Previous discussions on remote telescopes:
Telescope Ranchers
31–40 of 66 posts
Re: Telescope Ranchers
#32Really great idea! But one still has to buy a telescope and send it to this guy, I think it would be cool if one could just rent everything at once. For non-serious people that have a lot of money that they would like to put to use looking at the stars. Or maybe a time-share like concept.
It does exist: https://www.slooh.com
Re: Telescope Ranchers
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Astrophotography is a hobby like any other. People enjoy capturing their own images of the universe. Most hobbies with gear have setup costs and it's not unusual for that to be in the several thousand dollar range, and maintenance costs. $100-400/month for a hobby isn't all that much and it gives you exclusive access to your own scope in ideal skies that you can operate from your home.
Cool, makes sense.
I'm putting one of the modern "Smart Scopes" on my Christmas list this year.
I had a friend with a 10" Meade with which not much happened. Just a bear to lug around and set up and mess with, not even including trying bumble through getting astrophotography started.
But the new-ish Smart Scopes looks fun and accessible, so gonna see if I can get one of those to play with.
Re: Telescope Ranchers
#34sadly won't be possible for anything serious next decade as each space trillionaire and country launches their own 10,000+ constellations sky will be constantly twinkling, will be weird we'll have to switch to space telescopes above LEO https://satellitemap.space
I’m seeking funding to open up a rail gun ranch where you can sit in your lawn chair and blow satellites out of the sky.
Lasers would probably be more practical. Maybe a whole array of lasers w. telescopes? At (say) 500 km, a 20 cm aperture would have a spot size of maybe 50 cm. So let's take that telescope array, hook a kW laser to each one, and roast some LEO satellites?
(Note: this is not an actual suggestion this be done.)
Re: Telescope Ranchers
#35sadly won't be possible for anything serious next decade as each space trillionaire and country launches their own 10,000+ constellations sky will be constantly twinkling, will be weird we'll have to switch to space telescopes above LEO https://satellitemap.space
I’m seeking funding to open up a rail gun ranch where you can sit in your lawn chair and blow satellites out of the sky.
I’m working on a DaaS startup (drone as a service) so maybe I’ll locate next to you and your customers can blow drones out of the sky and mine will keep having to replace theirs.
Re: Telescope Ranchers
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m seeking funding to open up a rail gun ranch where you can sit in your lawn chair and blow satellites out of the sky.
I’m working on a DaaS startup (drone as a service) so maybe I’ll locate next to you and your customers can blow drones out of the sky and mine will keep having to replace theirs.
I like where you are going with this. Can you offer “hardened” drones for the advanced players?
Re: Telescope Ranchers
#37> from as little as 99 USD a month > 550 telescopes So about ~55 to 60k USD a month to just have some telescopes on your land? Nice little earner.
I'm sure it's a lot of work for him, mostly maintenance and cleaning. Also it sounds like the remote operation hardware and software are provided by him-- that can't be trivial and probably means he doesn't break even on a given telescope for a few months at least. Plus whatever it costs him to recruit new customers. I bet he makes a good living on his labor and whatever capital he has tied up in the land, but it doe…
I think it's literally just the pier, power and an ethernet connection provided and you use the software of the mount and image sensor combo you own through their internet.
Re: Telescope Ranchers
#38Really great idea! But one still has to buy a telescope and send it to this guy, I think it would be cool if one could just rent everything at once. For non-serious people that have a lot of money that they would like to put to use looking at the stars. Or maybe a time-share like concept.
Maybe they could just like look at photos someone else has taken? If you are using someone else’s equipment, at a location you’ve never been too, it feels like you may as well just look at bubbles images of things.
Re: Telescope Ranchers
#39What do people do with this astronomical data? Why do they pay for this?
To get into Astrophotographg you probably need to spend £2-3k for some equipment, if you are based somewhere like the north of England this translates to a handful of clear nights per year. Sending your equipment here gives you an order of magnitude more clear nights.
I wouldn’t do this as I like the fact my photos are taken in my back yard but each to their own
Re: Telescope Ranchers
#40I would never have thought of this, but it is really cool. Living in the city with light pollution, we can see a dozen or so on the best nights. What an ingenious business idea.
Modern stacking algo negate this entirely for amateur photographers