Remote imaging versus hands-on astrophotography: the debate continues

Tony Gondola · Jan 20, 2026 at 05:04 PM

That’s really interesting Rainer, I’ll certainly have a look at all that.

My thinking is that if Starship or something like it is the way forward, costs will come down enough to make privately owned space telescopes a possibility.

I don’t think much will be riding on starship for some time.

ScottF · Jan 21, 2026, 04:12 PM

Tony Gondola · Jan 20, 2026 at 05:04 PM

That’s really interesting Rainer, I’ll certainly have a look at all that.

My thinking is that if Starship or something like it is the way forward, costs will come down enough to make privately owned space telescopes a possibility.

I don’t think much will be riding on starship for some time.

Maybe not Starship but certainly something like that. The cost would have to be much lower than it is today. Both for the launch and for the actual sat. itself.

Tony Gondola · Jan 21, 2026, 04:38 PM

The sad or happy truth is, he could do it right now if he wanted to.

But he is as dumb and greedy as DJT…

Good raises them and they find to each other 🤣

From my perspective, there is nothing like being outside under a clear dark sky. I was at Amboy Crater, CA last weekend - 200 mile drive. After setting up camp and equipment, I started a two hour run of 5 minute exposures.

The sky was magic, almost Bortle 1, dark, transparent, with good seeing, temp in the high 40s. ASIAir runs everything, I was able to sit back and take in the majesty of the surroundings. Remote image capture may be the only option for those unable or unwilling to travel, for me, “being there” is the point.

I suppose then, for some of us, it depends on how much we like, or dislike camping.

This may sound counterintuitive, but my connection to the night sky and my overall enjoyment of it have depended since going remote.
Obviously, I can still do both, image at home and remotely, this isn’t an either-or proposition.

I’ve found that when I image at home, a lot of the performance pressure and need to get all the data I can has gone, it feels like how it was when I first started. Just a curious kid alone under the stars.

I started Astro imaging in the 70’s, by the end of the 80’s into the 90’s I was hypersensitizing Fuji 400 and Kodak Tech Pan 2415 film in a Lumicon tank, and staring through the illuminated reticle on my Lumicon 2” Easy Guider for anywhere from 30 to 120min at a time .. ocasionally tapping a RA or Dec button on the hand controller connected to my drive corrector .. which was connected to my 8” Buyers geared Schaefer mount .. with a 10’ f/5 Parks Newtonian with an Alika Herring custom mirror in it.

By day I was helping my uncle build mounts for some of the most famous amateur astrophotographers of the time .. people who’s images regularly were featured in magazines like Sky & Telescope or Astronomy Magazine, names like Tony Hallas , Daphne Mount, Kim Zussman, and Martin Germano. I learned a lot over the years picking their minds when I could for tips and tricks of the ‘craft’ Most of those guys (and gal) at the time (including me) were working in the field .. setting up and tearing down very large, heavy, and expensive (think Astrophysics Starfire) equipment .. but that was part of the gig .. the craft .. the joy, and sitting around during the day admiring the big rigs and equipment was a big part of the fun! In the end when you were staring at that respectable 16×20 framed M31, M42, etc. on your living room wall you really had something hard fought for and to be proud of.

I had a lot of respect for those guys back then, good astro images were few and far between, it took a hell of a lot of physical work, and if you weren’t a doctor, attorney, or investment banker you had to save up a LONG time to be able to afford the equipment to make good images.

Today excellent astro images are common and everywhere, and you don’t need to be rich or save half your life for the gear to make them, you don’t need to sweat, pull back muscles, drive long distances. It’s available to anyone anywhere who’s making at least minimum wage salaries .. with remote observatory subscriptions, and software like Pixnsight and Photoshop. The romantic amateur glory days are gone .. for better most younger folks would say I imagine, but I’ve bought a few remote observatory data sets, bought pixnsight, and have successfully made those into killer images that far exceed even the best of last century’s finest armatures, but the joy was just not there like back in the day 😔

Today even though I could afford a top tier mount, optics, and even medium format imaging kit, and stick it at SRO or similar to operate with a mouse and keyboard from my heated home office .. I just can’t justify it .. nor would I take much joy not being able to see, touch, and gloat over my bitchin looking modern marvels of engineering.

Browsing through Astrobin images these days I get the biggest kick out of seeing excellent images made with the most inexpensive of gear .. your Chinese stuff like the Skywatcher mounts and little Williams apo’s or GSO newts or RC’s.

In the end there is no right or wrong .. remote vs setting up your own rig every session, it’s what ever brings you the most joy personally. For me .. again the joy was just not there using a remote observatory vs how we did it back in the day hands on.

So image on and clear skies everyone!

Most of thos

Stephen Williams · Jan 22, 2026 at 07:13 AM

I’d find a different hobby if my only option was remote imaging.

Yeah maybe Scanning Electron Microscopy might be cool .. set it up in your garage 😬

In 20-50 years I expect a similar forum post to this titled: “Amateur space telescope imaging vs traditional on Earth methods” ?

If your idea of remote imaging is buying data from somewhere else. then maybe just reposting images from the Hubble or James Web would satisfy you. No need to do anything, just plagiarize away.

I do my remoting from my man-cave to my backyard. Keeps me warm and comfy, near the fridge, near the wife so she doesn’t feel left alone. It’s about 75 feet as the Wi-Fi flies. Once running and satisfyingly bringing in my images of my victim(s) of the evening I can even go to bed and wake up to my batch of images I didn’t have to sit out shivering in the cold to acquire. I did plenty of that in the beginning. And I could only dream of now.

If anything needs corrected, I have only me to take care of it. I can’t imagine sticking many thousand$ of dollar$ of my equipment hundreds or thousands of miles away. Then relying on someone I don’t know doing my maintenance or adjustments.

Different strokes for different folks. But if you can’t DIY remotely, and I have friends who do remote with their equipment at their owned properties. But this Star Front or other remote things is just renting.

"There are already private companies who launch small space telescopes for astronomers.  The company charges membership or rents time to astronomers, while early members got to participate in the design of the telescope or mission parameters.  Similar can happen to amateurs, especially if the cost can go down by a few times.

One major difference is that most astronomical observations are not long.  A couple of nights of data can be enough to keep an astronomer busy for a year or longer.  So an average astronomer doesn't need to spend a lot.  You can enjoy a small space telescope as long as you can afford a sub-percent of its total cost.  But think about what amateurs would want.  A small telescope (<10cm) in space will not give you real resolution advantage over a ground-based 20cm telescope at a good site, but the cost will be 100x higher.  The true advantage would be darkness in space, which can help you to cut down imaging time by 2x or so in the visible part of the spectrum (infrared is a different story).  But the cost of deploying the same telescope in space can be anywhere between 10x to more than 100x than on the ground.  Are amateurs really ready to spend huge money to get a space picture that can be done from the ground with 10x less cost?  

For amateurs, what would really make sense in space is full-sky surveys like the Astrobin community survey or PixInsight's MARS.  In space, you almost (not completely) don't have background gradient.  You only have a semi-steady (not completely steady) background pattern caused by zodiacal light and some low-level aurora (which can be minimized by always pointing away from earth).  For other kinds of astrophotography, I haven't seen a compelling argument for going to space, although technically space astrophotography is quite possible."

Tony Gondola · Jan 22, 2026, 06:56 PM

What would you be willing to pay for higher resolution, access to a greater range of wavelengths, better than B1 dark sky background and 365 good “nights” a year?

This is not easy to answer being retired and as usual not to have an income like before chasing the enchiladas.

… but one more question from my side would be focal length…

365 days of Bortle 1 sky sounds tempting but then I would miss all the joy of tinkering, solving problems, designing parts, etc. etc. etc. and this tinkering also makes me help friends with other 3D printed parts. 😪

I am a fan of long focal length and that is why I have a Mewlon 250S with 3200mm focal length eg. which is at the moment with my camera 0.245” arcseconds per pixel.

When I take my investment and the maybe 75 to 100 clear nights per year and maybe 6 hours per clear night, each hour since I am using it as foten as possible since beginning 2019 to december 2025 did cost me ~ US $ 30.00 (worst case 75 clear night per year) and sinking every hour I use it from January 2026 on. And this would be only for one set up. If I use both at the same time the cost would half. 🤓

NOT counting during clear days when I make Sun imaging. Do I get Sun imaging hours at a remote site? I do not think so as the other 99 telescope or more owners would get crazy having their equipment in full sunshine for about 2 to 5 hours when I do Sun imaging 🤣

I have two other set ups, on one mount side by side, with 1000mm focal length and a variable one with 420, 560 and 700mm focal length.

But what counts for me most is sitting in the warm room taking control over evrything and look at the equipment work in the same way as a child looking what happens inside a washing machine 🤣

And also while looking at the equipment come up with new accesories or parts and 3D print them for optimizing the set up arrangement.

and many many more things that I can not describe at the moment.

…