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After several months of preparation, the moment is now near. Next week I will be driving down to Spain, to install my telescope at the remote hosting site IC Astronomy. Anyone who has any tips on what (not) to do, what (not) to worry about etc, I would love to hear them. For people interesting in the details, the choices made, control systems etc, I've kept track of progress through a number of blog posts: Blog post 1: Goals, site selection, hard- and software choices Blog post 2: Command and Control infrastructure to operate remote and fully automatic Blog post 3: The system build, first impressions new camera and testing 'under the stars' |
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| Thats a sweet rig. You seem very well prepared the only thing I will mention is that you will definitely want to create a system for logging your data if you haven't already. It can be very easy to lose track of your progress on a given project when remote especially if cant or don't want to check your data after every session. |
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Thanks Reg, that is a very good point. Any suggestions on what that system could look like? What do you use yourself? Voyager keeps track of the progress against a planned number of images for a given target and can send pdf's with the results per night. But all of that is transient in the sense that it's not something you can look back into a few months later and see what you've done. For that purpose I currently use Astroplanner where I log all the images taken. But wondering if that might become too much work when much more images come in. |
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I use google sheets with this simple layout to keep track myself. Its not the most elegant solution but it works. When I;m done collecting data and editing an image that goes into a different log. I also keep a log of data collected at my remote site so I can can see my productivity month to month an year to year. |
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What's the number you keep track of per filter? Hours? I don't have a remote site, but I think I'll build that spreadsheet later today. |
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Remco Hekker: Yes hours after culling and stacking. |
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Yes. Last May (or so) I posted a document describing best practices for remote imaging systems. Here it is again. Remote Configuration and Troubleshooting Guide 4-20-23.pdf By the way, your entire system looks A+. VERY nicely done! One small thing: Even though they don't make much difference, most remote observatories don't want ANY light emitted from your system. Put a block-out panel on the front of your cabinet--or they will come along and put black tape over every single light in there. I'm just returning from Chile where I installed a new 24" system. It looks similar to what you've done. The inside of your cabinet looks better done than mine, which has grown more chaotic as I've had to make changes in the field. One other thing: SEND SPARES! I have multiple spare cameras, power supplies and cables with both of my systems in Chile. When something breaks it can lead to a lot of down time if the techs can't immediately change out a part. Take note that I said, "When" and not "If". Things die in the field and they are usually the things that you least expect so be prepared. Good luck! You have a well thought out, world class system there and I'm sure that it's going to work really well. John |
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Reg Pratt: Thank you for sharing, Reg, nice and straightforward. You highlight the importance of keeping things simple, as you have to keep current. I'm currently storing this info in Astroplanner. It has advantages in terms of how it stores data and what data it automatically adds, but in the end it may just be too much work to keep that current. We'll see. |
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John Hayes: Thank you for your nice comments, John. The information you shared for example in the guide that you link, your presentation for TAIC and your advice on computer choice have been super helpful for me, so thank you for that as well! Wow, a 24", looking forward to seeing the images that instrument will produce. Yeah, on the 'light pollution', I've put a foil on it no that filters out 90% of the light. Outside in the dark, that looked well, but perhaps in the observatory it will still a bit too much. Then I'll just have to add a 100% blocking foil. As for spares, that's a good point. I have spare cables/connectors etc with me, but if it will really be equipment that fails, that would be a different issue. For me shipping equipment off to Spain is not a very big deal, so I would loose some time, but hopefully not too much if it happens. Thanks again, on the way now to the observatory, so keep fingers crossed for the installation...:-) Willem Jan |
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Willem Jan Drijfhout: It has finally happened. The rig is installed at IC astronomy in Spain! It was quite the adventure, but super happy how it all turned out. A lot to learn and explore, but this major milestone has been reached. If you're interested how the installation went, feel free to have a look at the blog Blog post 4: Shipping, installation, alignment and collimation and the first image. |
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Willem Jan, I enjoyed reading your Blog post about your installation. You did a wonderful job moving and setting up your scope. It looks fantastic! Since you are wondering where the second set of diffraction spikes might be coming from, look at revision 'O' in this image: https://www.astrobin.com/xfedon/I/. Your spikes are probably coming from the spandex dust shield. That image shows my solution and my understanding is that Planewave is now selling something similar. John |
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John Hayes: Thank you John, much appreciated. Yeah, that is what I thought originally as well, but I'm using the RouzAstro shroud spacers (both top and bottom). They have a different design though, so maybe just not enough. Best way to test out I probably take the shroud off altogether and see if that removes the extra spikes. CS, Willem Jan. |
