far laboratories - Astronomy Technology Today

My observatory
control scheme
is not slick or
powerful, and
it’s definitely
not suitable for
true remote
operation, but it
pleases me to
no end!
SIMPLE REMOTE
OBSERVATORY
OPERATION
By John Crilly
A quick search through the magazines
or on the Internet will reveal that there are
some very impressive amateur observatory
installations out there. Some incorporate a
very high degree of automation and system
integration involving not only mounts and
cameras, but also roofs, domes, weather stations,
rain detectors and other ancillary
equipment. Some such installations are sufficiently
automated to permit true remote
control, with no physical visit to the site
required for normal operation.
I’d like to describe some of the tools
and techniques that I have found useful in
my much less ambitious implementation of
remote observatory control. For my purposes,
I need to be able to operate the mount
and cameras from within my house, about
30 feet from the observatory. Because it’s so
near, I don’t mind going out and manually
operating the roof opening mechanism and
powering up and initializing the mount and
cameras to begin a session (and, of course, a
second visit to shut everything down and
close the roof when I’m finished). What I do
want is a way to sit inside, safe and warm,
and take images. To achieve this, I need to
be able to slew the mount to the desired target,
check and correct camera focus, and
capture a series of images using selected filters.
Finally, I need to be able to transfer the
resulting image files into my home computer
for processing. I need a setup which permits
frequent gear changes without having
to redo cables or software setups (I switch
things around frequently).
Step one was to install a telescope
mount capable of being controlled by a PC.
The first such mount installed here was a
CGE by Celestron. Like all subsequent
mounts I’ve used, its slews were controlled
by a serial connection to the PC and it was
autoguided either directly from an SBIG
camera or from the PC via a Shoestring
Astronomy GPUSB adaptor (more about
this and the other Shoestring products that
made this project possible will appear later).
I’ve also used Meade LX200 Classic and
LX200GPS mounts in this system, as well
as an RCX400 and an LXD750. The
LXD750 is in there now; I’m in the process
of updating to a Takahashi EM-200 mount.
Thanks to ASCOM, all of the various
mounts integrate painlessly with Software
Bisque’s TheSky software for telescope control.
I’ve also used Starry Night Pro and
Cartes du Ceil with no problems.
If the mount is a GEM, as I currently
use, I also install optical tubes. My
preference these days is two (or three) APO
refractors of differing focal lengths, mounted
side by side. I’ve also used a 7-inch
Maksutov-Cassegrain, a 6-inch Maksutov-
Newtonian, Schmidt-Cassegrains from 10
inches to 14 inches, and a 12-inch Meade
RCX – but always with an APO refractor.
The current setup is a TMB130SS and an
Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY 59