remote automation, the ASIAIR Plus is great. Review here.

[malc-c]

There's already been a lot of discussion and good suggestions, but here's my 2p worth

Automation - This comes in several levels. - A fully automated set up would have a weather monitor so in the event of cloud cover it pauses the imaging run, if it remains cloudy or if it detects rain it will then end the session, park the scope, close the observatory up and shut the mount and PC down.  A basic system is using a computer of some description to replace the handset and control the mount, and naturally you can have any combination between the two.

If you have the funds, land and ability to construct a typical roll off roof observatory and have the mount permanently mounted then this is the way to go.  It can house all the equipment and means you can be up and running in less than 10 minutes.  Put the observatory PC on your home network via a hard wired connection (Cat5 is fine).  This allows you to remote desktop into the observatory PC from your PC in the comfort of your lounge.

The HEQ5 is really the default entry level imaging mount and has been proven for decades. A Windows PC running ASCOM and EQMOD was for years the traditional set up for mount control via a hard wired EQDIR cable.  I would recommend a hard wired connection over wifi anytime... so many posts on here where wifi mounts or modules have dropped connections... not what you want at 2am mid way through a session.  These days, there are NUC PC's, Pis, and dedicated (and expensive) astro computers that run windows or linux platforms , giving you various options for levels of control.

 

[rickwayne]

5 hours ago, malc-c said:

I would recommend a hard wired connection over wifi anytime... so many posts on here where wifi mounts or modules have dropped connections... not what you want at 2am mid way through a session.  These days, there are NUC PC's, Pis, and dedicated (and expensive) astro computers that run windows or linux platforms , giving you various options for levels of control.

 

+1 on that. The INDI architecture allows you to run just the device drivers on a scope-side computer and run the actual observatory software on  another one, if you like. I never use that, because if the network connection breaks, so does your session. I heartily endorse the idea of a hard-wired machine that will continue to run your session headless, even if networking breaks down. The Pi 3 was a little bit shy of the computing oomph to make that happen conveniently. The Pi 4 has oomph to spare. Any mini-PC or laptop, likewise.

[varius21]

UPDATE:
I ordered EQ6-R Pro, new, which I will receive tomorrow along with a William Optics Zenithstar 73 -2019 (incl. extras) I ordered from a gentleman in this forum.
So from tomorrow I will have the following equipment:
 

• EQ6-R Pro
• WO Z73
• WO Uniguide
• Flattener
• Canon 1100D

and I will buy a zwo asi120mc for the guidescope.

What else do you think I will need other than ZWO EAF?
Is an Asiair Pro necessary?

Thanks everyone

Vasilis

[barbulo]

6 hours ago, varius21 said:

What else do you think I will need other than ZWO EAF?

Very convenient.

6 hours ago, varius21 said:

Is an Asiair Pro necessary?

There are cheaper alternatives: laptop, r-pi…

Can go for Asiair route if money is not a problem. I don’t know how it works with DSLRs though. 

[nfotis]

The ASIair means that you are restricted to using only ZWO products. If you are fine with that, it's a good solution.

The following video is a good demonstration of an automated set-up around a Raspberry Pi, worth watching:

 

Cheers,

N.F.

 

[varius21]

9 hours ago, nfotis said:

The ASIair means that you are restricted to using only ZWO products. If you are fine with that, it's a good solution.

The following video is a good demonstration of an automated set-up around a Raspberry Pi, worth watching:

 

Cheers,

N.F.

 

Ευχαριστώ πολύ Φώτη! Το έχω παραγγειλει ηδη, ομως.

(Thanks Fotis, but I have already ordered it) 

Edited October 20, 2021 by varius21

[nfotis]

Ah, okay (didn't see the thread in time).

It's my understanding that outside the ZWO ecosystem there's very thin support for other equipment, so this might be a limitation for you in the future.

Cheers,

N.F.

 

[alacant]

On 04/10/2021 at 13:32, varius21 said:

The basic side

Hi

If you're going to be hosting remote clients, take my advice. Don't be the guy on the ground at the telescope end;)

[nfotis]

On 22/10/2021 at 19:18, alacant said:

Hi

If you're going to be hosting remote clients, take my advice. Don't be the guy on the ground at the telescope end;)

Spoken like a true veteran 🙂

N.F.

 

[alacant]

1 hour ago, nfotis said:

a true veteran

I sense from your reaction that you too sir are also well versed in failed meridian flips and dropped Internet connections, which invariably occur at three in the morning!

[wimvb]

18 minutes ago, alacant said:

failed meridian flips

Ok, that just happened to me half an hour ago. When I checked the rig, I saw that the telescope was trying to plate solve the obsy floor. For some reason, the dec clutch had come loose (probably a cable in combination with being too loose in the first place). Lucky enough, my remote rig is in my back yard. A friend of mine has his setup in the same obsy. I get regular evening exercise checking his rig. Remote operation seldom is.

[alacant]

10 hours ago, wimvb said:

happened to me half an hour ago

Yeah. It happens, although I see in your details 'Rock64 with INDI & Ekos/Kstars', so you've most of the battle won:)

[wimvb]

6 hours ago, alacant said:

Yeah. It happens, although I see in your details 'Rock64 with INDI & Ekos/Kstars', so you've most of the battle won:)

This was with a Raspberry Pi and INDI & Ekos. I wanted to test a RPi 4 against a Rock64. The Rock sbc's have always peformed quite well, even though the Linux system isn't as mature as for the RPi. One thing I found out is that with a RPi, I don't need to use a usb3 hub. With a Rock64 I do.