The Elemental Remote Observatory was commissioned on November 28, 2024 at Howling Coyote Remote Observatories, near Pie Town, New Mexico. It is the culmination of a goal set in 2015 to design and procure a science-grade remote telescope sited under the darkest skies reasonably available.
System metrics
I developed a plugin for NINA called InfluxDB Exporter. It collects and transmits event-based hardware and imaging metrics from within NINA and sends them to a specified InfluxDB time-series database. From there, the metrics can be graphed and analyzed using tools such as Grafana.
Software
The OnLogic Helix 401 control computer runs Windows 11, with NINA being the primary observation sequencing engine. Guiding is taken care of with PHD2.
Equipment
- PlaneWave CDK14 telescope (355mm aperture, 2561mm focal length, f/7.2)
- PlaneWave L-350 direct-drive mount, equatorial configuration
- QHY600M-PH-SBFL camera, 61mp @ 16 bits per pixel
- QHY CFW3XL 9-position filter wheel
- Optec Gemini focuser and rotator
- Optec Sagitta motorized off-axis guider (OAG)
- QHY5III-174M guide camera
- Pegasus Astro Ultimate Power Box v3
- PlaneWave Delta-T heater control
- OnLogic Helix 401 computer
- Samlex SC-1235M 12V PSU
- Schneider Electric/APC SRT-1000 900KVA UPS
- L-Com High Flex USB and ethernet cables
Filters
The system is currently configured with a set of 2″/50mm filters designed for general-purpose photometry and narrowband astrophotography. All filters are 3mm thick and focused using focus offsets with the CV filter being the filter utilized for autofocus operations.
- Sloan g’, r’, and i’ (Baader Planetarium)
- Johnson-Cousins B and V (Baader Planetarium)
- Chroma H-alpha (5nm) , OIII (3nm), and SII (3nm)
- Chroma Luminance/CV