Is wireless astrophotography possible?

I have yet to get a telescope, but I want to get into
astrophotography. I am wondering if wireless CCD astrophotography is
possible? It seems like if USB or whatever cables can control the
telescope from a PC, and if cables from a CCD communicate with a PC,
shouldn't it be possible to do wireless communication between a PC and
a computerized GOTO telescope equipped with a CCD or webcam for image
capture?

wrote:
I have yet to get a telescope, but I want to get into
astrophotography. I am wondering if wireless CCD astrophotography is
possible? It seems like if USB or whatever cables can control the
telescope from a PC, and if cables from a CCD communicate with a PC,
shouldn't it be possible to do wireless communication between a PC and
a computerized GOTO telescope equipped with a CCD or webcam for image
capture?



(Why is it you people are afraid to actually use a real name ?)

Not exactly, But you can put a computer near the scope that can handle
all that and then access the data and control it from another PC wireless.

Bill

On Aug 11, 12:54 pm, "William R. Mattil"
wrote:
(Why is it you people are afraid to actually use a real name ?)
....

I like fantasy, reality is boring
My geneology is from the region (northern Europe / Scandinavia) where
the legend of Beowulf originated, and physically I am like the
legendary Beowulf (tall, blonde)
My real name is somewhat of a word play on the name Beowulf (Randall
translates as 'Shieldwolf')
I prefer not to use my real full name on the web, privacy issues (I
have been the victim of a female psycho stalker before, and also a
victim of identify theft)

You can call me Randall if you prefer that over Beowulf

On Aug 11, 12:00 pm, "
wrote:
[...]
I have been the victim of a female psycho stalker before, [...]

Send her over here -- I'm bored what with bad skies since 2003.

:-)

LOL

Ben

On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 17:45:36 -0000, "
wrote:

I have yet to get a telescope, but I want to get into
astrophotography. I am wondering if wireless CCD astrophotography is
possible? It seems like if USB or whatever cables can control the
telescope from a PC, and if cables from a CCD communicate with a PC,
shouldn't it be possible to do wireless communication between a PC and
a computerized GOTO telescope equipped with a CCD or webcam for image
capture?

Sure. There are a couple of ways to do it. The simplest is just to put a
computer at the telescope running all of the control applications, and
then use Remote Desktop or some other remote control software to access
it from another computer using a wireless network connection. A better
way, although somewhat more complicated to set up initially, is to
convert all the interfaces at the scope (typically serial and USB) to
separate Ethernet interfaces, and then run the control software on some
other computer, again connected via wireless. That's what I do: see
http://www.cloudbait.com/observatory/robotic.html . This gives me single
wire (or wireless) control of my entire observatory from anywhere on my
LAN: scope, camera, guider, focuser, everything.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Chris L Peterson wrote in
:

http://www.cloudbait.com/observatory/robotic.html

nice setup - (note: the etherlite link is dead)

On Sun, 12 Aug 2007 00:20:35 -0500, Pierre Vandevennne
wrote:

nice setup - (note: the etherlite link is dead)

Thanks. I fixed the link. The EtherLite 16 isn't made anymore, but it is
essentially identical to the EtherLite 160 (at least, I can't see any
differences).

The observatory computer runs XP now, not W2K. Otherwise, the diagram is
still pretty accurate.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

On Aug 11, 9:30 pm, Chris L Peterson wrote:
Sure. There are a couple of ways to do it. The simplest is just to put a
computer at the telescope running all of the control applications, and
then use Remote Desktop or some other remote control software to access
....


Thank you, I will study your linked site. It is just that here in
northern MN it gets so fricken cold much of the year, I need to find a
way to use a telescope when it is so cold outside. Actually wired
would even work I suppose, I could set up the scope out at a dark
site, run the USB or whatever cables through the car door with the
windshield almost rolled up, have a car heater on, laptop in car, as
long as all the power could come from the cigarette lighter, o/w I
guess i could get a powerpack for portable electricity. The warmth of
the car would be nice though. But if I can figure out wireless, and
live with some light pollution, I could put a scope on my second
story deck on the back of my house and control it all from inside my
house; I have an electrical outlet outside so that is no problem-- I
just wonder if a telescope and associated equipment could handle low
temps (like how low? 0 to -10 F? we get down to -30F sometimes in the
winter, often for a week, but that might be the week to pack up the
scope and do something else!)

On Sun, 12 Aug 2007 13:14:08 -0000, "
wrote:

I
just wonder if a telescope and associated equipment could handle low
temps (like how low? 0 to -10 F? we get down to -30F sometimes in the
winter, often for a week, but that might be the week to pack up the
scope and do something else!)

Most electronics isn't bothered by cold. All of my equipment works fine
down to at least -20°F. I did need to replace the grease in my LX200
with something rated for cold temperatures; the stuff it shipped with
got hard enough to lock up the gears.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com