Installation and Operational Notes
Frustrated by the light-polluted skies in Dallas-Fort Worth, in the fall of 2022, I decided to pursue installation of some telescopes at a remote observatory. I didn't know which telescopes or which observatory would be best, so I spent quite a bit of time discussing it with my main equipment vendor Tolga Gumusayak and my teacher Ron Brecher.
After much discussion with Ron, we determined that what I really needed were three scopes: One wide-field rig with a shorter focal length, an intermediate focal-length scope with impeccable optics, and a larger reflector capable of shooting smaller objects. We landed on the Takahashi FSQ106, the Takahashi TOA130 with a 645 flattener, and the Planewave CDK12, respectively. We also decided 10Micron mounts would be best for me given my familiarity with the GM1000.
Tolga also put me in contact with Lloyd Smith, the owner of Deep Sky West remote observatory near Santa Fe. There are a ton of options for remote observatories across the country, but I really hit it off with Lloyd and I felt like Santa Fe would be a great location since we love to go there in the RV. So that deal was sealed.
After tons of research regarding what goes into putting together a remote telescope, and even more detailed research and many discussions with Tolga about the various components I would need, I started ordering equipment through Tolga. I quickly learned that it takes months, and sometimes even years, to take possession of some of this higher-end gear after ordering it.
I started ordering gear in December 2022 for all three scopes. The first thing that arrived was the TOA130 in March 2023. It sat on my couch for a couple of months before the 10Micron GM2000 mount for it arrived from Italy in May.
The other big component still yet to come was the Moravian C5a-100M camera. It finally came from the Czech Republic in June. The C5 camera is a monster employing a medium-format sensor with 3.76 micron pixels. I opted for the industrial sensor because it would support more than the 300 hours per year of use the commercial sensor was rated for. And I was looking forward to having a physical shutter so I could take dark and flat-dark calibration frames without having to go to the observatory to put the cover on the scope. I'd already received the large, 50mm Chroma square filters. I had a Pegasus Ultimate Powerbox v2 that I was cannibalizing from my C11. I had long since acquired and configured the Intel NUC that would control it all. Tolga had recommended a Moonlite Nitecrawler WR35 focuser-rotator, so I had that in hand. And Ron had recommended the PrimaLuce Labs Alto-Giotto cover/flat panel, which arrived shortly after ordering.
Lloyd had recommended a Digital Loggers Web Pro remote-controllable power strip so I could power cycle my gear from my couch at home. That was an easy pickup on Amazon. And I also got a small TPLink switch to distribute connectivity to the various components that needed it. Tolga recommended the Optec Sagitta off-axis guider as well as a Starlight XPress guide camera. I went with the Sagitta, but I opted for a ZWO ASI174MM-Mini guide camera. I also needed an MGPBox to transmit environmental data to the mount and some kind of real-time camera so I could see what the scope was doing from afar.
I opted for a Nest outdoor camera. This was a bad choice. Not because the Nest is a bad camera or because it doesn't work. It works well. But because in order for it to pick up anything at night, it emits a blast of infrared light. That's a huge no-no in an observatory. I didn't realize that's what it would do. So now I'm stuck with it and can really only use it in the daytime.
It seemed like I had everything I needed except for one thing. Takahashi requires that the camera sensor be a very specific distance from the flattener on the back of the scope. I needed something that would provide the right displacement and also tie into the focuser on one side and the off-axis guider on the other size. So Tolga sent me to PreciseParts, which would custom make an adapter to my specifications. The next thing to do was to start assembling all this stuff in the office. So that's what I did. I immediately realized that when the scope was pointing close to the zenith, I was going to have a collision issue between the pier and the large filter wheel on the camera. So Tolga asked a machinist friend in New Jersey to make a custom riser for me that would mitigate the problem. I can't say enough about how knowledgeable and resourceful Tolga is. The riser worked. The custom adapter from PreciseParts worked. And the scope started coming together. After assembling everything and measuring all the distances, I ordered flexible, all-weather flexible robotic cables at the precise lengths and with the exact connectors I needed from USBFireWire.
While I was waiting for those cable to arrive. I pondered what to do with all the electronics. I couldn't just hang them off the pier under the scope out in the weather. So I had to come up with something. I toyed with having the trim carpenter who did the work in our house build something for me, but in the end, I just decided on a standard 14U half-rack enclosure on wheels. I drilled two 2" holes in the back of the enclosure—one at the top, and one at the bottom—for cable entry and exit. Then I installed a one fixed and a couple of extendable shelves and an enclosed drawer for the interior. Inside the enclosure, I mounted the NUC and the switch for connecting to the mount, the control computer, the infrastructure, and the remote power strip.
I also placed the 10Micron control box and hand controller inside the enclosure to protect them from heat, cold, and dust. This meant that I had to buy the one-meter data/power extension cable specifically made for 10Micron mounts—a pretty pricey little piece of rubber and plastic. The various power bricks for the 10Micron controller, the Pegasus hub, the NUC, and the switch are also inside the enclosure as are spare cables and Allen wrenches specially designed for the scope and its accessories. I also got a spare desiccant cylinder for the camera that is stored here. One more thing I mounted inside the enclosure is a Digital Loggers Web Pro remote power strip. I attached the MGPBox and the Nest camera to the top of the enclosure.
Once the cables arrived, bench testing inside went well. Then I took the rig outside for a couple of weeks to field test it. That also went well. So in mid-July, I loaded everything up in the RV and headed to the observatory. When I arrived, there was no one there. Lloyd asked a friend to come out and help me and he arrived a few minutes after I did. My pier wasn't ready for the GM2000 yet, so I had to install everything on the tripod that came with it. A few months later, we got it all installed on the pier. I was able to get everything connected up and functioning. Polar alignment went well that night, and I immediately started shooting. I had some trouble with the C5 camera a few months later, but that's a whole saga involving five trips out to the observatory that I'll share some other time.
Early on, I had no backup power supply. It wasn't much of an issue because power rarely went out at the observatory. But that started to change after the first year and we started to see period short outages that would affect the equipment. So earlier this year I installed a UPS, a Cyberpower CP1500. It has worked flawlessly.
For processing images, I use AstroPixelProcessor (APP) to stack the images. I hate the interface. You can't even save your work from session to session. And if you ever long for 1994, just spend a few hours with APP. The vast majority of people in this avocation use PixInsight's Weighted Batch Preprocessing Script. It has a good interface, you can save your work, and you at least feel like you've made it slightly beyond Y2K. But I find that it just doesn't produce results that are as good as APP for me. The middle section of work belongs exclusively to PixInsight. If you ever want to travel deep down inside the object -oriented orifice of a purist programmer's punctilious wet dream of UI design, then PixInsight is for you. If you prefer intuitive experiences, stay away. Stay very far away. It's a bear to learn. More difficult than any 1970s command-line-driven mainframe batch process I ever used. But it gets better with time and experience. And the things it actually does are off-the-charts insanely good. For those keeping score at home, I use PixInsight from just after stacking until LRGB recombination (of a starless image).
The rest belongs to Photoshop. Its interactivity makes it my tool of choice for masking, color adjustment, contrast, saturation, recombination (e.g., stars, Ha, etc.), resampling, and saving final images.
I apologize for duplicating much of this story in the FSQ and CDK galleries, but many of the details are the same. My hope is that it might help someone who is considering installing a telescope remotely or already has a remote rig. Perhaps there are one or two ideas that might be of use. In any case, please take a look at the images below that I have taken with this setup. The TOA is the best all-around telescope I've ever used.