Now you can afford to sit inside a true observatory, sheltered from the winds and annoying neighbors porch lights. Lesvedome was only using one k8055 board and had limited functionalities besides dome control. We offer the original 8 exploradome i and now the 116 exploradome ii. An astronomical observatory dome controller based on. The other part is the nexdome software found here nexdome control system 3. In this video robert visits the premises of pulsar observatories and looks at the dome rotation and shutter control system developed for their range of observatory dome buildings. Observatory control software posted in observatories. This unit features easy plugin hardware with all the right connectors already on the controller. Dome control the dome, if any, must rotate to follow the telescope. This software allows control of the ace smartdome using any ascom application such as acp or by using the sky x communication is via tcpip port and or a serial communications com port. In practice, the only thing most observers have to. The main board is controlled by dome and switch drivers. Foster systems roll off roof and dome controllers external link drivers for the foster systems roll off roof and dome controllers. The package includes a fiberglass dome with base and one shutter, all hardware and motors for rotation and shutter movement.
Kit for full automation of rotating domes including automated shutter control. The second optional board is controlled by switch driver. Pulsar observatories shutter and rotation drive system. Automate your observatory and put it on the web with acp observatory control software, maxim dlccd and pinpoint astrometric engine. After a short time, the main dome control panel will be displayed. Maxdome ii observatory dome control system diffraction. Installs a driver for the boyd observatories cyberdrive dome control systems.
Unlike half dome designs, nexdome is a classic observatory dome with more than 100 degrees of shutter opening, allowing you to point your telescope to the zenith while remaining shielded from stray light and wind. The ace smartdome is a professional industrial control system for automating a telescope enclosure. It is the job of the dome control software to do this for you. Scopedome home dome observatory remote dome observatory. How to automate your observatory skyatnightmagazine. Luckily the equipment was covered with plastic sheets. Observatory controller the oncue ocs observatory control system should be of help to capable diyers who want to automate small observatories. The pulsar observatories software will currently control the. Astrometric products have been installed on hundreds of telescopes worldwide. Computer based dome automation package, hardware and software. It also calculates the required dome azimuth for the final position, and sends this to the dome.
Unlike halfdome designs, nexdome is a classic observatory dome with more than 100 degrees of shutter opening, allowing you to point your telescope to the zenith while remaining shielded from stray light and wind. The observatory has a windows 7 class machine that is hardwired to many of the control systems in the observatory, including the paramount, telescope and dome. Dome control overview i have all my electronics and software all set to install into my dome update all installed and working. Astronomy software is a requirement of any astronomer looking to improve their night sky imaging, guiding, and tracking. The new lesvedomenet software is written in vbnet and takes all. The system detailed here uses a friction drive and the popular lesvedome ascom drive software.
Other stuff some of these programs accept weatherstation data to determine if the sky is getting too cloudy to continue, and close the dome automatically if necessary. Scopedome automation control systems provide comprehensive dome observatory control, set up, monitoring and safety protocols that you would expect, and possibly not expect with a range of peripheral control capabilities that extend your overall control beyond the dome to your other equipment, like telescope, mount, camera, lighting, flats. A 100% fibreglass observatory dome was possible, but i decided this was a bit too much. It uses the maxdome ii serial protocol for compatibility with existing software. A custom software was designed to control the dome rotation. Software setup instructions for the foster control system. You will need staple software items to make remote observatory control work correctly. The pulsar dome drive is the latest development in automating your observatory. The ace smart dome control unit also has its own software ascom interface for controlling the dome. Includes fiberglass dome with base and one shutter, all hardware and motors for rotation and shutter movement. Also includes digital dome works hardware and software for computer remote control of observatory.
The main controller domecontroller the shutter controller domeshutter main controller. Observatory control software astronomy stack exchange. Currently, i use sgp to automate imaging sessions and it appears that it can also be used for simple observatory control slaving dome, open and close shutters, park mount and dome, etc. Whether its one of our roof controllers or our line of addons such as the astroalert weather monitor, our atpark monitor integration system. Maxdome ii works as a sync mechanism with your scope and dome and allows the dome slit to be centered on the telescope. An astronomical observatory dome controller based on two arduino boards.
He presented two talks at the table mountain star party in july of 2004, one on construction and one on software and automation, and again on dslr astrophotography in 2005. However, to do this correctly, the software must know exactly where the telescope is mounted in relation to the centre of the dome, so your first task is to make some careful. The observatory computer software program receives that data from the scope. Seletek dragonfly observatory control the software suite for the seletek dragonfly formerly firefly observatory control addon. Its based on using an inexpensive and easy to work with arduino mega2560 wethernet shield to control some relays and sense switch closures and analog inputs and operate weather sensors which are usually on an i2c. Saftey protection logic for dome closure lockout when rain detected. The edome relay control box and wiring for the azimuth motor and switches. Registered users can optionally purchase a usb stick. Our flagship domepro2 products shown above provide the most immediate, and often drop in, solutions for dome control however we do offer the following products for custom applications. The drive unit is flash upgradeable to allow additional features to be implemented as they are developed in the future. Observatory control software observatories cloudy nights. Software the rotation drive is supplied with the pulsar observatories software package which gives full control of the observatory from a computer. Talon is a a fully automated opensource solution for automated telescope and observatory control.
The basic dome control is based on a usb io controller, 2 relays, an azimuth sensor and a. Observatory automation putman mountain observatory. Technical innovations robodome robotic observatory opt. Lesvedomenet is an cheap diy solution to slave the dome to the telescope.
Continuing to refine the observatory dome control software. Ascomstandard dome and telescope interfaces support for automadome slave dome rotation to your telescope rotationonly and full shutterandrotation systems available single or dual shutter operation, with sequencing wireless shutter control no. Gone are the days of manual tracking and the volatility of a close enough pointandshoot style. Nexdome, the most affordable and true personal obervatory. If there is a label telling you the information on the box you can ship through the general setup info. Provides complete remote control capability of observatory including slaving to telescope. The maxdome ii dome controller provides flexible, fully integrated observatory dome control. There are three main tasks to be tackled first the motor drives, then the servo, and finally the software to link with the telescope control program.
For simplicity im setting up the operator pc to run windows, but that is not set in stone yet. First maxim dl is an excellent program for controlling both your camera and observatory dome through maxdome ii observatory dome control system. Integrates observatory control functions, such as power, weather, dew management, prime power monitoring. These solid body domes are a single piece with overlapping shutter seams for maximum weather resistance and can be configured in numerous ways to fit your. Im setting up an observatory and im wondering what userfacing software would be best to use in terms of hardware control. A free demo period of the maxim dl pro level software, with full technical support is available to determine suitability of the. Over the last 20 years, astrometric instruments has provided electronic control systems for telescopes, domes, and other astronomical equipment. The telescope azimuth data will tell the bs2 where the observatory dome azimuth will need to be and it will drive some reversible gear head dc motors. Observatory the observatory consists of a 8x16 first floor with a 8 cylindrical second floor topped by a 8 dome with splitshutter design. Talon controls all aspects of robotic astronomical observations, including telescope control, dome control, image processing, scheduled operations, and envi. Im sure there are going to be bugs that need to be worked out here goes. Ascom scopedome hub receives a slew command from the planetarium software and sends this command to the mount. Imaging the software needs to be able to take multiple images over the course of the night, with multiple filters.
There is a german mount, dome, focuser, filter wheel, various switches etc. It has numerous advanced features demanded by large professional observatories. It has a high resolution encoder which counts the azimuth gear rack slots and synchronizes the telescope mount movement with the dome rotation keeping the telescope pointed in the dome shutter opening. Supports dome automation from exploradome, ddw and other providers. It needs to control the camera and the filter wheel. Observatory in the bag production of astronomical home. Download talon observatory control software for free. Ascom compliant dome interface makes it easy to integrate telescope mount with dome and with higher level control software such as acp, ccd commander, ccd autopilot, the sky and even maximdl in standalone mode.
Astronomy software expert service unbeatable prices. At foster systems, were astronomers who have designed the astromc line of observatory automation equipment and software. Usb interface and power with gui control software interface. The fiberglass observatory dome homedome is seated on brick and wood structure. Not so lucky was the observatory computer which refused to boot following the storm event on the monday.
Customised integrated dome control system with the astronomy software theskyx pro from software bisque and boltwood cloud sensor 2 from diffraction limited. The main controller is connected to a pc by a usb cable. Technical innovations robodome also includes digital dome works hardware and software for computer remote control of observatory and the dome is shipped fully assembled. This page provides some details of my efforts at automating my exploradome.
In manual mode the dome can be driven in either direction by two pushbuttons. Other dome control products from astrometric instruments. The telescope control software continuously transmits the dome target position to the dome controller which attempts to drive the dome to the required position by optically reading and counting 1 degree spaced marks on the dome base ring. Manual control of rotation motors through a small hand control on 12 foot cable. Dome control systems domepro2 controller astrometric. Maxdome ii softwaredrivers and user manual are distributed on a usb stick. Computerizied observatory controller procoscpro astrosmart. Are there additional advantages to using other software. Now this software, named lesvedomenet, is released as a shareware. Over the course of the night, temperatures will likely change enough that the telescope will need to be automatically refocused. The control system allows a color touch screen interface. Astrometric instruments control systems for telescopes. I let the software estimate the dome diameter and i made measurements to get the radius.