​Configuration

Wireless Remote Video Astronomy (RVA) can be implemented over Wi-Fi by having a computer at your telescope that you can use remotely from inside. However, this requires using two computers.  The low cost of the MallinCam SkyRaider Netbook Kit gives you a way of getting a good camera for Video Astronomy and an inexpensive computer at the telescope for this type of RVA.  See my 2/16/2016 post for more information about this kit.  All you need in addition to the kit and your telescope is a Wi-Fi connection in your home, an inside computer or laptop running Windows 10, and the TeamViewer application (which is free for personal use) as shown in this diagram.

​You will need to download the TeamViewer application from TeamViewer.com and install it on the Netbook and your inside computer/laptop.  Choose the basic installation and Personal/Non-commercial use at setup.  When you run TeamViewer on the Netbook, you will be shown “Your ID” and a password for that computer on the left in the “Allow Remote Control” section (red arrow).  

​When you start TeamViewer on your inside computer, you enter the Netbook computer ID as the Partner ID in the “Control Remote Computer” section on the right (green arrow) and select “Connect to Partner”.  This connects the two computers and allows you to control the Netbook located outside and view its screen from inside.  If you use TeamViewer often, you can even add your computers to an on-line account and simply select the computer to control remotely from the list shown on the far right under “My Computers” (yellow arrow).  
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Here you can see my outside setup showing my SkyProdigy mount with the Mallincam AGc inserted into my SkyProdigy 5” Newtonian telescope and connected to the Netbook which is currently displaying the Orion Nebula on its screen.

​The camera settings and video output are being controlled and viewed from inside using my laptop (red arrow) connected over Wi-Fi to the Netbook outside (green arrow).  I also have my inside laptop connected to view the image on my HDTV (yellow arrow) using an HDMI cable.  

I start outside to perform the initial alignment and then slew to a bright star. I insert the AGc camera and start up the MallinCamSky application on the Netbook and focus using a Bahtinov mask. I then slew to my first object and go inside. 
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To view a different object, I go back outside and use the hand controller to select and slew to the new target.  I mainly use the Netbook screen outside to better center the target, and come back inside to fine tune the camera settings for the new object using MallinCamSky remotely.  

Remote Telescope Control

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to control the telescope from inside too and not have to go outside?  You can accomplish this by adding a Simulation Curriculum SkyFi Wireless Telescope Adapter to your telescope and using an iPhone or iPad inside running Simulation Curriculum SkySafari as illustrated in this Diagram. 

Orion offers a similar StarSeek Wireless Telescope Adapter, and Celestron also makes a SkyPortal Wifi Module.  The SkyFi module physically connects to my Celestron Hand Controller using a serial cable and a SkyFi adapter cable. SkySafari running on an iPhone/iPad can connect wirelessly to the SkyFi module directly over a dedicated Wi-Fi hotspot created by SkyFi. Or you can configure SkyFi to connect to your home Wi-Fi, so that SkySafari will use your home Wi-Fi’s connection to communicate with the SkyFi module outside. This method also allows it to work with Android phones and tablets.  Depending upon how far away the telescope is set up outside, you may find using SkyFi with your home Wi-Fi works better. 

​SkySafari Plus (or Pro) is a powerful visual tool for selecting objects and slewing your telescope mount to them. It also allows you to make fine position adjustments to better center your target. It takes a little practice, but you soon learn how to make short adjustments to the mount’s position to center the target and allow the near-real-time image to settle.  ​

 
I have found it helps to perform a modified GoTo process to improve the accuracy when slewing to fainter deep sky objects since you may need to adjust the camera settings to see them.  I first select and slew to a bright star in the region where my target is located (e.g. select Rigel when planning to view the Orion Nebula).  You can shorten your camera’s exposure using MallinCamSky to make it easier to center the bright star using SkySafari’s virtual up/down/left/right buttons. Then select SkySafari’s Align button to sync SkySafari to that star.  Now when you select and slew to a deep sky object in that region of the sky, it will be better centered in your field of view after the GoTo finishes.

More Outside/Inside Examples

This image shows where I have slewed to the Hercules Cluster and am now viewing it from inside. 

​This is great for night viewing.  What about for viewing the Sun?  RVA solves two problems you encounter when using Video Astronomy for Solar viewing.  It is really bright outside … and it is hot!  This image shows my Personal Solar Telescope with AGc inserted and connected to the Netbook outside (green arrow) and viewing the Sun inside on my laptop and HDTV (red and yellow arrows). 

You only have one target, the Sun, so once it is positioned within your field of view it is going to stay there (assuming you remembered to change your tracking from Sidereal to Solar on your hand controller).  With a Solar telescope, you have additional focusing controls depending upon which area of the Sun you are viewing, so a trip outside to adjust the focus may be required when switching from viewing Sun spots to prominences and flares.  SkyFi can be helpful even here to move your viewing area of interest to different prominences, etc. without having to go outside.  And since you are controlling the camera from inside, you can adjust the exposure to best bring out the detail of a particular prominence and save the image for later viewing.  Just remember that the images are being saved on the Netbook where MallincamSky is running, not your inside computer which is just controlling the Netbook remotely. The view of the Sun from inside without glare is really nice.  
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Returning to night viewing, here is where I was using my MallinCam MCR-80ED on the SkyProdigy mount with the AGc camera to view the Moon from inside.  I had to add a Moon filter to the nosepiece of the AGc to cut down on the brightness level since it was almost a full Moon.

​Speaking of moons, the next night I saw Jupiter and 4 of its moons (orange arrows).  

​I also tried out my low-tech solution for keeping dew off the Netbook while it is sitting outside next to the telescope.  I had gone by Wal-Mart and paid $4.33 for a Sterilite 10 Gallon bin, which was just the right size for placing the Netbook and a mouse within (green arrow).

​Expanded Remote Video Astronomy

I explore several different methods of RVA in my book “Beginning Remote Video Astronomy … So, what’s the matter?” (See http://www.amazon.com/author/jimmeadows).  Some of the techniques described can also be used with the Netbook, such as running a single extended USB cable from a powered hub at the telescope to the Netbook inside.  

The same MallinCamSky software works with all the cameras in the MallinCam SkyRaider series.  The MallinCamSky software and SkyRaider cameras are a powerful combination, enabling you to easily adjust the exposure and gain while applying some amazing real time processing methods.

To show the effect of using the Histogram and Dark Field Correction Functions, I used the Netbook and AGc camera that comes in the MallinCam Netbook Kit.  I decided to use my SkyProdigy 130 Newtonian telescope (5”) and mount.  This is an F/5 telescope and works well with the MallinCam AG cameras without using a focal reducer. I chose to use the Orion Nebula (M42) as the target.

After performing an auto align, slewing to a bright star and focusing, I slewed to the Orion Nebula and centered it. I settled on a gain of 10 and exposure of about 3 seconds.  Now for the fun stuff.

Adjusting the Histogram parameters

At 3 seconds I could see the Orion Nebula but not much of its detail.  You could increase the exposure time to see more detail, but you owe it to yourself to learn to use the real time Histogram function in the left panel to bring out the detail in the image at a shorter exposure time.  I ran the upper limit of the Histogram function from 250 down to 50 in order to move the vertical line closer to the color content shown in the Histogram graph.

I then bumped the lower limit to about 3 to darken the background a little.  It does not take long to use the Histogram tool to dramatically improve the image you see in real time.

Whenever you slew to a new target, you should first reset the Histogram to its default values.  Then adjust the upper limit for the best detail and the lower limit for the best background. It is amazing the difference this real time function makes.

Dark Frame Corrections

The MallinCamSky software also has the ability to do real time dark frame corrections.  If you cover up the end of your telescope with a dark cloth you will soon see a black image in the image area with several small dots in it.  The background is mostly black because you covered up the end of your telescope. So what are these dots?  These are called stuck and hot pixels.  It is not unusual to have a few pixels always stuck on (unless you have an expensive image sensor in a camera). Hot pixels show up due to heat from inside the camera and the outside temperature.  More expensive cameras have special cooling components to keep the imaging chip temperature low to reduce or eliminate hot pixels. 

An alternate approach to active cooling is to use software to remove stuck pixels, hot pixels, and any background noise caused by heat in the camera images.  This is the approach implemented in the MallinCamSky application.    After you capture a Dark Frame of the background image when no light is striking the image chip, the software can then subtract this noise information in real time from each live image before displaying it on the screen.  This produces a nice clean image without stuck or hot pixels and other background noise.

Steps to capture and enable Dark Frame Corrections

1. Set your exposure and gain to the typical exposure time you plan to use.  In this case I was using 3 second exposures with a gain of 10.
2. Cover the end of the telescope using something dark like a lightweight dark cloth.  The stuck and hot pixels will been seen in the image area on a black background.

3. Go to the Dark Frame Correction panel on the left side of the MallinCamSky window (orange arrow).
4.  Set the quantity to the number of frames you want to collect (right green arrow).  Use at least 3-5.
5. Click on Capture (left green arrow).  You will see a counter incrementing each time it captures an image until it reaches the number you specified.  If you are using five 3 second exposures this will take 15 seconds.  If you use five 10 second exposures this will take 50 seconds, etc.
6. When it is done, click the box to enable Dark Frame Correction (red arrow).  The displayed image should then go completely black.
7.  Remove the dark cover from your telescope.

At the next screen update you should see your target object with the Dark Frame noise removed.

Image Comparisons

You can see the power of the MallinCamSky software as you compare the original 3 second image to the images with the Histogram and Dark Field Corrections applied in real time every 3 seconds.

Orion Nebula using 3 second exposure:

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Orion Nebula using 3 second exposure with Histogram applied:

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Orion Nebula using 3 second exposure with Histogram and Dark Frame Corrections:

The MallinCamSky software will continue to remove the noise from all images as long as you keep Dark Frame Corrections enabled.  You can even save (Export) Dark Frames captured with different exposures and conditions and retrieve them (Import) for use as needed.

By applying live real time Dark Frame corrections and live Histogram processing, the MallinCamSky application produces great images using the AGc and other SkyRaider cameras.

A little effort goes a long way

If you spend time practicing using the Histogram it will soon become the first thing you do after you set your exposure in order to bring out more detail and darken the background.

Capturing Dark Frames is more a matter of following the steps to do it when you want to reduce the effects of heat. It is also worth finding a good dark material to cover the end of your telescope that is lightweight so as to not affect your telescope’s position and alignment when used.

I recently purchased a SkyRaider NetBook Kit from Mallincam that is a great Video Astronomy starter kit.  It also makes a really good portable Video Astronomy kit.  It comes with a Netbook computer running Windows 10 and either an AGc (color) or AGm (monochrome) camera.  Since I already had a MC AGc camera, I ordered the Kit with the AGm camera.  The Netbook computer comes with a power supply and has a 10” LCD display and two USB ports. The AG camera comes with a nosepiece, USB cable and a guider cable.  I have not used the guider cable yet since I have been using the AG camera for “viewing”.

I finally had time to try out my new kit when my wife and I went camping last week.  Here is a picture of the contents of the kit (the salt and pepper shaker are not included).

I brought my portable video astronomy mount (SkyProdigy) and telescope (Celestron C5) with me and added a 0.5x reducer to the AG nosepiece before inserting it into the focuser (I did not use any filters).  The single USB cable connects the AG camera to the Netbook.

When I first powered on the Netbook I was pleased to find that it was fully charged and the MallinCamSky software already installed.  It was ready to go!  I took it outside, connected a mouse to one USB port and the AG USB cable to the other USB port and was immediately operational.  After performing an auto align, slewing to a bright star and focusing, I was able to begin my viewing session.  What a great right-out-of-the-box experience!

Below are some images I captured that first night. I began with the AGc camera since I had used it before, and started with the Orion Nebula. I settled on a gain of 10 and exposure at 10 seconds.  I also made use of the histogram function to bring out the detail.  Knowing the value of using the Dark Field Correction feature, I covered the end of the telescope and captured a Dark Field using quantity = 5.  I uncovered the scope and this is what I saw updated every 10 seconds on the Netbook screen.

And here is the Crab Nebula.

I then removed the AGc camera and inserted the AGm camera.  I stayed with the same settings and captured a new Dark Field to use.  Here is the Orion Nebula with the monochrome camera.
 

And here is the Flame Nebula.

I ran the Netbook on its internal battery for the entire viewing session.

All in all, I am very pleased with the SkyRaider NetBook Kit.  It is going to become part of my “grab and go” portable video astronomy setup. 

For more info about the SkyRaider Netbook Kit see

http://www.mallincam.net/skyraider-netbook-kit.html


I also used both the AGc and AGm cameras with my PST for solar viewing one day while camping.  See my “Portable Solar viewing with AGc and AGm” blog post for similar images of the sun using these two cameras.

http://remotevideoastronomy.com/blog/portable-solar-viewing-with-agc-and-agm