Elemental Remote Observatory System (EROS1)

The Elemental Remote Observatory System 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. This is a multi-use Read More …

InfluxDB Exporter

InfluxDB Exporter is a NINA plugin that transmits periodic hardware, guiding, and image metrics to an InfluxDB time-series database. From there, the metrics may be graphed using tools such as Grafana or InfluxDB’s own built-in graphing features. A time-series database is optimized to collect and store temporally-oriented data. This data Read More …

Astromechanics Aperture Control

The ASCOM Canon Lens Controller from Astromechanics is a popular device for those who wish to combine a Canon EF/RF lens with an astro camera and control the lens focus mechanism like a traditional ASCOM focuser. One of the features of this device and its ASCOM Focuser driver is that Read More …

Using N.I.N.A. with Astro-Physics mounts

Introduction This document is to serve as an explainer/FAQ for using N.I.N.A. with an Astro-Physics mount. While there is nothing specific to N.I.N.A. that one must set in the Astro-Physics ASCOM driver, APCC, or the mount’s Control Panel settings, there are a number of helpful configuration tips and capabilities within Read More …

Astro-Physics Tools

Astro-Physics Tools is a NINA plugin that implements multiple Advanced Sequencer instructions that are useful for users of Astro-Physics mounts and APCC Pro. Introduction Astro-Physics Tools is a plugin for NINA 2.0. It provides instructions that enable direct interaction with Astro-Physics’ APCC Pro and APPM applications. This interaction is currently Read More …

Introducing NINA: An astrophotography sequencing suite

I have been involved in a new opensource project over the past several months called Nighttime Imaging ‘N’ Astronomy (“NINA”). NINA is ground-breaking both in the hobby of amateur astrophotography and personally. An artifact of several historical reasons, the world of computer-controlled astrophotography is dominated by Windows applications. As such, Read More …