Thanks for the reply Steve, duly noted.
This was about the running of all syndicates in the future and not specifically about pier 8 with the Kepler camera. Incidentally, a very few images with that camera have been taken using 600s exposures, and whilst I'd agree 300s would have easily sufficed, the images weren't blown out! More importantly I accepted that we are limited to 300s and that it was the overall integration time that's important. Those 600s and 900s examples I mentioned were taken using cameras like the asi2600mm.
Trying to calculate exposure times is a can of worms and you cannot beat using prior actual results. I think that something like the the Compendium produced by Gary Imm could be very helpful.
Incidentally, how did installing own equipment at a cost of up to €800 a month end up later on in your reply as, "by joining a Syndicate.... without spending 100k"?
I hope that others are not put off responding to what I've questioned either negatively or positively.
Sometimes your responses are disappointing, often as those used as described by The Straw Man argument. Very defensive.
Cheers,
Ray
Ray
it wasn't meant defensively, as I have nothing to defend. I was simply stating our reasoning, albeit perhaps with my own direct approach to things. Sorry you're disappointed. I was simply trying to nail down where we were going without having to explain ourselves repeatedly.
On top of that, as we were on the Pier-8 syndicate section rather than a generic one, one would have presumed this is what we were discussing settings wise.
There is over 90K in equipment value for Pier-8 plus the cost of its place in the observatory, which a member gets to be part of for €120 per month
I will expand on our meaning or syndicates
Syndicates are a team approach system meant to make everyone happy including Roboscopes, It's not about one person who wants to do 75 hours on X object or 1200s exposures on Y object. We have set up a generic pier system with settings that enable all members to get very good data at the lowest possible cost whilst being part of a team of like-minded people with a particular goal. Whilst it is flexible, as we are also so can adapt to suit what that team requires. It is not the same as hosting, where you get to do what, when and how you want yourself.
This is what hosting is for, hosting comes with cost implications that have to be considered and taken into account when compared to a syndicate
With syndicates, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.
Whilst on the subject of 900s exposure etc. A lot of people doing 70-100 & 200 hour exposure times on objects with 900s are researching SNR's, not taking an image of M31 or suchlike and their needs are different to people taking standard style images, Also, a lot of them are either hosting their own equipment or are lucky enough to live in a bortle1/2 site themselves, and it is there prerogative to image with these settings. As I said above, we are catering for a whole group, not a single member who wants to use the pier in search of a Holy Grail object.
It's hardly fair for a single member of a €1300 per year syndicate to expect all their way on a system that has other members to take into consideration. Other members want and needs must always be factored in, and this leads to more generic settings to suit everyone. Standardization keeps the costs and manpower down, which leads to lower pricing for you, the user.
So it's about balance. Roboscopes has to balance the needs of the group and also have to cover its costs and on the rare occasion make a profit :)
Camera
We spent 6 months getting used to the Kepler and it's foibles, it can be set up three ways, 2 of which don't work properly in our opinion and one that does, we went with the one that does, and it makes the most of the sensor's capabilities and innate properties. We know this camera well and don't need to be told how to run it when very few people have ever actually used one. It has about as much in common to a Sony sensor as I have to Brad Pitt :)
Tools
Manuel is writing an exposure calculator base on the response of the Kepler camera plus a filter weighting system, whilst It's not live yet and maybe a little while before it goes live, the current members of Pier-8 have a guide supplied by myself on how to get the best out of this telescope/camera combination
There are lots of new job input features and other features currently being built and implemented Ray that perhaps you have not used or are aware of but they are all designed to make data capture easier and productive, with better automated comms from us and almost instant data sharing to your Google Drive the following morning.
In essence Ray, not every feature will please everyone and some that please others may not make you happy and vice versa but we had to make a judgement call on the best way to do this and keep everyone happy whilst giving a deliverable service that gave our customers some joint as well as personal datasets from a pier and maintaining productivity to the maximum.
HTH
Steve