Category: Observatory

Automation Phase 3 – Roof

The third phase of the automation project is the roof. Not only does it need power, it needs to roll very smoothly to ensure the motors don't stall when opening and closing the roof. So this element will probably take

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Automation Phase 2 – Power

Being able to remotely power up the various components of the observatory is very appealing, and while there is an argument that says until I have the roof sorted there is no point in doing this, I think that getting

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Automation Phase 1 – Software

This initial phase will focus on the various software components needed to:

  • Build a model of the area of sky being imaged
  • Automatically perform a meridian flip
  • Plate solve before and after a meridian flip
  • Acquire images with different filters
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Observatory Automation Project

Like so many other astronomers, I am now starting on a project to upgrade my observatory to allow full unattended imaging. My definition of ‘unattended’ is that I will be at home but potentially inside the house. Although this project … Read more ...