6 replies to this topic

[Tom_Rent_MN]

So let's say you are a guy with a pretty decent and stable EAA setup running off a PC, and that PC is connected to the Internet.

Let's say you had a buddy who wanted to remotely tie-in to your PC to control your scope after you were done viewing for the night.  He'd see the video feed, the tracking scope feed, and he'd tweak "your" SharpCap just like you would, but his project images would be stored on his cloud account or on his own PC.  

 

He'd operate the system just like you would, but he'd be miles away, perhaps 1000s of miles away.

 

Let's say this worked so well that he and others were willing to "rent" your system by the hour, let's say $20/hr.  All you had to do was to add your system to a Network of global EAA systems that were "up and available," and that didn't require monitoring.  If sky conditions are good and you're not using your system, you enable your system onto the "EAA network" for others to reserve and operate, much like renting a hotel room by the hour.  Clients would log-on to a central system, see a list of available "providers," see what capabilities they offer, and reserve and use blocks to time that night.  Maybe you even set the hourly rate based on your location or system's capabilities.

 

I could see some entrepreneurial people standing up a farm of such systems in places like Arizona, and making a business out of it.  It would be fun to do EAA anywhere on earth and no longer be restricted to your own backyard.  

 

I believe professional astronomers do this exact same thing, reserving observatory time, and doing all the work remotely.

 

Crazy idea?

 

Any thoughts on how to make this happen?

 

[Couder]

I see nightmares in your future, having worked in the IT department. But if you want to try it, set one or two up and see how they work. I'm not sure, depends on the software, but I would think there must be settings each user would have to change to get the downloads (images) to save to their computer/cloud. Not to mention the Internet speed and bandwidth requirements.

[hcf]

Crazy idea?

 

Any thoughts on how to make this happen?

Not crazy at all

https://www.itelescope.net/

https://www.slooh.com/landingPage

 

For a simple solution TeamViewer or other remote desktop software to an mount side computer should do it. The problem is guaranteeing a problem free session, which would not need your intervention to fix. And if your scope is on an EQ mount, making sure it is polar aligned which is not usually automated, unless it is permanently on a pier setup.

[KMitch]

Teamviewer...Give him the code and he can login an control the computer from his computer and see the screen. If he has 2 screens he can see it full screen. And...it's free for personal use

[SanjeevJoshi]

easy to do.  Just know that Teamviewer will randomly decide your use is not personal, and therefore you need to move to the paid model.   It happened to me on the 4th use of it.  Perhaps they are actively pursuing people based on IP address (if you belong in groups of IP addresses, you are more likely to just pay up).

 

Sanjeev

[jerahian]

The OP is mainly asking about enabling one's own telescope setup to be part of a distributed network of rentable EAA devices.  First off, this is not a "personal use" situation, so the TeamViewer options are out.

 

I'm on @Couder's side of the line here:  Without specialized connectivity software, activity logging, time logging, strict security controls, etc., this would be a security nightmare for anything beyond one's own known acquaintances or friends.  At the very least, you would have to ensure the imaging PC a remote user accessed was isolated from the rest of your local network.  Then there are physical security elements to consider, such as ensure you had appropriate hard limits set on your mount, etc.

 

It's a good idea, but there would be a lot to consider.

 

-Ara

[Psionmark]

Not crazy at all

https://www.itelescope.net/

https://www.slooh.com/landingPage

 

For a simple solution TeamViewer or other remote desktop software to an mount side computer should do it. The problem is guaranteeing a problem free session, which would not need your intervention to fix. And if your scope is on an EQ mount, making sure it is polar aligned which is not usually automated, unless it is permanently on a pier setup.

+1 for Slooh - I love it and use it a lot on cloudy nights (e.g. most nights!)