We Drove 10 Hours to Install Our RASA at a Remote Observatory

[@user-ku4yk4ut4z]

Great video.......Welcome to the SPEED of RASA and bortle 1-2 I have been using a RASA 11 at Haleakala Maui for over 3 years and it is amazing how much detail you can get in a short amount of time....The only draw back if you have to change filters if using MONO! Mono in my opinion is the only way to FULLY utilize it's awesome power....I used 1 shot color with the RASA 8 and 11 for a year the difference is stunning what Mono brings to astro photos.....of course you have to be present to change filters , the 6200MM is the perfect compliment to the System!

[@kostikos13]

Beautiful✨✨ location and beautiful✨✨ setup ❤❤

[@mdnt_astro]

Holy smokes, that photo of NGC1333 is INSANE! I'd love to get into a remote setup sometime in the future. I'm lucky enough to live in a Bortle 3, but I have limited visibility to the north and south. And knowing how much more I could get at a Bortle 1 site really makes me want to do it. Just gotta piece together a second rig first, and work up the courage to part with one of them haha. Awesome video as always!

[@jesuspineiro1622]

What a beautiful place. The problem I see is that there is a lot of dust on the mount and that can be a problem for optics, cameras and PC. How do you handle equipment maintenance?

[@ehman1970]

Amazing guys, you're so lucky, c'est le rêve de tout astronome amateur ! Can't wait to see your next pictures !! ;-)

[@jrags35]

Looking good guys, glad to see you expanding.

[@Planetreefastro]

Great Video! Bottle 1 skies makes a huge difference. Congrats on another great accomplishment (APOD)! Best regards Luis from NY

[@rhendricksonn]

I’ve heard about this place. Looking forward to seeing your images.

[@spex357]

We don't have clear skies in the South West UK which is partly explained in this video "Injecting the sky - Met Office confirm Geoengineering", which leaves a layer all over the sky.

[@timothymaurer6720]

Very Nice! Green with envy. Question...why do you mount your RASA upside down?

[@craiglowery4427]

Very cool indeed. Do the mountains create any turbulence aloft

[@FAstroHD]

What a place, so envious, awesome guys

[@Aerostar509]

I also have a GM2000 HPS and can do 20 minute unguided subs (925MM FL). It was hard not having a guiding graph to watch as I was imaging. Great video as usual from Y'all.

[@wesleydonnelly2141]

WOW!! 20 minute unguided subs!!?/ That's incredible!! Hey I totally get your sentiments when you commented about it being hard not having a guiding graph to look at while imaging! I couldn't imagine imaging and not having the mental security and peace of mind of having a graph letting me know that all is well! ( or not well! lol ) Just as a little side note/tongue in cheek joke...Your 20 minute unguided subs are almost as long as the monthly clear sky time us Brits get over here in the UK!! 😭😂

[@OnceShy_TwiceBitten]

@@wesleydonnelly2141 that's easy when you have a 15,000 dollar mount lmfao.

[@astroswell]

I would add a guiding camera just to watch the graph without sending the signals to the mount 😅

[@wesleydonnelly2141]

@@OnceShy_TwiceBitten I'm so sorry! What does lmfao mean my friend?

[@GalacticHunter]

Very nice! I've tried 10 minutes successfully, but never 20 minutes, I usually stick to 3-5 minute exposures with that fast RASA for most targets😅

[@markplacek6657]

Wow that's awesome

[@onewhostudies6856]

fantastic all around

[@brodymk45]

What do you do if there is dust on your corrector plate or sensor? Also how do you take calibration frames like flats?

[@GalacticHunter]

It's recommended to use something like an electronic flap for both flats and cover it from dust, but that's pricy. For flats I do sky flats once every few months

[@commandosolo_193]

God, you're so lucky!!!! of course you put the telescope in the room :)

[@arnoldcontreras1595]

wow cool

[@damienk2372]

Nice work guys

[@johnadastra1754]

Is that 2 APODs now? Congrats!

[@GalacticHunter]

One by ourselves, 2 with the Deep Sky Collective collaboration!

[@dirkseidel4531]

Great Video is it possible to get information about astromi remote control for my HPs 2000 it would be great. I ordered one after enjoying your video and hope to handle remote on or of with it .. I find no good tutorial or documentation thank you Regards Dirk from switzerland

[@GalacticHunter]

You simply need to connect it to the mount and computer, and then download the MGBox app and click "Pulse" to turn the mount on or off. There is a delay of a few seconds. We also have a tutorial on our remote astrophotography course!

[@MountainFisher]

I live in Southern NM, near Las Cruces. Bortle 4 is 10 minutes and Bortle 2 is 30 mins. I've never had dew on my MCT or refractor and our club observatory with the 16" Meade I was told only ever had dew after a rain in cool weather. I think out humidity goes to Texas after our Monsoons, which is during the Summer.

[@h.n.4060]

Wind is the real problem, and the mountains cause a lot of turbulence.

[@MountainFisher]

@@h.n.4060 Well looking at the height of those walls I think the scopes would be fine. Those mountains are pretty spread out down there and are not the issue. My astronomy club has several observatories with roll off roofs and except for the ones with the drop down South walls the wind has to get pretty bad to stop the outreach casual observation, which does happen. The problem is that it will cause poor seeing conditions for AP. But any clear sky site wind is an issue regardless wherever it is. A couple in our club have a PlaneWave CDK700 they use to search for NEOs and dust is an issue. Their observatory has three scopes with the CDK700 being their largest. They have a small air compressor to blow dust off if it gets on the optics-sensors. Even covered it gets into everything.

[@h.n.4060]

@@MountainFisher I was talking about imagine mostly. My experience is more with central NM, around Abq. Central NM has some amazingly dark skies, but the trade off is that the spring and fall wind storms make it hard to get good resolution due to turbulance (and difficult if you have to set everything up in it every time you image). Unless the telescope is on a rock solid mount, I'd think that even casual observing would be hard, or at least hard to justify putting up with it.

[@MountainFisher]

@@h.n.4060 I understand, I have my Northwest by West facing and sheltered back porch for windy nights and a front shaded area I can poke out my 50mm Lunt H-alpha solar scope. Now I can use my back porch in the afternoon as well for solar viewing. Know why I chose the 50mm over the cheaper 40mm? 56% more light gathering power. Radius squared times Pi showed the difference. You wouldn't think 10mm more would make that much difference, but on the small diameter it adds up. Like a 6" has well over double the area of a 4" scope. It's like light, you double the diameter you quadruple the area.

[@GeorgeSpacesOut]

I live in the same region. About halfway between Santa Teresa and Columbus is Bortle 2. I used to go off of NM Hwy 9 for Milky Way shots but it’s way too close to the border wall, and with the recent influx of immigrants I can’t take any chances.

[@MrVulpecula-yo6wp]

500 dollars…. Come to Spain. We have Trevinca, the biggest remote observatory of Europe. The price is less than 200€. If you are interested, let me know :)

[@GalacticHunter]

I heard about affordable remote observatories in Spain, like E-eye, but they're all Bortle 3/4 aren't they? Which is still fantastic for the price!

[@MrVulpecula-yo6wp]

@@GalacticHunter yes, it is class 3 sky. To have a telescope in class 1 sky it is a privilege but it quite expensive. All options have their pros and cons obviously but hey! We have “Tortilla Española” here hahaha. In any case, hope you enjoy it!

[@TheCosmicGuy0111]

Nice

[@neiltonks]

$500 a month..... Yep I'm sure everyone can afford that.

[@telemaq76]

yeah agree it s the price of my rental flat ! i won t consider cheap to buy an extra 500 just for my scope. it s crazy expensive

[@samk2407]

I mean it's a lot, but nobody said it's permanent. If you left it there 3 months and paid $1500 that's like instead going somewhere nice on vacation you decided to do astrophotography. It could be worse is all. I'm saying

[@GalacticHunter]

Definitely pricy, but when compared to other remote observatories around the world (except maybe Spain and a couple others) it is "low"!

[@telemaq76]

350 is spain and marocco, i heard around 10 000 a year in chili !

[@bmbaum]

Hopefully prices come down. Bray Falls has a remote project starting up for $200/mo for small scopes

[@cameron1376]

Sweet Images!++ Holy shit!

[@TechGearJunkie]

NM doesnt get much dew, you should be safe. :)

[@GeorgeSpacesOut]

Especially outside of Lordsburg where he’s located.

[@anata5127]

I see you are jumping from one remote place to another. Desperate? Where is your theory about that Utah place?

[@Astroduck44]

11:06 That didn’t sound right…

[@GalacticHunter]

🤣

[@srikanthmeg]

Astronomy is my hobby. I'm not also here to win prizes or awards. I've wife and two kids. So, 500$ is expensive for something I do not need. It's probably for people whose job is astrophotography or need to win awards or sell photos or research

[@yobb89]

500 usd a month, ouch

[@OnceShy_TwiceBitten]

500 a month is absurd if you ask me. SHit, for a cheap o land plot is like 5000 bucks out there in the middle of no where, I think I will toss in some nexdomes and ask 350 a month, put his old guy out of business. See why there are only 2 buildings? because most people aren't stupid enough to pay 500 a month when they could buy a plot of land themselves for 5k and stick what ever they want on there, sure upfront cost (financed) is a bit more, but you would save in the short run lol. In a year you pay for the land. Toss in a few star links, large solar array and bat back up for power and maybe even a nice large generator as a 3rd back up, with a huge propane tank that gets filled once a year or something. IN fact you know what, I think I may do this. If I get 3 people for 350 a month that will basically pay for the (monthly mortgage) costs of all that.

[@GalacticHunter]

Not sure if trolling or not 🤣 Can't wait to see it then! There is so much work involved in building and running remote observatories, I wish you good luck lol. Also, a lot of remote observatories priced much higher than $500 all over the world are completely full...

[@huf67]

I agree... I bought 5 acres in the middle of nowhere New Mexico for about $3k. I was out there a year ago and the skies were so dark. There's no way in hell that I would pay that much per month.

[@OnceShy_TwiceBitten]

@@GalacticHunter any business venture is hard work stupid lol. This isn't THAT much hard work, and it's not THAT expensive, for the density of how many people you can get for something like this. It's land, then power and one or two main "small" these aren't exactly state of the art industrial complexes here. It's a basic shack, plus the few observatories. If you were able to do it. Literally anyone can. Don't flatter yourself