EuroForth 2022

1. Place and level the mount (typically 10 - 25kg)
2. Polar align the mount
   • Polar telescope built into the mount (2 minutes, accurate enough)
   • Optimizing star drift in the eyepiece (15 minutes)
   • Software assisted (15 minutes, most accurate)
3. Place the telescope
4. Attach the filter wheel and camera
5. Connect electronic cables

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1. Open the scripting application (more later)
2. Connect to the mount, focuser, filer wheel and camera drivers
3. Take a test image
4. “plate solve” to confirm celestial coordinates
5. Synchronize the mount to the coordinates

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1. Slew to target
2. Select a filter (L, R, G, B)
3. Autofocus
4. Take a set of long exposure images (typically 5 - 15 minutes each)
5. Periodically plate solve and re-slew to target (tracking errors)
6. Periodically refocus (changes in temperature, equipment flex)

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1. Dark frames with the shutter closed (subtract out CCD “dark current”)
2. Flat frames against a uniform sky (divide out vignetting in illumination)

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1. Specialized astronomical image processing software

→ Software components

← A brief introduction to astroimaging