Astronomical observatories are often installed in remote and isolated places to avoid light pollution. In this article we will see how EAGLE helps control the remote observatory starting from the example of the Fiemme Astronomy Association that has an important astronomical observatory in Tesero (TN – Italy). The amateur astronomers in Fiemme Astronomy Association conduct global outreach by showing the beauty of the night sky to those vacationing in nearby hotels, visiting from all around the world! In order to do all of these, they have a large 50cm diameter Ritchey-Chretien telescope, together with a 18 cm diameter apochromatic refractor in parallel. All the telescopes are installed on a large fork equatorial mount.
But the problem they face is how to remotely control and power all the devices installed in the telescopes, since the cables to connect to computer in control room are too long. Let’s see how we solved the problem by installing EAGLE directly on the telescope.
We installed the EAGLE on the observatory telescope by connecting in a very simple way to a Losmandy dovetail bar by using a Vixen+Losmandy PLUS dovetail clamp. This way they can connect all the cameras and accessories they want to use with very short USB cables. The same devices are now powered through the EAGLE with the appropriate power cables.
Then the EAGLE has been connected to the observatory control computer with a WiFi connection and the same computer is then connected to a large monitor placed inside the dome. This way all the people visiting the observatory can now see the live picture coming from the camera installed on the telescope!
By connecting the EAGLE to the wireless network of the observatory or by using an ethernet cable to connect it to the router, they can connect it to the Internet. This way they can take control of the telescope also if they are far away from the astronomical observatory.
By allowing you tighter integration and control of all the devices, the EAGLE is the solution to remotely access your observatory! And now the astronomical observatory of the Fiemme Astronomy Association is now ready to a new season of astronomy outreach from one of the most beautiful locations in Val di Fiemme and Dolomites!
