I caught that reference but I'm a newbie so I did not understand it. Could you explain what that is in reference to?

​@@sstidman a flat panel is a white light that is put in front of your telescope lens to create special calibration frames. In a remote observatory you never use them at night as the panel overlaps the lens a bit and can cause light on other telescopes and ruin their images. It happens from time to time if somebody is not mindful of what he's doing.

@@0815mkl Great explanation....thank you!!

Thanks Luke!

doubt you'd have that in the UK.. I mean.. the weather doesn't allow it, or at least it wouldn't make sense to invest in it when you don't have a significant number of very clear nights. And the light pollution doesn't really help. By the looks of it, Class 3 is the best you can realistically get? but in most cases you will have a massive city towards the south of anywhere you'd shoot. + the uk is arguably too far north compared to Texas, considering how many popular targets are better when you're a little further south, while they'd be quite low on the horizon in the UK.

It's not like there are supposed to be people walking around at night though?

@@nuuwnhuus I was referring to the quality of installation, not suggesting men with hammers walk around at night hitting things

They are streaming a live camera in the discord every night it's clear. No audio yet.

Hi Dustin couple other question you may be able to help with... Is the mount supplied by them? Do you need an automated flat panel? Thanks

My concern with making that video is my process is a bit idiosyncratic and probably not the 'right' way to approach remote imaging. Even the way I use Sequence Generator Pro (SGP) is something I've developed that works for me but doesn't really take advantage of all the features (and I still use a very old version of SGP). I will say that Bray suggested using Chrome Remote Desktop for connecting and so far that has been super simple and reliable. All you have to do is set up remote access on the mini PC before you send it: remotedesktop.google.com/access and then go to that same URL in Chrome on your home computer and click on whatever you named your Mini PC and you have full control with very little lag or issues (so far at least). If you have any other questions, feel free to email me: nicocarver at gmail dot com.

@@NebulaPhotos that's fine. if I need, will contact via email. i'll try the google remote desktop-curious how the speedy connection is. But overall, I wasn't picky about what you're using rather how you're doing it. There's no right answer-then again-as you said, you'll like to make another video in 6 months or later. That would also tell us about granular and overall experience too. Thanks again.

Covid injections tailing off? :)

We have symmetrical fiber internet, so even if we had 100 people with ASI6200mm it wouldn't be a problem!

Pretty sure it’s not. They don’t post SQM measurements.

Visually yes, following the actual article John Bortle wrote which is available digitally on Sky and Telescope, it seemed to me to be a Bortle 1. I value SQM readings but I’ve never been one who thinks the Bortle Scale can be translated accurately to SQM (the best in terms of accuracy IF done on a very transparent night when the Milky Way is not present) or satellite data (the worst in terms of accuracy). I didn’t bring my SQM meters because I knew with the Milky Way up all night it would be impossible to avoid its glow which can easily change a 21.9 sky to a 21.3 due to the way the SQM lenses are designed.

See my full comment below, but I get why they’re not releasing these yet. It would require a big education campaign for people to understand the nuances in SQM readings from dark sites. If the transparency isn’t perfect, if there is substantial air glow, if the summer Milky Way is up, or a combination of all three the SQM meter will read brighter than the site truly is. It comes down to the wide angle design of the lens in an SQM. I have lots of experience with these meters and own several from different companies and organizations, and didn’t bring any when I visited Starfront as it’s simply the wrong time of year to get an accurate assessment with the meters. That’s something I’ve come to appreciate about the visual system of John Bortle. It can be done on any clear night, and with enough experience it is a good way for a single observer (knowing their eyesight) to evaluate different sites.

I'm using a mono camera so I have the full set (LRGBSHO), but if you were shooting with a one shot color camera, you could go 'no filter' and have a lifetime of objects to shoot under Bortle 1 skies.

As someone who is retiring to NH in 2 years and coming from Bortle 7/8 skies where I currently am located, the lack of 7 clear nights in a row is not a deterrent. The skies, when clear are something to behold and I am considering the same route Nico is going.

@@bobbymccourt6794 If astrophotography is your main passion, then lack of clear nights could drive you mad. You want 300+ clear nights per year! You want to be in Atacama desert, despite it is sheeit place to live. If you have many other considerations, than it is different story. NE is excellent place to retire.

Not sure where you live but in my state my local astronomy club has a dark site available for members to do that exact thing. Worth looking into if you haven't already.

@@kcrocks5 Live in MA.... The two local clubs struggle as well with light pollution.

@@hangerbird ahh damn fair that sucks

From their FAQ, insurance is the customer's responsibility. So no, it's not included.

@@EvenTheDogAgrees Lolwut. So in theory, if they ever decided to dip and grey market the equipment and say it got stolen - you're shit out of luck. Kind of a huge red flag for them to take no responsibility for the expensive hardware they're PAID to host.

@@TheKain202 I wouldn't necessarily call it a red flag. From their end, it's difficult to ensure everything on the customers' behalf, since the value of the setups varies wildly, which will be reflected in the insurance cost. They couldn't offer a simple pricing structure like they do now if they had to add a different insurance amount for every customer. It's far easier for them to just charge you for the pier and associated floor space, and let the customers shop around for their own insurance formulas that cover the risks they deem significant at a price they're willing to pay. It's not like they can get away with simply stealing your gear and selling it for profit. That would be theft, and we already have laws to deal with that. Besides, them handling the insurance of your gear wouldn't prevent them from stealing your gear either, so not sure how this is considered a "red flag". That said, I could see a way they could offer insurance, while still keeping the formula rather simple. A list of insurance prices for various insurance amounts, perhaps also taking into account which risks one wants to insure against if that makes sense. That would be a simple table with a column for each increasing risk coverage option, and a row per insurance amount range. But they'd have to find an insurance company that would be willing to work with them in this way, which might be easier said than done.

Sorry to hear. Not sure what is going on there.

1) So far so good. At Starfront they have 1gig fiber internet, and I have a wired connection. I connect with Chrome Remote Desktop and it's been as lag-free as at home. 2) I think most doing it now have a second computer or router acting as a VPN so that the ASIAir thinks it's a local device. Starfront describes it in broad strokes on this page: starfront.space/pages/remote-imaging-101 but I'm sure there are people that can help with the details on the Discord. 3) They allow clients to drop off their gear rather than ship it down, but don't normally allow clients to be there for the installation.

It’s a good question. I think the next few years will be a good test as we are entering La Niña right now. I’m hoping the change may bring us more clear nights.

+1 for color schemes. I have a different one depending on which setup I'm using.

There’s plenty of those around, Roboscopes ( in Europe is one of them )

There are several there that have shipped scopes from outside the US, give it a look

@@dustinballinger5661 Thanks Dustin I will check it out

Darks on cloudy nights with the roof shut(build a dark library for the temps you use). Flats can be done at dawn pointing at the sky. Or anytime the roof isn’t open if you have a flats panel.

It's an Askar FRA500 and ASI2600MM on an iOptron GEM45 with several accessories.

Bortle is a visual system for assessing sky brightness described in this article: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-resources/light-pollution-and-astronomy-the-bortle-dark-sky-scale/ Based on being there and talking to Bray about different nights observing things naked eye, I'd say it's fair to call it Bortle 1. Light pollution maps based on satellite data are not accurate enough to capture this. If the observatory were right in Brady, TX it would likely be a bright Bortle 3 or even a 4, but driving 40 minutes away makes a huge difference. I've observed this all over the East Coast.

@@NebulaPhotos There is no Bortle 1 in TX except Big Bend. Bray's description is confusing. Looks like he does not understand TX weather yet. Hill county could be terrible after entering winter until next summer. Jet scream will be around most of TX and seeing during that couple of months will be pretty bad. Additional, late spring and early summer are the storm season. If equipment is expensive, you should get insurance on it. It looks like Bray and his team does not understand or fully know the pattern of TX weather yet. So far summer until fall is the best for Texas astro-folks

I've been using Chrome Remote Desktop and it's been working well. And for file transfer I use Dropbox, and no it doesn't take long at all to transfer the files, it's basically instantaneous. They have fiber internet there with 1gig upload speed.

It's a good idea. I have some leads on something like that.

The floor is floating concrete slab. No foundation as you surmised as there is no risk of frost. For flood risk, they dug a ditch / moat on the property so that the rain would drain properly and away from the buildings. I’m not sure what you mean about the construction being questionable. Wood frame construction out of 2x4s is standard in the US, and the panels they are using on the outside are engineered to be used as exterior siding like that. I know because they are the same ones I used in my personal observatory build.

Agreed!

@@NebulaPhotos I've got monday off and tonight seems like it will be a good one!

I've never had an issue with starlink or satellites in general. It comes down to what kind of astrophotography/astronomy you are doing. The type I do where I stack several images together makes it easy to get rid of satellite trails through pixel rejection in the stacking process. It's basically automatic as long as you have something like 'sigma clipping' turned on when you stack.

They have a gate and staff there 24/7.

It was part of what they looked for in a location. Rural fiber internet is a thing - I have it here in NH too.

😂😂😂 are you for real

No, I’m not. This is not an unattended observatory. There are people on site at all times.

Yeah, didn't notice until I was editing. I'm not the best interviewer. If I'd noticed, I would have pressed on that. In any case, I hope to address more the disadvantages when I do a 6 month or 1 year review.

Are you against an automated setup in a backyard observatory by this same principle?

@@NebulaPhotos absolutely not. I would draw the line at who owns/puts together the imaging hardware. I admittedly didn't word that right. I am completely against remote imaging services, for example, an individual/company who owns telescopes/cameras, everything needed and just rents that out. I'm perfectly ok with personal gear set up in a remote observatory, even if that is not in the backyard, it can be anywhere, as I long as the person owning the gear set it up and put it together.

To each their own I suppose, but I agree. If Im doing everything remotely I wouldnt even feel like Im doing the work in the first place. Its like paying hundreds of dollars to have someone fish something for you to cook, sure the end result is the same, and if you're happy you have a fish to cook and thats all you care about, great, but you wouldn't say you caught the fish.