Remote astrophotography allows you to capture stunning images of the night sky without needing to own or operate your own expensive telescope. With platforms like Telescope Live, you can access professional-grade telescopes located in some of the best observatory sites around the world, all from the comfort of your home. This innovative approach makes astrophotography more accessible, enabling you to photograph galaxies, nebulae, and other celestial wonders remotely. In this guide, we’ll explore how remote astrophotography works, the benefits of using Telescope Live, and tips for getting started with this exciting technology.
Comparing Remote Astrophotography to my Backyard Astrophotography
First let me show you an example of what I have created using data from Telescope Live and compare that to the images I have captured in my backyard using my own much cheaper equipment. My target was the Horsehead Nebula in Orion.
First, here are two versions of the Horsehead Nebula created from the data I obtained from Telescope Live:
The first is in the Hubble SHO pallette and the second is an LRGB image.
Image 1: Widefield refractor 106mm:
Image 2: Reflector Telescope 70cm
Image 3: Taken with my Celestron 130slt
Exposure times and equipment used for these three images
| Image 1 | Image 2 | Image 3 | |
| Telescope type | Refractor 106mm | Reflector 70cm (700mm) | Reflector 130mm |
| Focal length and ratio | 382mm, 3.6 | 5600mm, F8 | 650mm, F5 |
| Model | Takahashi FSQ-106ED | Officina Stellare 70cm | Celestron 130slt |
| Camera | QHY 600M CMOS | FLI PL 16083 CCD | ZWO ASI533 MC PRO |
| Location | Heaven’s Mirror Observatory, Australia | Oria, Spain | Cesme, Turkey |
| Filters | Ha, OIII, SII | L, R, G, B | ZWO Narrowband Ha/ OIII |
| Exposures | 300s x 36 SII 300s x 31 OIII 300s x 38 Ha | 600s x 10 L 600s x 10 R 600s x 9 G 600s x 10 B | 180s x 147 |
| Total integration | 8.75 hours | 6.5 hours | 7.35 |
| Colour palette | SHO | LRGB | RGB |
| Software used | Seti Astro Suite, Siril and Photoshop | Siril and Photoshop | Siril and Photoshop |
My comments about these images
What differences do I see between my image and the ones I created using data from telescope live and their more expensive, higher quality telescopes and cameras?
What do you think of my efforts against the big boy telescopes? Which of the three images do you prefer and why? Comment below and share your thoughts.
Please note that the telescope to take the second picture above is worth approximately 68,000 dollars while my telescope cost just 400! I’m not counting the other items such as mount, cameras and filters which are all substantially more expensive than those I own (a ZWO ASI533 MCPRO camera and an Ioptron CEM26 mount).
