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Description
From 5 inches to 5 meters
Brian Valente & Greg Stein
Looking at how astroimaging is done from the backyard to the largest instruments, and points between
This talk is inspired by our recent trip to several observatories in the Atacama Desert. We have been remote imaging since 2019 and spent a week traveling to look at other rigs and approaches, and culimated in a once in a lifetime observing session at the Baade telescope, one of the twin Megallan telescopes at Las Campanas. Part gear details, part comparisons of other rigs, part travelogue, and part seeing what does (and does not) separate the backyard from the largest terrestrial telescopes in the world.
Brian Valente and Greg Stein have been imaging individually and as partners for many years. Brian currently works with Losmandy Astronomical and Astro-Physics, Greg Stein is an accomplished astrophotographer among his many pursuits.
A
B
C
B
And
and
separately
even
longer,
you
might
recognize
my
voice
for
better
or
worse
I
I
work
for
both
lost
Mandy
and
for
astrophysics.
I.
Do
a
number
of
tutorial
videos
for
these
folks
I.
Do
a
lot
of
support
in
those
two
groups,
as
well
as
I,
volunteer
my
time
with
the
open,
PhD
Community
with
Bruce
and
Andy,
helping
folks
to
get
the
most
out
of
guiding.
C
Yes,
hi
everybody
I
got
involved
in
astronomy.
My
daughter
went
to
college
felt
that
we
were
losing
each
other.
A
bit
suggested
that
we
join
the
Orange
County
group
and
buy
a
telescope
start
messing
around
with
it
yeah
and
then
from
there
started
to
buy
more
equipment
and,
at
the
same
time,
I
got
lost,
and
then
the
people
that
lost
Mandy
introduced
me
to
Brian
and
then
Brian
started
to
help
me
out
and
from
there.
I
have
done
done.
Okay
and
they've
had
a
great
time
with
it.
B
Okay,
great
so,
as
Greg
had
mentioned,
you
know
like
a
lot
of
folks,
we
started
out
like
everybody,
pretty
much
in
our
backyard
kind
of
going
through
a
variety
of
smaller
telescopes
on
the
left.
This
was
I
think
it
was
actually
a
loner
from
explore
scientific
that
I
had
and
then
on
the
right.
Here's
Greg,
although
this
this
is
the
only
picture
I
had
of
you
Greg
and
we
were
setting
up
this
AP
1600,
but
the
real
thing
I
was
trying
to
show
back.
B
There
was
the
telescopes
that
you
had
in
back.
I
think
it
was
a
90
and
a
130,
and
you
know
we're
just
like,
like
everybody
else,
just
trying
to
make
the
most
of
our
backyards
and
our
and
our
Dark
Skies,
when
when
we
had
them
so
you
know,
most
of
our
experience
historically
has
been
working
on
these
smaller
telescopes
and
then
in
2019.
B
I
believe
Greg
came
to
me
said:
Hey,
listen,
I
really
want
to
I,
really
want
to
up
my
game
in
in
terms
of
what
we're
doing
here
and
I
said
well.
Great
and
I
was
thinking
he's
gonna,
maybe
I'll
get
a
an
edge.
Nine
and
a
quarter,
maybe
we'll
get
a
rasa
I,
don't
know
he's
thinking,
and
then
he
presented
this
notion
of
let's
get
something
up
and
running
in
the
Atacama
Desert.
So
first
I
tried
to
talk
him
out
of
it
and
that
didn't
work.
B
So
we
decided
we
were
going
to
go
ahead
and
do
this
we
found
obstec,
which
is
also
so.
This
is
the
picture
of
Ops
Tech
here
on
the
left.
They
also,
if
you
notice,
there's
a
little
fenced-in
area
with
some
domes
in
the
lower
left.
I,
don't
know
if
if
my
mouse
is
actually
coming
across,
but
if
it
is
I'm
I'm
circling
it
here,
it
is
that
is
actually
a
telescope
live.
It's
it's
not
quite
well
understood,
but
they
share.
B
This
is
the
lsos
observatory,
this
mountain
top
and
it
is
shared
by
both
telescope,
live
and
obstac.
If
it's
not
inside
the
fence,
everything
else
is
obstac.
So
these
are
the
professional
hosting
folks.
They
have
I
think
they
just
announced
their
100th
telescope.
That
was
installed
there.
The
the
results
of
our
visit.
We
took
a
picture
of
our
setup,
which
is
on
the
right
there.
It's
a
plane,
Wave
cdk,
20.
B
It's
on
an
astrophysics,
1600,
encoder
Mount
and
one
of
them
the
more
prescient
choices
that
we
made
and
I
really
credit
Greg
for
this
was
to
piggyback
a
wide
field,
a
little
Stellar
view
80
on
it
with
a
ASI,
6200,
One,
Shot,
color
camera
and
that's
been
a
delight
to
shoot
in
in
the
skies
down
there,
while
we're
not
shooting
deep
space
objects
and
by
the
way
I'm
just
going
to
kind
of
Roll
Along
hi.
If
there's
questions
or
things
I'm,
not
monitoring
the
chat.
B
Okay,
so
just
just
by
way
of
example,
these
are
some
things.
We've
done,
I'm
not
going
to
go
through
them
in
any
any
great
detail.
But
you
know
we.
We
have
learned
a
lot
and
we've
experienced
a
lot
and
we
image
as
much
as
we
possibly
can,
every
day
and
every
night,
what's
obstac
and
Atacama
advertise
320
days
of
of
Imaging
nights,
which
I
think
it
I
think
that's
pretty
accurate.
B
The
thing
that
they
don't
really
say,
though,
is
that
the
remaining
40
some
odd
days
seem
to
all
happen
in
a
row
and
in
Winter
and
in
fact
it's
happening
right
now,
so
I
I
don't
think
the
roof
has
been
open
for
a
week
and
a
half
which
is
fine.
You
know.
Sometimes
you
got
to
shoot,
darks
and
calibration
frames
and
other
things,
but
but
it
is
a
great
way
to
get
a
lot
of
data,
a
lot
of
good
quality
data.
B
B
It's
a
it
ended
up
being
about
the
same
price
as
the
pro
line,
but
instead
of
16
megapixels
I.
Think
it's
something
like
100
megapixels,
so
I
expect
that
we're
going
to
see
a
pretty
significant
jump
in
our
Imaging
resolution
and,
of
course,
file
sizes,
but
we
were
prepared
to
go
down
there
and
commission
the
telescope
and
install
it,
and
at
the
time
you
know,
of
course,
covet
hit
and
everything
got
shut
down
and
and
I
called
Greg
and
I
said.
B
B
Part
of
the
adventure
is
not
just
getting
a
working
telescope,
but
actually
going
and
experiencing
these
things
firsthand
so
in
in
this
last
couple
months
ago,
kovid
seemed
to
have
subsided
enough
that
we
decided
to
reconvene
the
trip
and
headed
on
down
and
we
kind
of
had
some
informal
objectives,
but
I
would
put
put
these
here.
The
first
thing
is
we
wanted
to
experience
all
this
hullabaloo.
B
We
heard
about
the
Atacama
skies
and
you
know
the
Milky
Way
casting
Your
Shadow
at
night,
and
you
know
all
kinds
of
things
we
wanted
to
see
this
for
ourselves
and
in
fact,
as
part
of
that
trip,
we
purchased
a
harmonic
drive
that
Greg
referenced
and
a
a
set
of
bino
viewers
and
Greg.
Who
who
would
who
were
the
final
viewers
from.
B
Okay,
well
you'll
I'm,
we'll
come
we'll
come
up
with,
but
we
do
have
a
picture
of
it,
but
we
lugged
this
thing
all
over
the
world.
It
was
incredibly
heavy
and
big,
but
but
nonetheless
we
brought
it
down
with
us.
The
other
thing
that
we
really
wanted
to
do
was
to
look
at
all
of
these
other
telescopes
I.
Think
I.
Think
when
we
installed,
we
were
maybe
telescope,
13
or
14
somewhere
in
there
and
Now
with
at
the
time
we
were
there
I
think
it
was
about
80
some
odd
telescopes.
B
We
really
wanted
to
see
what
people
were
doing.
You
know
we
felt
like
this
was,
you
know,
probably
the
best
in
class
kind
of
installation,
and
so
if
we
really
wanted
to
see
what
people
were
doing
and
how
they
were
using
their
systems,
this
would
be
a
great
opportunity
to
to
look
at
this
firsthand
and.
B
B
B
But
through
that
connection
we
were
actually
able
to
visit
Las
campanas
and
had
a
lot
of
very,
very
fortunate
interactions
that
resulted
in
us
getting
a
very,
very
close
look
not
only
at
the
the
Magellan,
the
twin
Magellan
telescopes
and
the
DuPont,
which
we
won't
talk
specifically
about,
but
we
sat
with
them
for
about
three
or
four
hours
going
through
an
Imaging
session
and
talking
about
how
things
work
and
that's
some
of
what
we're
going
to
talk
about
this
evening.
Yeah.
C
B
Just
by
way
of
example,
I
was
just
looking
at
this
globe
and
put
this
in,
because
I
didn't
I
think
we
ended
up
being
about
24
to
30
hours
of
Total
travel
time
and
that
included
delays
and
travel
to
the
airport
and
things.
But
it
is.
It
is
an
extremely
long
ways
away
and,
of
course,
it's
in
the
southern
hemisphere.
So
many
of
the
targets
that
are
available
down
there
aren't
available
up
here
and
and
vice
versa,
of
course
too.
B
So
you
know,
while
I'd
love
to
be
able
to
shoot,
you
know
m81
or
M82
the
cigar
Galaxy,
it's
just
simply
not
available
down
in
Chile,
so
it
was
quite
a
long
trip
the
roads
there
are
surprisingly
well
maintained.
This
is
a
very
typical
example
of
us
driving
we
drive.
We
drove
a
lot
both
on
paved
roads
and
unpaved
Roads,
but
we
just
remarked
constantly
how
how
good
the
infrastructure
is
for
a
relatively
poor
country
and
I
don't
mean
that
kind
of
subjectively.
B
We
went
through
a
lot
of
places
just
clearly.
They
didn't
have
a
lot
of
money,
but
but
the
the
infrastructure
there,
the
roads
and
the
bridges
and
the
overpasses
well
I-
should
say
there
aren't
actually
any
overpasses.
They
do
kind
of
a
U-turn
in
the
middle
of
the
highways,
but
very
very
nice,
very
nice
to
drive
on
very
nice
people
a
lot
of
driving
on.
B
B
B
Just
a
couple
things
that
really
helped
us
to
survive.
Essentially,
one
was
getting
a
local
Sim
chip
from
a
company
called
moviestar,
which
is
the
kind
of
the
the
mobile
carrier
of
choice.
It
ended
up
being
I,
think
about
seven
dollars
and
it
lasted
us
the
entire
week
and
we
had
plenty
of
data
and
minutes
left.
But
when
it
came
to
using
the
GPS
for
directions,
it
was
indispensable.
Oddly,
you
cannot
buy
these
at
the
airport,
and
nor
can
you
buy
them
anywhere
near
the
airport.
B
We
had
to
find
a
small
kind
of
like
a
7-Eleven
equivalent
in
a
in
a
town
about
two
hours
away
and
we
were
able
to
purchase
them
and
part
of
the
way
that
we
were
able
to
purchase
them
by
is
by
using
this
Translate
application.
It's
called
translate
on
the
iPhone,
which
turned
out
to
be
an
incredibly
helpful,
because
we
don't
speak
Spanish
terribly
well
and
they
don't
speak
English
at
all.
B
So
our
first
stop
was
Ops
Tech,
as
I
mentioned,
it
is
actually
technically
the
Elsas
Observatory
of
which
obstac
and
Telescope
live
share
the
space.
This
is
a
a
really
premium
area
of
not
only
seeing
but
of
telescope
installations,
so
I
would
say
the
average
telescope
we're
pretty
typical
for
a
cdk
20.
they're
kind
of
headed
more
into
the
24
inch.
You
see
a
lot
of
24s,
you
see
a
lot
of
plane,
wave
gear,
both
mounts
and
telescopes.
As
you
can
see,
this
is
actually
I.
B
Think
this
might
be
roof
six,
that
is
right
next
door
to
our
roof,
but
just
tons
and
tons
and
tons
of
amazing
equipment,
and
they
all
all
pretty
much
operate
continuously.
And,
of
course,
you
would
expect
them
to
the
other
type
of
equipment.
We
saw
a
lot
of
was
a
lot
of
rasas
or
hyperstars
and
oftentimes
collections
of
them
that
were
doing
a
lot
of
satellite
tracking.
B
B
I
wanted
to
show
just
a
some
examples
of
what
I
call
rig
Innovations,
because
Mike's
again
I
think
our
expectation
was
to
see
a
lot
of
really
astonishing
equipment,
and
certainly
we
did
but
oftentimes.
When
we
looked
very
very
close,
we
found
that
there
was
a
lot
of
a
lot
of
macgyvering
of
things
to
make
things
work.
So
we
had
an
issue.
This
is
actually
our
telescope,
the
cdk
20,
and
we
had
an
issue
where
it
seemed
like
things:
weren't
balancing.
B
Well,
we
were
getting
some
issues
with
Sky
modeling
and
when
we
got
down
there,
we
realized
that
they
had
taken
this
counterweight
I,
don't
even
know
what
this
counterweight
is
from,
but
essentially
zip
tied
it
to
one
side
of
the
telescope,
which
was
surprising
because
it
did
work,
and
we
were
totally
unaware
of
the
solution
and
to
come
down
and
kind
of
see
this
approach.
It
was.
It
was
a
bit
surprising
and
I
appreciated
it,
and
I
noticed
that
it
did
kind
of
flop
around
a
little
bit.
B
B
Who
asked
me
to
go
over
and
take
a
look
at
his
telescope
and
check
a
few
things
and,
to
my
surprise,
on
the
top
his
top
plate
consisted
of
essentially
a
plywood
board
and
I
was
kind
of
surprised
at
that
again,
and
it
was
sort
of
funny
and
I
took
a
picture
just
to
kind
of
remind
myself
of
that.
But
this
is
again
a
very
typical
kind
of
macgyver-ish
type
of
solution.
B
Where
I
mean
certainly,
you
could
have
purchased
a
a
plate
and
kind
of
of
figured
out
a
way
to
get
everything
mounted
to
that,
but
oftentimes
just
getting
something,
that's
going
to
work
and
work.
Well
enough
was
often
the
solution
at
hand.
So
you
know
here:
we've
got
I,
don't
know
how
many
you
know,
tens
of
thousands
of
dollars
of
work
and
and
our
equipment
rather-
and
here
we
have
this-
you
know
rather
nicely
milled,
but
nonetheless
a
wooden
board
in
which
things
were
installed.
There.
B
Another
interesting
example:
this
is
a
fellow
I
think
this
is
John
Hayes,
who
had
a
system
down
there
and
next
to
his
flat
panel.
He
had
them
erect
a
essentially
a
dark
panel,
so
rather
than
shooting
Sky
Flats,
he
opted
to
just
move
his
telescope
slew
it
over
to
this
panel
and
have
an
additional
source
of
dark
or
kind
of
non
non-reflective
type
of
stuff
that
he
could
then
shoot
his
dark
frames
into.
B
There
is
a
lot
of
small
lit
objects,
Power
Supplies,
networking
gear,
all
kinds
of
things,
they're
just
little
tiny
lights,
but
when
you
see
the
roof,
Observatory
camera
a
lot
of
these
things,
kind
of
light
up,
pretty
badly
and
so
I
can
I
can
appreciate
and
see
why
he
would
want
to
do
something
like
that,
which
I
thought
that
was
kind
of
clever
one.
Other
thing
I
want
to
point
out
is
that
maintenance,
particularly
of
the
Optics,
is
very
important.
B
So
the
friend
of
mine
who
asked
me
to
take
a
look
at
his
is
Starfire.
The
130
astrophysics
I
took
a
picture,
and
this
is
his
front
element
here.
It
was
completely
unknown
to
him
that
it
was
that
dirty
I
mean
it
was
I,
don't
know
how
you
feel
about
your
Optics,
but
this
was
a
bit
much
for
me
and
that's
that
can
be
pretty
typical
when
you
get
into
environments
like
this,
so
I
did,
of
course
clean
it
up
as
best
I
could.
B
B
However,
this
particular
instrument
was
not
owned
by
them.
This
is
the
one
meter
and
that's
Greg
there,
sort
of
looking
at
it
and
just
showing
by
comparison
how
big
this
thing
is.
Apparently
the
owner
had
called
up
and
said:
what's
the
best
telescope
that
I
could
get
and
after
some
back
and
forth
and
he's
saying
no,
no
better
better,
they
they
said
well,
there
is
the
one
meter
and
he
said
yes,
I
will
take
that
one
and
they
said
well.
B
So
here
in
the
middle,
you
can
see
that
there
is
some
some
sort
of
probably
a
full-frame
zwo
camera
filter,
wheel,
some
other
things
and
then
on
the
opposite
side,
which
you
don't
see
is
a
camera
selector
wheel,
I
think
is
from
op
Tech,
where
there's
a
series
of
devices
that
are
available.
There's
one
for
planetary,
I.
B
Think
there's
one
for
spectroscopy
a
few
other
things,
but
I
mean
just
the
the
sheer
volume
of
information
and
data
Gathering
capabilities
is,
is
completely
overwhelming
and
it's
all
the
best
stuff
that
you
would
expect,
and
they
told
me
that
this
telescope
has
not
yet
been
used
for
any
tour,
any
type
of
light,
Gathering
or
data
collection
types
of
things.
So
it's
interesting
to
me
to
see
that
it
may
not
always
be
all
about
the
equipment
and
certainly
the
the
folks
who
are
doing
the
macgyverish
types
of
things
are.
B
Are
it's
kind
of
a
mother
necessity
is
the
mother
of
invention
because
they
just
want
to
get
out
there
and
they
want
the
quickest
path
to
getting
light.
Whereas
here
we
have
this
absolutely
astonishing
instrument
with
a
bunch
of
cameras
on
there
and
you
couldn't
ask
for
anything
more
and
it's
kind
of
just
sitting
there
waiting
to
be
waiting
to
be
used.
B
Another
thing
we
had
was
observing
in
the
Atacama,
both
Visual
and
I,
brought
down
a
little
camera.
A
little
I
think
a
Canon
ra
I'm,
normally
a
Nikon
user,
but
figured
I
wanted
some
something
something
that
was
able
to
capture
additional
information
in
the
hydrogen
Alpha.
So
I
kind
of
hooked
on
my
14
millimeter
lens
to
see
what
would
happen.
B
These
are
just
some
examples
of
of
that
I
think
it
was
16
or
maybe
18
inch
dab
that
they
got
up
and
running
for
us
so
that
we
could
observe
visually
at
night
and
then,
as
Greg
mentioned,
the
overwork
bino
viewers.
Here
we
had
it
set
up
on
a
ioptron,
harmonic,
Drive
and
Greg
I.
Don't
I,
don't
know
if
you
happen
to
know
the
model
number
of
that,
but
it
was
a
relatively
new
one.
B
It
worked
great
until
it
just
stopped
it
just
quit.
I
think
at
the
end
of
our
first
night
and
one
of
the
things
that
I
was
really
impressed
by
these
are
the
guys
over
here
who
were
the
workers
kind
of
there
on
a
regular
basis
at
the
observatory.
They
said:
hey,
let
us
take
it
apart.
We'll
take
a
look,
and
we
thought
that's
that's
just
going
to
be
a
disaster
but
sure
enough.
They
pulled
it
apart
and
found
a
wire
that
had
not
been
soldered
correctly.
B
C
Well,
at
one
point,
I
gathered
some
of
the
staff
and
actually
a
few
of
them
one
one
guy
was:
he
knew
every
constellation.
He
knew
where
everything
was.
He
was
an
amazing.
He
had
a
lot
of
stuff
in
his
head
as
a
young
kid,
but
the
other
staff.
They
actually
ended
up
telling
me
that
hardly
anybody
really
took
the
time
to
look
at
the
sky.
That
often
but.
B
This
is
it
when
it
stopped
working,
so
we
kind
of
were
stuck
but
I
said
well,
while
we're
doing
this
at
least,
let
me
take
grab
a
photo
of
you
looking
into
those
while
we
can
sort
of
show
this
night
sky.
This
is
only
a
30
second
exposure.
It's
nothing
particularly
remarkable
the
large
and
small
magellanic
clouds,
which
you
can
see
here
to
the
right
of
the
Milky.
C
B
Rising
are
just
they
stick
out
like
a
sore
thumb,
I
mean
for
for
myself
and
maybe
for
Greg
coming
from
the
Northern
Hemisphere,
and
we
just
you
know,
we
thought
what
was
that
I
mean.
How
could
you
not
possibly
see
this
incredibly
large
thing
but
of
course
that's
not
available
to
us
in
the
northern
hemisphere.
So
we're
really
struck
by
that.
B
B
Yes
and
still
is
active
and
we
actually
visited
with
the
team
that
was
working
there,
which
was
a
I
think,
a
set
of
grad
students
doing
continuing
to
do
their
Sky
survey.
Work
as
I
mentioned.
Astrophysics
has
a
installation
there,
that's
about.
Hopefully
you
guys
can
see
this
mouse,
but
it's
right
in
this
area
here
and
they
call
it
the
lcro.
B
It's
a
12
inch,
f8
Matt
Cass
design
on
an
astrophysics
1600
mount,
and
it
is
you
know
one
of
the
things
that
we
stopped
by
and
and
helped
set
up
and
and
maintain
it's
it's.
It
now
has
a
second
life,
it
kind
of
went
down
during
covid,
and
it's
back
up
now
with
a
new
camera
and
some
other
improvements,
but
we're
Imaging
on
that.
B
B
This
is
another
good
example
of
where
you
can
see.
This
is
kind
of
the
main
portion
of
where
the
telescope
is
going
to
sit
and
then
the
hole
that
comes
around
it
is
where
the
platform
is
going
to
rotate
and
then
even
further
out
is
the
edges
of
the
building.
So,
if
I
just
kind
of
back
up
here
for
a
second-
hopefully
you
can
see.
This
is
what
I'm
talking
about
here
right
in
this
portion
of
the
telescope,
but
it
is
definitely
not
far
along.
B
In
the
meantime,
we
made
our
way
to
the
bade
Magellan
telescope.
This
is
one
of
the
two
twin
telescopes
that
is
currently
operational.
They
both
they
actually
are
don't
work
in
tandem.
They
they
work
separately
but
they're,
obviously
similarly
constructed
and
do
different
types
of
work.
At
the
same
time,
so
we
had
sort
of
a
notion
that
there
would
be
laser
shooting
out
and
they
would
be
somehow
synced
and
be
some
sort
of
binocular
type
of
setup,
and
that's
nothing
could
be
further
from
the
truth.
B
There,
just
two
installations
of
very,
very
large
six
meter,
telescopes
doing
work
whenever,
whenever
weather
permits,
when
we
visited
the
bay
telescope,
we
didn't
have
any
invitation.
We
didn't
have
a
formal
thought
that
we
would
go
in.
We
just
kind
of
pulled
up
and
we
looked
around
and
it
was
a
night
where
the
clouds
were
still
present.
So
none
of
the
observatories
were
open
and
and
I
I'm,
not
even
sure
what
we
were
doing.
We
were
standing
around
in
the
parking
lot
and
we
were
by
ourselves
and
I.
B
Think
one
of
the
doors
opened
in
on
the
side
of
the
telescope
and
this
person
popped
out
and
we
we
didn't
know
what
to
do
so.
We
wanted
to
wave.
You
know
we're
not
here
to
steal
anything,
we're
not
going
to
steal
your
cars
or
anything.
They
said
hey,
you
want
to
come
up
and
we
said
sure
So.
We
marched
up
the
stairs
and
came
in
and
met
these
two
fellows.
B
These
are
the
two
operators
and
by
the
way
these
are
the
only
this.
Is
it
right?
This
is
the
staff
running
this
this
one
telescope,
which
surprised
us
I,
mean
I,
don't
know
what
we
expected,
but
you
know
something:
that's
probably
out
of
Austin
Powers.
You
know
15
guys
and
lab
coats,
twiddling,
knobs
and
and
investigating
things
and
and
nope.
It
was
just
these
two
guys
and
there's
a
gentleman
right
here.
B
This
is
a
little
sort
of
a
zoom
meeting,
but
on
this
side
it
was
a
I
think
it
was
a
postdoc.
Looking
to
do
some
remote
observing
on
the
telescope
and
and
he
was
actually
in
Pasadena
waiting
and
we're
all
just
waiting
to
see
if
the
skies
would
clear
up
so
they
gave
us
a
a
bit
of
a
tour
and
talked
about
it.
We
went
and
saw
the
telescope,
which
I'll
I'll
show
you
some
pictures
of
here
in
a
moment.
B
One
thing
that's
surprising
to
me:
if
you'll
notice
down
here
in
the
lower
right,
they
use
all
Macs
these
little
mac,
Minis
and
I'm,
pretty
sure
that
they
have
installed
Linux
or
maybe
rooted
them
or
something
but
I'll
show
you
some
of
the
software.
It
looks
like
it's
all
custom
software,
but
they
are
a
Mac
house
through
and
through,
and
they
don't
really
have
a
lot
of
other
machines,
so
that
was
a
little
bit
unexpected,
but
they
they're
very
proud
of
all
that
and
it
seemed
to
works
really
well.
B
This
is
so
let
me
back
up
here
this
screen
over
here.
This
gentleman
had
two
of
these
big
giant
monitors
and
he
had
a
series
of
screens
happening.
This
particular
one.
You
can
see
this
series
of
software
systems
they
have
running.
Some
of
this
is
the
active
Optics.
Then
I
have
a
different
and
better
screenshot
of
I'll.
Show
you
here
in
a
moment,
but
just
the
amount
of
data
that's
coming
through.
That
tells
them
about
the
status
of
the
telescope.
B
The
various
instruments
they
have
are
all
showed
here
and
one
of
the
things
that
I
personally
walked
away
with
and
I
thought
wow.
You
know
these
guys
have
these
giant
Dell
monitors,
I
want
to
say
they're,
probably
maybe
40
inch,
monitors
and
I
thought
it
was
a
really
brilliant
idea
to
get
a
big,
Monitor
and
kind
of
use
it
for
remote,
desktop
type
of
things
and
use
them
for
different
types
of
connections.
B
So
one
of
the
things
that
I
came
away
with-
and
this
is
a
monitor
that
I
purchased
and
did
the
same
thing
it
turns
out.
If
you
take
a
4k
monitor
and
you
cut
it
up
into
fourth
using
something
like
Microsoft
Remote
Desktop,
they
end
up
being
four
1080p
monitors,
so
I
have
here.
This
is
probably
the
object
telescope
that
we
have
this
here
on.
The
right
is
my
all.
B
I
ended
up
purchasing
a
actually
a
TV
called
Hisense,
which
I,
which
I
am
always
loathed
to
do
when
people
buy
TVs
and
they
talk
about
them
as
monitors.
But
I
did
look
at
the
best
possible
gaming
monitor,
which
was
a
gigabyte
55-inch
gaming
monitor,
and
there
is
review
done,
and
it
was
a
very
reasonable
review.
But
essentially
they
said
this
is
nothing
but
a
high
sense
monitor
with
a
couple
extra.
B
You
know
better
stand
and
a
few
other
things
and
sure
enough.
I
looked
up
the
Hisense
monitor
here
and
ended
up
getting
a
65
inch
one.
So
this
is
just
kind
of
a
one
of
the
takeaways
that
I
had
of
a
really
nice
way
to
operate
kind
of
multiple
remote
systems,
sometimes
with
Greg's
Imaging
in
Malibu,
which
I'm
not
local,
to
I'll,
be
able
to
pull
up
his
telescope
and
actually
run
it
at
the
same
time
and
have
all
these
going.
B
B
They
were
grousing
a
little
bit,
because
this
is
a
bit
of
older
technology
and
I
guess
in
some
newer
installations
using
active
Optics,
it's
all
in
real
time
now.
So
there
is
no
delay
or
anything
like
that.
They're
waiting
for
as
I
mentioned,
one
of
the
things
we
were
waiting
for
was
for
the
skies
to
clear
enough
and
he
kept
disappearing
and
reappearing
and
we
weren't
sure
we
thought
maybe
he
was
taking
a
cigarette
break
or
something.
B
But
you
know
we
can
see
that
he's
got
all
kinds
of
weather
information
and
you
know
all
kinds
of
forecasting
stuff.
All
kinds
of
monitors
and
things-
and
we
asked
them
also,
how
do
you
know
when,
when
the
right
time
is
to
open
this
telescope
open
up
the
observatory
and
he
marched
us
outside?
This
is
the
root.
B
This
is
the
door
that
they
come
in
and
out
of,
and
we
walked
along
this
little
platform
here
and
he
put
his
hand
right
here,
and
he
said
if
this
part
is
wet,
we
don't
open
it
and
if
it's
dry,
we
open
it,
and
that
was
it
that
was
his.
You
know,
of
course,
he's
got
a
tremendous
amount
of
experience,
but
it's
again
just
sort
of
it's
interesting
to
see
that
understanding
and
knowledge
kind
of
Trumps.
B
All
this,
you
know
fantastic
detailed
equipment,
even
in
an
installation
of
something
as
impressive
as
the
the
Magellan
telescope.
So
we
were
just
we
thought
that
was
pretty
funny
and
we
of
course
told
him
so
and
thought
it
was
really
great
that
he
knew
how
to
do
this
and
sure
enough.
He
went
out
there
later
that
night
and
he
put
his
hand
on
it.
B
B
This
is
a
little
bit
more
close-up
of
the
active
Optics,
so
they
have
a
a
series.
This
is
the
kind
of
the
pattern
of
the
primary
which,
of
course,
is
much
larger.
It's
a
it's
a
six
meter
telescope
and
then
this
would
be
the
deformations
that
the
little
tiny,
Motors
or
actuators
worked
on.
So
when
they
take
a
picture-
and
they
do,
this,
it'll
actually
move
these
motors
in
tiny
ways
to
ensure
that
the
stars
are
in
fact
round
above
I
was
again
kind
of
thinking.
B
This
is
very
typical
of
what
we
do,
but
he's
he's
got
himself
a
guide
star.
They
acquire
a
guide
star,
they
start
guiding
on
it.
Of
course,
the
actual
camera
being
used
is
quite
different,
but
again
all
of
the
the
instruments
they
have
are
along
the
edges,
the
outside
edges
of
the
primary
mirror
and
the
secondary,
and
that's
how
they
gather
a
lot
of
this
secondary
type
of
of
data.
B
We
were
very
curious,
so
this
is
the
this.
Is
the
telescope
instrument
itself
very
similar
to
the
one
meter
we
saw.
There's
a
series
of
instruments,
cameras,
there's
one
here,
there's
another
one
here,
there's
I
think
at
least
one
more,
if
not
two
more,
on
the
opposite
side,
and
they
all,
of
course,
are
designed
to
do
different
things,
and
then
there
is
a
a
rotating
mirror
at
the
bottom
that
switches
these
around
to
point
at
whichever
camera
or
instrument
they
happen
to
be
using.
B
Some
of
these
are
about
the
size
of
a
small
minivan.
By
the
way,
I
mean
they're,
absolutely
monstrous
machines.
This
is
Greg
down
here
at
the
bottom,
so
you
get
a
sense
of
how
big
this
is
and
I
asked
them.
I
thought!
Well
boy,
you
know
something:
that's
this
big
they're,
not
gonna
have
a
flat
panel.
Probably
so
I
asked
them
about
Sky
flats
and-
and
it
turns
out
that
they
don't
do
Sky
Flats
at
all.
B
In
fact,
a
lot
of
what
they
do
in
terms
of
spectroscopy
is
they
have
to
take
Flats
at
certain
wavelengths,
so
they
have
kind
of
a
flat
panel,
but
they
put
different
tubes
in
depending
on
the
type
of
gas
or
element
that
they
are
expecting
to
do
some
Spectra
on
and
over
here.
So
I'm
kind
of
zoomed
into
this
secondary.
B
The
spectroscopy
was
quite
interesting,
so
they
do
quite
a
bit
of
that
on
this
telescope.
I
believe
that
the
Imaging
scale
they
told
us
about
was
only
on
the
order
of
one
or
two
Arc
seconds
per
pixel,
which
was
very
different
than
my
expectation
of
what
we
would
see,
but
they
have
software
that
reads
in
segments
of
the
camera
at
a
time,
and
this
is
one
this
he's
pointing
into
one
segment,
that's
being
loaded
here.
So
you
can
see
of
the
entire
full
frame.
B
Small
segments
are
very
small
pieces
of
this
and
it
takes
quite
a
while
to
load
the
full
thing,
but
they
do
multi
slot
spectroscopy,
and
this
is
an
example
on
the
right
of
the
spectral
line
that
they
get,
and
this
is
it's
so
long
that
they
have
to
sort
of
show
it
in
a
series
of
arcs.
So
they've
got
software
that
ends
up
taking
this
and
essentially
linearizes
it
and
then
they're
able
to
analyze
it,
but
compared
with
a
number
of
amateur
types
of
spectral
lines
that
I've
seen.
B
B
So
that
was
it
that's
what
we
kind
of
wanted
to
cover
and
we
wanted
to
keep
it
short.
You
know
primarily
to
see
if
there
was
other
topics
or
things
that
you
wanted
us
to
to
talk
about,
but
we
just
sort
of
walked
away
with
this
feeling
that
there
was
a
lot
of
similarities
to
the
kinds
of
things
we
do
as
amateurs
with
the
kinds
of
things
that
sort
of
the
advanced
or
serious
amateurs
do.
B
Those
folks
who
have
the
big,
large
telescopes
and
that
equipment
really
isn't
just
the
kind
of
the
main
takeaway
that
it's
really
just
getting
out
there
and
trying
to
make
it
happen
and
being
adaptable.
That
makes
a
big
difference
in
terms
of
the
kinds
of
things
that
people
are
able
to
achieve.
So
with
that
I
wanted
to
stop
and
just
see
if
there
were
any
other
questions
or
other
topics,
maybe
that
we
didn't
cover
that
you
guys
might
be
interested
in
chatting
about.
A
A
D
B
How
did
we
ship
our
own
equipment,
yeah
boy,
that
is,
there-
is
an
art
to
that.
So,
aside
from
the
physical
packaging
and
everything
which,
of
course,
you
know,
plane,
wave
and
other
things
come
in
in
sufficiently
capable
boxes
and
crates,
and
things
like
that,
it
turns
out.
Shipping
is
really
tricky
for
a
couple
reasons.
B
C
B
You
know
we
we
coordinated
with
obstac
to
talk
about
the
the
best
ways
in
which
we
could
deliver
things.
They
have
a
a
a
box
in
Miami
that
for
small
things
like
filters,
you
know
maybe
a
camera,
they
have
a
regular
kind
of
monthly
drop
that
they
come
and
they
deliver.
But
it's
very,
very
limited.
You
can't
ship
large
amounts
of
equipment,
so
we
shipped
it
down.
I
I,
want
to
say
maybe
via
DHL
yeah
DHL.
C
B
B
And
we
and
we
did
have
to
use
it-
I
mean
we
actually
broke
it
out
of
the
boxes
and
set
everything
up,
which
reminds
me
I,
think
maybe
at
for
the
description.
High
I
did
end
up
producing
kind
of
a
write-up
on
some
best
practices
around
working
with
remote
Observatory,
including
issues
like
import
and
so
forth.
B
But
when
you
export
the
equipment,
there
is
an
export
fee
as
well
and
I'm,
not
sure
exactly
what
it
is,
but
I
think
it's
it
may
be
equivalent
to
the
import
fee
and
it's
a
it
was
a
surprise
to
us
and
it's
not
like
well,
you
guys
imported
it
in
and
therefore
you're
just
taking
out
again,
and
we
could
discuss
the
reasons
why
they
have
this,
but
it
was.
It
was
a
sizable
export
fee
as
well.
E
A
C
B
So
when
we
had
this
issue
that
turned
out
to
be
a
kind
of
a
turned
Edge
on
the
mirror,
it's
really
really
difficult
to
get
their
attention
to
troubleshoot
this
and
then,
as
as
we
found
out
when
we
needed
to
replace
it.
Oh
my
God,
you
know
it
just
took
months
and
months
and
months
and
tons
of
money
for
the
import
and
again
the
re-import
fees
or
the
new
telescope.
B
So
we
I
wish
that
we
would
have
had
a
longer
time
to
actually
test
everything
and
make
sure
at
a
kind
of
a
ongoing
deep
space,
Imaging
caliber.
We
would
have
done
all
that
and
then
the
second
thing
we
should
have
labeled
every
part
with
labels
and
kind
of
you
know
slot
a
goes
into
tab,
B
kind
of
things,
because
we
just
sort
of
assumed
that
they
would
knew
know
what
they
were
doing
and
they
they
do,
but
they
don't
necessarily
know
exactly
how
everything
works.
B
So,
for
example,
we
had
some
issue
for
a
couple
weeks
to
resolve
or
we
couldn't
quite
get
into
focus
and
we
thought
something
was
happening.
Well,
it
turns
out
they
had
left
out
one
of
the
adapters,
the
spacing
adapters
for
the
back
focus
you
know
had
we
actually
gone
through
and
labeled
everything
and
just
color
coded
them
and
sort
of
showed
exactly
where
things
go.
I
think
we
would
have
avoided
a
lot
of
the
issues
that
we
ran
into
as
kind
of
first
time,
remote
Observers.
B
Yeah,
so
the
so
the
black,
the
dark
frame
thing
that
I
showed
earlier
is
John
Hayes
and
he
and
I
I,
don't
know
if
we're
root,
roof
mates,
but
he
and
I
chat
a
bit
and
I
was
helping
him
with
his
installation.
He
also
just
recently
went
down
to
Ops
Tech
and
installed
all
those
things
and
was
doing
some
Sky
modeling
that
I
needed
to
help
him
out
with,
but
yeah
a
lot
of
his
experiences
and
our
experiences
seem
to
line
up
pretty
well
for
sure.
E
I'd
be
curious
about
any
extra
gear
from
what
maybe
we
might
be
used
to
that
you
added
because
it's
remote
in
terms
of
power,
cycling
things
or
you
know,
remotely
controlling
things
and
then
I'm
also
interested
in
you
know.
Is
there
some
sort
of
automation,
software
above
and
beyond?
You
know,
image
capture
and
whatnot
that
you
use
so
that
the
whole
thing
can
run
unattended
and
choose
targets
and
all
that
hey.
B
Right
so
so,
in
terms
of
the
things
that
make
remote
that
we
have
found
to
be
make
a
big
difference
in
in
remote
Imaging,
the
first
one
was
the
reliability
of
the
computer.
So
we,
when
we
talk
to
obstac
and
I,
think
one
of
the
things
that
we
did
do
right
was
we
asked
them
a
lot
of
questions,
just
ask
them
for
a
lot
of
recommendations
and
they
said
that
fans
fail
all
the
time
there.
B
In
fact,
without
our
knowledge,
we
eventually
found
out
that
two
of
the
three
cooling
fans
on
our
fli
camera
had
failed
and
we
didn't
even
we
weren't
even
aware
of
that,
and
only
when
we
just
you
know,
there's
a
few
nights
where
we
couldn't
quite
get
down
to
our
cooling
temperature.
Did
we
realize
what
was
going
on,
but
they
did
say.
B
B
B
They
do
have
a
fast
internet,
which
is
very
good,
but
we
try
to
be
respectful
because
everyone
can't
be
logged
in
at
the
same
time
and
doing
remote
Imaging.
So
we
try
to
set
everything
up
reasonably
automated
I
have
now
so
so
nowadays,
I'm
using
Nina,
we
started
with
sequence,
generator
Pro,
but
found
you
know
like
a
lot
of
folks
that
it
does
a
great
job.
But
if
you
really
want
to
fine-tune
things,
we
needed
to
do
that.
B
B
To
do
it
stays
cooling,
so
I
think
we
had
about
two
solid
weeks
of
the
camera
being
cooled
before
they
pointed
out
that
it
was
like
burning
hot
in
the
middle
of
the
day,
so
we
actually
put
in
some
additional
commands
in
Nina
to
make
sure
that
the
camera
is
warming
and
then
also
we
use
pushover
as
an
application
to
let
us
know
kind
of
the
status
of
things
that
we're
going
through
so
in
any
given
night.
You
know
my
my
watch
or
my
phone
will.
B
Let
me
know
that
the
session
has
started.
I
drop.
A
few
notifications
in
there
like
an
autofocus
was
complete.
The
the
the
target
was
slewed
and
centered
we're
beginning
Imaging,
depending
on
how
interested
I
am
I.
Might
you
know?
Have
it
tell
me
every
time
there's
an
image,
but
you
know
that
can
kind
of
get
a
little
bit
bit
much.
B
B
But
in
my
experience
so
far
it
doesn't
seem
to
be
terribly
reliable
and
I
don't
mean
necessarily
from
a
technological
perspective,
but
if
there
are,
if
there
are
clouds
coming
by
and
somehow
it
kind
of,
gets
a
false
positive,
then
everything
sort
of
grinds
to
a
halt
and
it
Parks
the
telescope-
and
you
know
it
waits
for
the
safety
monitor
to
say
everything's
good
again.
I
just
haven't
had
good
experiences
with
that.
Yet
where
it
has
kind
of.
B
B
I
have
a
general
kind
of
failures,
go
to
pushover
in
the
Nina
kind
of
global
settings.
So
if
I'm
starting
to
get
a
series
of
those
chances,
are
it's
going
to
be
because
the
roof
is
closed?
They
also
use
telegram
telegram.
That's
right!
That's
the
one
right,
so
they
actually
have
a
bot
on
telegram,
I
gotta
check
and
make
sure
it
is.
That
will
actually
tell
us
if
the
the
roof
is
closing
or
if
it's
open
or
anything
like
that.