FULLY automated remote telescope idea

Mr Gadget Freak says:

Actually, Meade (in its infinite wisdom) has also provided, in the Autosuite, a remote controller over IP so controlling a scope via WiFi linked pooters is do-able and over the web too.

I'll be selling time on my LXD soon!

I just love my gizmos.

Get yourself one of these.....

www.scsastro.co.uk/it130010.htm

add a 16 SCT OTA from Meade and you have one of these.....

www.glam.ac.uk/roccoto/

Nice

dpower,
That is the goal of alot of people here, including me.
I routine run the scope using the laptop with starry night driving com1 on the scope and then use astrosnap to run the webcam, I plan to use DSLRfocus to run the Canon on the scope also, I can use com2 on the scope to autocompensate if I used an autoguider.
I have a Meade electronic focuser which I can control from astrosnap, but you cant beat the focus feel you get from a manual focus and you'll have to deal with issues like focuser backlash and image shift.

If you dont have a dome or rool on/off shed, just watch out for the rain, especially if your in the house doing this. :lol:
Those clouds can be on top of you before you realise it.

We've already covered some of this topic before - the whole robotic telescope thingy is a personal goal of mine. Either to save my freezing fingers in the winter and/or to share the data (live) ove the Internet.

There are many vendors now offering kit that is geared to remote observing. You can buy a network hub that all the telescope and mount cables plug into - which saves you a laptop. Connect the hub to a pc in the house or even place the pc in your dome and control the whole lot via the internet (software available from one of the US lads on this board) - you could be 10 feet or 10,000 miles away. Oh, and the dome can be controlled too - opening, closing, rotating.

Add a weather detector (there is one vendor selling these specifically for astronomy) and you'll know if its cloudy or about to rain.

You can get robotic filter wheels and CCD's of course. Its all out there.

I remember there being a challenge I think to see who could come up with the cheapest remote setup. Looks like there's a few folks taking it up.

By the way, can I be a real pain. I'm sure this was covered before (Al?) - can the ETX70 be attached to a PC?

Dave

By the way, can I be a real pain. I'm sure this was covered before (Al?) - can the ETX70 be attached to a PC?

Yep but you need to buy the special ETX-70 cable from meade. I've used it to update the autostar database and with meades software to move the scope around. I dont have starry night pro etc. to test out how well it can be controlled from such software. (PC is broken so cant test with xephem in linux either)

Cheers,
~Al

At the risk of you fuming at me, how much?

Cheers

Dave