Remote Telescopes: Imaging From a Distance
After a dry summer and devastating wildfires, it’s finally raining here. I’m glad we’re getting the moisture, but my astrophotography goes idle for weeks on end at this time of year. So I’m exploring the world of remote telescope services.
I’m currently trying out Telescope Live, which has telescopes in Spain, Australia, and Chile with an array of different telescope and camera combinations.
Telescope Live Home Page (I’m Sure They’ll Fix The Typo).
Telescope Live recently switched to a subscription model, which runs from $4 to $49 per month. At the higher levels, you can select pre-set targets or buy credits and request a custom target. Each credit costs $1 and different telescopes have different credit pricing per minute.
The process is simple. You subscribe to a service, put in your imaging order, and download the pre-calibrated FITS files when your imaging session is complete. You don’t need to own any gear to get into astrophotography.
Although the raw monochrome subframe files are calibrated, they’re not aligned or, in the case of multiple subframes, stacked. Most of the post-processing is left to you.
Pros
The biggest benefit for me is the ability to image targets visible from the southern hemisphere and other objects low on my horizon. You’re also getting data from high quality gear at dark sites. Telescope Live mitigates the cost somewhat with Pro Data Sets, downloadable data from previous imaging sessions, and “One-Click Observations,” pre-scheduled imaging sessions that subscribers can get in on.
One-Click Observations in Telescope Live
Cons
The biggest downside is the cost of a custom imaging session. Telescope time is expensive, with the least expensive options going for one credit per minute. It’s easy to go over $100 and only get a subframe or two for each filter in your imaging run.
Another issue is the quality of the data. While the subframes are pre-calibrated, you’ll run into hot pixels, satellite trails, and other camera noise. With limited data sets, you don’t get the noise reduction benefits of dithering and stacking.
Dead Pixels And Camera Noise In a Subframe.
If You Don’t Clean Up The Subframes, Expect Noise In Your Final Image.
And of course, scheduled imaging sessions are dependent on the weather.
End Results
Despite the limited amount of data, the final images turn out nicely if you put some time and effort into processing. I’ve downloaded data for a couple of objects so far and have an object or two in the queue.
NGC 55, Imaged on a Planewave CDK24 in Chile by Nik Szymanek. 65 Minutes of Data.
30 Minutes of Narrowband Data on the Helix Nebula (Imaged by Peter Jenkins).
Conclusion
Remote telescope services offer a way to dip your toes in astrophotography without owning all the gear that goes along with it. For astrophotographers, it offers a way to get data on objects you can’t view from your area.