Stargazing online

I love looking at the night sky when the opportunity is there. Unfortunately that is not very often. I was wondering if you ATSers know of any good live HD sky cams available? I understand that providing and running such a service requires money and efford so I'm guessing supply is limited.

But this got me thinking about demand. I would be willing to pay $5-10 a month to view HD livefeed of a clear night sky, I'm sure many of you are willing to do the same.
So how difficult would it be to begin a kickstarter/crowdfunding of world wide, full HD, broadband connected telescopes for your viewing entertainment! There is always a dark clear sky somewhere waiting for you to come and explore.

I find it hard to explain what profound effect the simple mundane act of looking at the stars at night has on me. It's the biggest picture you will ever get your eyes on, it's humbling, exciting, relaxing, amazing and so much more. And I cannot get enough of it.

You know, this could not only be crowd funded but also crowd executed. Alot of the infrastructure is already there.
I see potential.

originally posted by: Jubei42
I love looking at the night sky when the opportunity is there. Unfortunately that is not very often. I was wondering if you ATSers know of any good live HD sky cams available? I understand that providing and running such a service requires money and efford so I'm guessing supply is limited.

But this got me thinking about demand. I would be willing to pay $5-10 a month to view HD livefeed of a clear night sky, I'm sure many of you are willing to do the same.

Supply is quite plentiful, actually.
www.itelescope.net...

I have a friend who lives in a very good clear sky part of Scotland. Near him are people who only live in their property some of the time, but have a telescope set up on a remote system that they can access from wherever.

So there you go - you just need someone who lives somewhere with clear skies who can let you set up your own gear

I've checked out some sites but I have to say, either the quality is not very good or it's too good so streaming isn't an option due to exposure, filters and what not.

It would be nice if you could have streaming HD of the night sky with features as you see on smart devices with optional tracking and indentification in an augmented reality. All very accessible. More of a wide angle cam instead of a telescope I guess.

originally posted by: Jubei42
So how difficult would it be to begin a kickstarter/crowdfunding of world wide, full HD, broadband connected telescopes for your viewing entertainment! There is always a dark clear sky somewhere waiting for you to come and explore.

I find it hard to explain what profound effect the simple mundane act of looking at the stars at night has on me. It's the biggest picture you will ever get your eyes on, it's humbling, exciting, relaxing, amazing and so much more. And I cannot get enough of it.

You know, this could not only be crowd funded but also crowd executed. Alot of the infrastructure is already there.
I see potential.

More difficult than you might think! Though, I haven't tired kickstarter yet...waiting to finish another "commercial" project to help fund my "bot".

As it turns out each such "bot" in a network costs on the order of $35,000 to deploy; that's an 11 inch telescope fully internet connected and "drivable" online. One advantage to a system like this; very useful science san be done, like searching for explanets, wormholes, and other phenomena, while anyone is using the instrument, and when not in public use, the system can be tasked to do other jobs...like astrophotography, general searching and mapping, observation and measurement of specific targets.

Meanwhile, places like iTelescope offer you the opportunity to view specific targets at low cost, and good resolution.

a reply to: tanka418

While it does sounds complicated, I don't think it would have to cost that much. If you make this a collective efford on the part of telescope owners, IPS', science institutes and some party like youtube or twitch it should not require alot of funds. And the rewards as you mentioned are numerous. Because we need numbers, large numbers of eyes on the sky. And they don't all have to be fancy fully robotic top of the line telescopes. Just some amateur recording or streaming at home could be fun and interesting to watch.

But again most of all I'm hoping this could be a collective efford, not some commercially driven enterprise. I'm not looking to make money on this. The important thing is that we educate ourselves and keep track of things, all while enjoying the beautiful night sky. I'm trying to setup an outline of this idea and how we can make it work for all parties involved. First there is the startup where you need a few good telescopes. I'm hoping to draw in the paying crowd with good HD quality then grow the network with the option to join and get some sort of reimbursement depending on how much views they get. And finally complete the network with the multiplatform software giving a world wide control and data manipulation. A wealth of information and viewing pleasure.

a reply to: Jubei42

Guys... and Ladiez

I’m a web and software developer with my own server who is currently about 10-12 weeks away from a move to rural Wales. Although I have to admit that the night sky in North Wales is not the clearest most of the time, there is zero light pollution and im happy to get involved and/or help any way i can.

originally posted by: Jubei42
a reply to: tanka418

While it does sounds complicated, I don't think it would have to cost that much. If you make this a collective efford on the part of telescope owners, IPS', science institutes and some party like youtube or twitch it should not require alot of funds. And the rewards as you mentioned are numerous. Because we need numbers, large numbers of eyes on the sky. And they don't all have to be fancy fully robotic top of the line telescopes. Just some amateur recording or streaming at home could be fun and interesting to watch.

But again most of all I'm hoping this could be a collective efford, not some commercially driven enterprise. I'm not looking to make money on this. The important thing is that we educate ourselves and keep track of things, all while enjoying the beautiful night sky. I'm trying to setup an outline of this idea and how we can make it work for all parties involved. First there is the startup where you need a few good telescopes. I'm hoping to draw in the paying crowd with good HD quality then grow the network with the option to join and get some sort of reimbursement depending on how much views they get. And finally complete the network with the multiplatform software giving a world wide control and data manipulation. A wealth of information and viewing pleasure.

You haven't actually designed such a bot have you?

Firstly, my estimate of cost does not include ANY of the software...n my system that is free.
Second; telescope owner has t give up all rights to his instrument, and allow it to be dedicated full time to what ever task the robot has currently in its queue.

My system uses three computers to perform its job. 1 to actually run the "robot"...the telescope and imaging devices proper. This includes field of view object recognition, automated switching of "mode" (telescope/spectrometer), calibration, imaging, web interface, and other tasks. A second computer manages the ever growing database, and website. The third manages the something on the order of 10 terabytes per year f mage and other data.
As for the commercial part, I'm afraid that may be a necessary evil; there will be bill to pay, and streaming server services aren't free, and a seriously good internet connection (high speed 50Meg+) in a dark field is expensive...DSL may not work well.

In any case what 'm building s a system that can be used by anyone with internet and ambition. And while it is more than a "backyard" observatory, it is barely more. The system however will be capable of serious science. One of the advantages a dedicated system like this has is it's availability. Your backyard system may be inexpensive, but, I twill also be unreliable in its times of operation...nature of the beast. A dedicated system will be available, for the most part, 24/7, allowing for observations at any time...well wen the system is not otherwise in use anyway.

I like that; "fancy fully robotic top of the line telescopes." While I've selected a top of the line telescope, there are important reasons for that; 1. the telescope has to pay for its electrical power, and its internet connection; thus it must be capable of doing useful work...in this case having the precision required by astrophotographers and astronomers is kind of required, and you simply don't get that kind of precision is lower cost equipment...kind of unfortunate, but still true.

The worst of tis that the telescope, and thus the cost is more a technical consideration, rather than a financial one. The size of the telescope determines things like resolution, field of view, magnifying power, and light collection abilities...all rather important considerations when buying and deploying a telescope...especially IF it is for public use.

And no, the point isn't to make money on this; the point is to build a good/useful robotic telescope.

originally posted by: HumanPLC
a reply to: Jubei42

Guys... and Ladiez

I’m a web and software developer with my own server who is currently about 10-12 weeks away from a move to rural Wales. Although I have to admit that the night sky in North Wales is not the clearest most of the time, there is zero light pollution and im happy to get involved and/or help any way i can.

Well, Hey, brother.

I'm a retired software engineer living in rural North Texas with 10 acre of very dark field.

A telescope for sometimes connection to the Internet isn't terribly expensive...about $3000US for an 8 inch Celestron that would work well, especially for on-commercial applications. All ya need then is software, and I think you got that covered!

There are several open source libraries that can provide a lot of what's needed...mostly in "C" though, and almost as much in Python too.