Remote Imaging Options

[tomato]

I am getting really fed up now with the lack of UK clear nights, much as I enjoy using my own set up, the seemingly endless enforced inactivity is pushing me towards the notion of buying some time on a remote imaging scope. This isn’t about renting a location for my equipment, hauling some of my gear to mainland Europe is still a step too far, both in terms of time and expense.

At the moment I’m looking at Roboscopes, iTelescopes and Telescope Live, are there any others in this sort of price bracket? Has anybody on SGL  tried remote imaging? I’ve done a quick search on here but not found many references to imagers actually having a go with these pay to image sites.

My primary interest is galaxy imaging, so I would need access to a suitable set up and the option to choose targets, processing random target datasets, no matter how good, isn’t really what I’m looking for.

I must admit if I am going try remote imaging, the prospect of data from Chile appeals more than Spain,  have a look at the 21st Oct APOD.

[kirkster501]

Not answering your question but I am likewise losing the will to continue with astronomy imaging now.  It is absolutely hopeless in the UK bar ten or so nights per year.  Visual astronomy is not much better but at least you can cloud dodge.  When I was in Spain I had 8 out of 10 nights clear.

Edited October 26, 2021 by kirkster501

[tomato]

Well, no replies so far except for @kirkster501, thanks Steve, so I have to conclude that either:

1. Very few imagers here on SGL have actually given this a try, quite possible given the cost, or:

2. For whatever reason imagers are reluctant to share their experiences publicly, although I have not been PM’ed either.

Maybe this is a delicate subject, if so apologies for raising it.

FYI  I have done my best to compare imaging costs for some popular sites, there is quite a range, but a reasonable amount of imaging time that you control can be had for around £75 per month.

Without a reasonable amount of feedback on actual user experiences I’ll think I will delay a decision, probably spend the cash on another camera that will keep the dust cap on under UK cloudy skies.😏

[daz]

I think its probably 1) ... I have looked at the cost in the past (several years ago) and no doubt they have changed as more players have come into the market.

I actually might need to do this myself for a particular piece of sky in the not too distant future., so pricing of interest to me!!

 

[ollypenrice]

I don't think it's a sensitive issue, it's just expensive. Also, some imagers don't feel they've done any real work if they haven't either set up a remote system of their own or done it the usual way, next t their setups.  I'm not of that persuasion myself but I know that some are.

One way to make it cheaper would be to team up with others and share the data collected. I don't know if the providers discourage this but it seems a perfectly legitimate thing to do to me. As a robotic telescope host it strikes me as none of my business what my tenants do with their data.

Olly

[DaveS]

I recall a thread on here where remote imaging was discussed. It became quite heated with some members quite adamant that unless you had set up the rig yourself it wasn't your data. But I don't see any professional astronomers having a problem with remote imaging not being their data.

[Sp@ce_d]

yeah I remember that thread..  it's down to you what you do with your money & time! Unless there's some competition or rules bound requirement where/when you present your data?

I thought about remote for a while but prices put me off, I do/did have a telescope live account but never got around to using it after all. I actually realised after a while, I get the biggest buzz out of putting the gear together & making it all work.. right up to capturing all the subs. When it comes to processing I seem to faff about so much & overdo it or it doesn't come out as I want & loose interest.. get frustrated. So I end up not posting many "finished" if you can call anything ever finished.. images.   

Years ago now, when I built my obsy in the back garden, my intention was to build & test a fully remote setup before shipping it off to somewhere for remote hosting. It turned out pretty successful, so much that I got more data than I had time to process, I still have some I've not yet looked through.. even under good old Scottish skies!  So I delayed finding a host for it.. life got in the way etc. & here I am once again thinking about it as this years weather has been terrible for even my automated Obsy. It's hardly been open & even then most of the data is rubbish.

You do what you want to do, for most of us it's a hobby, enjoy it how you see fit. There's certainly a lot more options now than the last time I looked... but I don't see any rental time for us mortals on space telescopes yet.. now there's something.. maybe the whole ploy of Mr Musk's current endeavours is monopolise that niche market with higher orbit rental scopes.. 🤔

[Laurin Dave]

I signed up to Telescope Live for four months earlier in the year to their Silver Subscription which was £30/month or so. This gave me access to quite a number (20 or so) of their Pro Data Sets (ie multiple hours per channel) as well as what they call One Click observations (which are maybe an hour or so per channel), I could have five One Clicks operating at the same time on multiple telescopes in Spain Chile and Australia and by doing the same target multiple times build up quite a lot of data on each target...... 70 of which remain untouched on my hard drive for when I've nothing else to do.   Data quality was generally very good although not as issue free as you might imagine and I had to do my own sorting for focus star trailing and cloud (most scopes run unguided if I remember correctly)...  after a while though processing it and producing images that looked just like everyone else's lost my interest and I left.   I think that despite my approach to data capture being to programme targets in SGPro, turn it all on, open the dome and press go then watch telly or go out whilst keeping an eye on my ASC it's being able to choose my targets and the thrill of the chase that's important to me .

That said I have been looking at Roboscopes recently having been very impressed with the images coming out of there...  Best of all though would the the Esprit150 down in Spain (or France   ) with a full frame camera on it... 

Dave

[tomato]

Thanks for the flurry of replies, I was beginning to think that this was the topic that must not be named, but not so. 
 

Roboscopes certainly cater for the syndicate model to share the cost, but I think imagers are quite a diverse bunch and getting a group of them to agree on the same rig and targets might be a bit of a challenge.

At the moment I’m trawling through my historic data and seeing if I can improve on my processing, my next imaging purchase is once again likely to be hardware rather renting time on a remote rig.

[Tomatobro]

A few years ago I attended a talk by someone who was promoting remote imaging. The pictures he showed were very impressive but towards the end he let the cat out of the bag by telling us that he enjoyed special privileges with the remote site and could specify what and when etc to image.

The last couple of slides he put up were of the Milky Way which he took while driving in Wales. He spent some time on how he set up the camera etc to get the pictures and how they were the best he had ever taken of the Milky Way. Some of us in the audience noted how proud and enthusiastic he became when he described using his own equipment.

[chewie]

I could see it being worth it if accessing a scope for Southern Hemisphere only kinda targets but I think I would rather put the extra cash towards a fortnight away somewhere with high % chance of getting a clear/long night sky or decent second rig to maximise the time available when a clear sky comes along.

[newbie alert]

On 12/11/2021 at 10:04, Tomatobro said:

A few years ago I attended a talk by someone who was promoting remote imaging. The pictures he showed were very impressive but towards the end he let the cat out of the bag by telling us that he enjoyed special privileges with the remote site and could specify what and when etc to image.

The last couple of slides he put up were of the Milky Way which he took while driving in Wales. He spent some time on how he set up the camera etc to get the pictures and how they were the best he had ever taken of the Milky Way. Some of us in the audience noted how proud and enthusiastic he became when he described using his own equipment.

Think I know who you're talking about... for Pete's sake😏😛