I am living up north in Norway, 300 km above the Arctic Circle, which gives me s
ID: 1263878 • Letter: I
Question
I am living up north in Norway, 300 km above the Arctic Circle, which gives me six months per year of darkness and cold. I used to have a starter telescope when I was living in Spain, but I gave it away, and I want to build/buy a new system with the following requirements.
operated remotely - by cables or by Wi-Fi. I want to put it outside my house - maybe even 50 meters away and stay inside (warm) and do all the stuff from my computer: moving, viewing, zooming and saving information.
I would like the telescope to know how to track a specific star or nebula
I would like to be able to do long exposures with an attached camera for faint objects, probably hours, so I can get nice images for you :)
What gear do I need and what things may I be missing?
Explanation / Answer
In my experience this is entirely possible in a 'warmer' climate ie southern Britain. I can give you advice on that basis, maybe someone else will advise on dealing with the cold!
Can I suggest something like the robodome, this is an automated dome to house the scope (upto 10" aperture is suitable but tight.) which can be synced to a weather station and the telescope controls.
Operating can be done fairly simply via R232 and or USB cables, the USB will need to be powered to deal with the distance. Remote operation is no different really from a wired connection while stood next to the scope.
BUT! remeber that a scope drive will have enough power to crush fingers, mains electricity is enough to kill and if something goes wrong you could a lot of equipment at the mercy of the weather. So some kind of safety plan is needed...
Minimum list: Dome, Scope, CCD, webcam, cabling, weather station, motorised mount. [to track add a tracking camera/on ccd chip.] Setting up your own observatory is a lot of fun though, sitting in the warm is definitely the way to go!
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