iTelescope, New Mexico

[Mike Harlow]

Does anyone know what is happening at iTelescope in New Mexico? All telescopes have been off-line for “NMS Site Wide System Maintenance” for over a week now. The response I got to an e-mail asking about the site was:
“Yes, problems.
Sorry to be mysterious but all will be revealed in the next few days.”
Any inside information would be welcome…I’m guessing damage from recent extreme weather in the US???
Thanks,
Mike.

• This topic was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by Mike Harlow.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by Mike Harlow.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by Mike Harlow.

[David Swan]

From Discord forum:

mladen (iTelescope) — 10/01/2023 21:55
Our apologies. Overhauling all scopes after many years of service. Estimated at around 10 days work. Our team is in New Mexico Skies, working around the clock.

mladen (iTelescope) — 12/01/2023 22:13
T02 (and all of New Mexico Skies) has been on extended maintenance from the 10th of January. This is scheduled to end by the 21st of January.

[Mike Harlow]

Thanks David,
I’ve now had a detailed reply from Mladen explaining the situation, so all is good. Looks like they will be back in action next week as you mention above.
Thanks,
Mike.

[Martin Mobberley]

Mike, David,

They’ve just put a new video on youtube….They’ve moved all the telescopes from New Mexico to Utah!

See last but one video on their channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@itelescopewebinars

Martin

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by Martin Mobberley.

[Mike Harlow]

Thanks Martin,
I thought it was a bit weird when the all-sky camera in New Mexico suddenly said it was in Utah Desert! But still looks like there is some commissioning work to do before we can start using them again.
Looking forward to seeing more of your comet images!
Mike.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by Mike Harlow.

[Nick James]

Interesting. I let my iTel subscription lapse since their kit was unreliable and the cameras were mostly old and/or not well calibrated. If things improve I might be tempted back. I did try Skygems but many of their instruments are offline or broken at the moment. Does anyone have any suggestions for good, reliable, high-quality remote observing. I would prefer pay-as-you-go since I don’t use it that often.

[David Swan]

Mike and Martin,

Your posts prompted me to have look just now: they have indeed moved!!

You’re right Nick, there were / are some issues – I’ve seen a lot of hot pixels (not calibrating out), dead pixel columns and so on in my images. I’m less fastidious than you I suspect, so iTel is still more than good enough for me – for an astro fix when the weather is bad oop north. Let me know though if other remote observing solutions come your way – please.

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