Yes not much different! 😊

The fact is that most amateur refractor enthusiasts are always chasing the magic. They convince themselves, after using a new scope for a few months, that there's something better. They sell what they have used for a short while and look through the reviews, find that others are enthusiastic about Scope X, and they rush to buy one. It comes, they're amazed, and then the whole process starts all over again. It's now a meh scope, but the reviews about Scope Y are amazing, the prices are going up (Duh!) because the supply is dwindling, and there's more magic to be had with just another $500. Trust me, if you like refractors, the AT 115 EDT will be a forever scope. If you want something better, stop buying mid-range refractors and get in line for a Takahashi, Astro Physics, or TEC scope which will run 4-8 times the price. And then keep convincing yourself that you have the best.

1:00 that's an awesome picture. Several galaxies visible. Your pictures are very high quality.

Great edit. Thanks for sharing.

very educational... I'm sitting here debating on a new mount to run 2 scopes simultaneously or go mono. I already have a ASI533 and 2600 in color ... you make a compelling case to invest in mono instead.

Bro whistles every time there’s an S word

How do you Polar Align the mount? I assume you put in a ticket and the staff does it. Do they just plug into your mount/scope and then run something like SharpCap, Nina, or other software? Obviously, you could check it after they do it but they'd have to do any fine tuning on-site.

Very nice. We have nine months of clouds so getting a rig here would be amazing

Nice scope... I might of bought the right Nikon camera for a beginner...looking at tracking scopes thanks.

Not worth it dude. Waste of money.

I had sent my rig in October and it has been so awesome. If was a learning experience on the whole process but damn the images that I am getting. Also, the team there are so awesome!

A lot of KZbin “astro celebrities” moved to StarFront. Nico Carver moved there (after construction of own observatory in NH!). Then, Galactic Hunter after jumping from one remote observatory to another settled in StarFront. Now, DSO imager. Who do we have else to move there? Trevor? Adam? Neh, he likes at 24” scopes. They are organized in groups and collecting combined data for hundred’s of hours. Are you going to participate in collective data collection, James?

Thanks! This is perfect. I totally appreciate you making this video.

Yup. Big difference in the dark sky site. Well worth it. Thanks!

Thanks for the vid. Yes, very helpful.

I Robocopy as I go to my Google drive.

Thanks for this. I was curious how things worked. Appreciate the info. I didn't quite understand your file transfer process. As an image is captured, where is it stored? Do you have Google Drive set up on your remote PC? If so, is that where you place the files at capture? If so, there shouldn't be any need to upload/download - you can simply sync. Same with Dropbox. Unless you want to avoid any bandwidth going to file transfer during capture.

Super helpful information for prepping my rig, which I am sending out soon. Thank you. Fyi, you can upload an entire folder to Drive, so zipping files isn't necessary.

Great video!!!!

What are you using for remote control and access? I assume that you are using a Mini-PC and NINA, etc.. I don’t think that an ASIAir would work well here.

what software are you using to run your rig there and how do you access it?

Hmmm……………..that’s $1800/yr for a slightly more detailed image. $18,000 over 10yrs. You sure it’s worth it?

Don't mind my pareidolia but at 17:33 I see the Lich King reaching out to grab you. Sweet compare James.

I agree with you about the difference being about a magnitude or so. I would hazard a guess that you are in fair to good Bortle 4, despite how you feel about the ever encroaching LP (!). The remote is probably a 2. The remote I'm at in Spain also "only" has Bortle 2-3 skies. BUT it is clear 200-250 nights annually, where I would be lucky to get 30-50 in the UK. AND it is much more affordable than the premium sites at higher altitude. In the end, it's all about the quality triangle. lol. Sorry for the CAPS. I am just trying to emphasise :) BTW, I have actually spent less on "upgrading" equipment since going remote.

Hi James! Great video. I'm so tempted to go to Starfront. I live near SF, and collecting good data is a challenge. I've been watching KZbin and seen many folks set up rigs at Starfront. Still, no one (I can find) has done a video showing "after" they've set up there and how they interfaced with their remote rig and all the challenges, such as accessing, downloading data, etc. Have you considered doing one now that you are up and running? Asking for a friend! Ha!

That thing on the lower left that you think is a reflection is actually part of the nebula. I also see that structure on my image as well as on other's people images

Great choice to get a rig out at Starfront. Data definitely looked better at Starfront.

Similar to another comment, I find both images compelling and the improvement, while clearly visible, isn't enough of an exponential difference for me. I'm frankly envious of the detail you are able to achieve from your backyard (I also shoot in Bortle 5), but I appreciate the speed and convenience of working remotely, especially if you still have a career to manage. It's great to have so many choices in this hobby.

That's a really cool comparison. I live in bortle 8, bortle 7 on the best days, and your bortle 5 is a great image in my eyes. Since I live in such a light-polluted area, I use filters up to my eyeballs. The Antlia 3.5mm filters are a miracle; the data I get is like a bortle 3. I highly recommend those filters.

I'm thinking of going there. I moved like you to a smaller town. A year later they got the LED bug and added 3 miles of LED spotlights a block from my apartment. I give it 5 years before somebody discovers there's an observatory there and moves in next door and builds a stadium. For some reason the world wants to hide the sky.

close nearby, just a 3 hour drive... here in the netherlands its from one to the other side of the country haha.. clear sky !!

Great video, personally I don’t see a big enough difference between your backyard image and the Starfront image, to warrant the remote set up, BUT i think what they are doing out there is superb, and will be great for many people…personally, I love the tinkering with my kit, and can’t afford a second set up…👍🏻

Excellent video James, I been hoping to see a side-by-side comparison like this for a while now. I have been processing a lot of data recently that has come from Starfront and it's a joy to work with. I'm now seriously thinking about shipping one of my rigs across the pond to take advantage of the dark skies (and lots of them). There are a few sites in Europe that offer a similar pier hosting service but they are so much more expensive that it's still more cost effective shipping to the States instead.

I think that ‘bow shock’ at the bottom left definitely looks like a reflection. My RASA 11 is so susceptible to this effect even with an average bright star nearby. Framing is so important for me. As far as hating on remote observatories, I consider it no different than taking my equipment to a remote location and setting up. I love this comparison video. The starfront data is certainly cleaner. I remember when digital photography was introduced. It was ‘cheating’ then too according to the pearl-clutchers. Beautiy is in the eye of the beholder. Who cares what anyone thinks? I only care if you’re a friend or family. Haters gonna hate. You’re a great astrophotographer no matter where you setup. Clear skies.

I've been extremely tempted to go remote for a while now. I thoroughly enjoy the hobby, but the challenges I face setting up at the end of my driveway tend to dampen the enthusiasm. First and foremost are the quality of my skies. I'm easily Bortle 7. I've got streetlights and neighbors with always-on bright lights. Besides the obvious light pollution issues, the quality of my skies is not the greatest in terms of transparency and seeing. Next is my view of the sky. I have virtually zero view east of the meridian, meaning the majority of my imaging is done to the west and north. Which is unfortunate, because that's exactly where the largest light domes are (Philly). This leads to extremely limited time on target. I think the absolute max I can get on a target in the "perfect" trajectory for my sky is under 6 hours. Most of the time, I'm limited to 3 hours at best. If I'm trying to capture anything to the south, I've got about 90 minutes. With the remote setup, how are you taking calibration frames? Are you doing sky flats? How are you dealing with the stars you'd inevitably pick up, or do you have someone go throw a tee shirt over the end of your scope? Do they have flat panels you can ask them to put on / take off your scope?

Definitely cleaner with darker skies altogether 👍🏻

Sunny texas

For similar FOV at lower cost, I have Askar FMA180 Pro and ASI2600MC Air with APS sensor. To adjust corner stars, I combined Askar’s 54mm backfocus micro-adjuster with ZWO’s 54mm gen2 filter drawer. I also added the EAF with Askar’s very nice kit for that. First night out, with two runs of backfocus adjustment guess followed by autofocus, I had the corner stars very close but not perfect yet. I was impatient to image, so I started an autorun with Sadr and Crescent. I only got 85min total before it went into the tree-line. Even so, I got a great HaOiii image! It can be seen on Telescopius. My next night, I will perfect the corner stars some more. But they are already much less elongated than the data you have in this video. So I’m very close. BTW, I really like your processing! Now I have a goal for when I start my Hubble palette processing in the future!

Are you able to get PHD2 to perform a successfully calibration on your AVX? Mine rarely does. The orthogonal graph is ususall off from 90° and it complains about excessive backlash. Guding Assistant isn't able to measure the backlash. I've decided to try to use the last calibration settings and it doesn't seem to make any difference as when I spend the time calibrating. I don't bother with Guiding Assistant anymore.

10 months ago I posted , further down this comment list, my new experience with my AVX and ASIAir. I have a C8. Since then I stopped using the ASIAir and moved to NINA on a Mele Quieter 3Q minipc. No more mount disconnects or GoTo issues. I've been able to concentrate on improving the guiding using the Celstron OAG with ASI174mm mini guide camera. I switched from Hysterisis to Predictive PEC algorithm in PHD2. I've also played around with adjusting the DEC and RA worm gear backlash. Of course trying to remove the RA motor cover I ended up breaking it at the narrow part but now its easy to take off and the break is down underneath where it's not visible. Between those two changes the guiding has gotten better and over time I can now get RMS total averages under 1" However, DEC still spikes. It will be at 0.5 then suddenly it goes up to 2" then come down. I don't bother to dither. I put the RMS error for each sub in the title so I can pick out the bad frames easily but I'll still go through all of them., I've been able to shoot 10 minute frames as a test. I use a ASI071MC Pro OSC so I don't shoot beyond 5 minute frames. If I could figure out how to flatten out the DEC spikes it would make my guiding a lot better. I've been thinking of upgrading but I feel the AVX is now running good enough. If I knew what I know now I would've probably gone with the HEQ5. It's an entry mount but its uses bearings on both axes while AVX uses bushings on the DEC. There is also a belt kit you can purchase to upgrade the HEQ5 and the bearings are easy to replace. A better tinker's mount. Now, I'm contemplating iOptron, AM5N, Losmandy GM811. The EQ6 head is just too heavy. I have to set up and tear down every session. I'm kinda wary of ZWO. It took 6 months for the issues I had between the ASIAir and AVX to get corrected. I don't think their customer service process is very good.. I also wonder how well long focal lengths work on strain wave mounts. iOptron CEM40 and GEM45 seem to suffer from some issues looking at threads on Cloudy nights. I just let the iOptron sale expire, now I have to wait another year. I couldn't get my self to pull the trigger. Losmany seems to be a good mount but there isn't much activity of the forums from users. I'd like more information on the guiding with SCTS with this mount. It's the most expensive of my choices but if it's my last mount it may be worth it in the long run. Thanks

I have a non HD C8. I use a Starizona focal reducer which is stated to reduce a C8 to F7.1. My main camera is an ASI071MC Pro with and APS-C sized sensor. I also use the Celestron OAG with an ASI174mm mini guide camera to take advantage of the OAG 12.5mm prism.. I assumed you had the focal reducer installed for the Alnitak photo? The first time I took a similar image of the Horsehead framed with Alnitak to the left I had I was using Celestron's 6.3 focal reducer. Alnitak was closer to the frame edge and the looping artifact that you showed was much more pronounced, brighter and tighter plus a large halo. I did write up a question in Cloudy Nights and the response was Alnitak was a problem child of astrophotographers. I thought maybe it was the focal reducer. I will have to check out your video on how to shoot the Horsehead. Now that I have the Starizona focal reducers I experienced a similar artifact imaging IC 63 Ghost of Cassiopeia recently. The adjacent star, yCAS, is very bright, mag 2.3, and even though it wasn't in the frame but just outside it left an artifact similar to your second Horsehead image except mine was brighter. I did some testing using NINA Framing Assistant. After determining the rotation of my camera frame I would move the frame so the star was in the corners and along the sides of the frame. I all cases except in the middle of the long side of the sensor frame I got the looping artifact. The C8 SCT optic hole is 38mm in diameter. Is the C8 Edge HD the same? The optical circle of the Starizona focal reducer is 27mm. My ASI071MC sensor diagonal is 28.4mm. I assumed because my sensor diagonal didn't quite fit inside the focal reducer's image circle that was causing the artifacts. Back focus for the Starizona FR is 90.3 and adding up the OAG and filter drawer etc I got my back focus to 90.5mm. I even tested without the OAG to see if it caused the issue. I removed my Antilia Quad band filter and no change. I did the same framing test at F/10 with a back focus of 127mm. No artifact present in the corners and along the sides. My conclusion is the focal reducer. I installed my ASI585MC planetary camera with a sensor diagonal of 12.8mm and with the focal reducer no artifacts. An ASI284 camera sensor diagonal is 23.1mm. I wrote up a thread on Cloudy Nights. Seach for "Artifacts" in title only and you'll see my thread "C8 SCT Optical Artifacts....". I have photos showing the issue in the thread. Several contributors to the thread have said there is a reflection occurring in the baffle and to flock the baffle. One person removed his baffle from his C6 and painting the inside with foam trim roller and said it cured the problem. Also mentioned was to use black flocking paper and make a roll and insert it in the baffle to test. I did that with black paper but only created a 6" long paper tube but saw no change to the artifacts. I was then told the issue is at the top of the baffle. I may make a longer tube of paper but if it cures it I'm not confident to paint the inside of the baffle along its whole length. If the paper tube works I could just leave it there full time. I didn't notice anymore vignetting with the 6" tube. I contacted Starizona and they told me the issue is generated at the top of the baffle. They said the SCT are designed for F10 and not F6 or F 7. I don't understand optics so I don't understand why the artifact is not present at F/10 but is at F/7.1. The light entering the baffle is not changed until it gets to the focal reducer? The only solution is to frame the target knowing this issue and maybe crop or skip the target. I the bright star is moved out from the sides of the frame the artifact will disappear. I have star halos to on my C8 too. They seem to dissipate at lower exposures. I had contacted several C8 Edge users and they said they hadn't seen issue and one used a 2600 camera without issue. You video here shows that is not true. Thank you.

thanks so much for this review. I'm just now looking to upgrade from my 100mm Bausch & Lomb Schmidt Cassegrain from the 1980's, and I don't want to jump and then be disappointed.

Got the flame nebula and horsehead from downtown Toronto