iSkies - Remote Telescopes

iBisque at New Mexico Skies: The first practical public real-time remote use Internet observatory.

Time at New Mexico Skies

Infrastructure and Facilities:

Automated 32' roll-off roof observatory
Up to 12 CCD camera equipped telescopes per observatory
Patent-pending (PP) GUI web browser-based robotic control software by Software Bisque
Satellite T-1 grade communications by Tachyon.net
Telescopes: 14" commercial SCTs on Software Bisque robotic telescope mounts.
Mega pixel CCD cameras using Kodak KAF-1001E sensor (25 mm square)
Full-time automatic temperature compensated focus control

Site Parameters:

Latitude 32° 54' 14", Longitude 105° 31' 44"
2225 meter elevation with clear horizons
Very dark transparent skies-limiting visual magnitude +7.7
Excellent weather conditions with about 70% clear night skies
We estimate that more than 2,100 hours of clear sky conditions are available per year at New Mexico Skies Observatory
Seeing of one arc-second or better at least 50% of the time
Perfectly clear and photometric nights average up to 50%

Telescope and Imaging Details: Each 14" optical tube [see picture below] is mounted on a Bisque GT-1100 ME Paramount GEM. Telescope pointing and tracking is enhanced with T-Point software achieving RMS pointing of better that 30 arc-seconds. Full client-server software is available to users, providing control of every aspect of telescope, mount and camera operation. Most users will opt for the web-based Browser Astronomy (PP) that provides a rich graphical based user interface to Bisque's TheSky and CCDSoft software.

With Browser Astronomy the user needs no special software for full essential control of the imaging process. Photometrically accurate reductions to all images are made on the fly using low noise master flat field, dark and bias frames.

M27 Planetary Nebula