CSV offers another option for members, especially useful for those who live far enough away that regular visits are more difficult. This is the Personal Remote Observatory (The PRO). PRO’s at CSV were pioneered by Blaine McCoy, a member who lives in the Seattle, WA area.
Blaine’s PRO design uses a cabinet with a remotely powered roll-off roof. The cabinet houses the imaging equipment (in this case a Takahashi FS106 refractor with an ASI2400 full frame camera on a ZWO AM5 mount) together with high capacity LiFePO4 batteries and the necessary electronic control equipment. The system is powered by solar panels and is connected to the internet via the WiFi mesh network at CSV.
Regular CSV members may install PROs on their lots, CSV has also created a separate category of membership for those who wish to focus solely on remote imaging with the PRO. CSV has set aside an area shown below where PROs are located, with each occupying a 500 square foot lot.
Members are free to build their own PROs but CSV has arranged with Simple Systems of Phoenix to supply and install prebuilt PROs for those members who wish to purchase them.
Although the size of the PRO unit places a limit on the telescope size that can be accommodated the examples below show that even sizable Celestron OTA’s can be mounted successfully. The picture on the left shows Blaine McCoy’s second PRO unit with a Celestron 9.25 EdgeHD. With the 0.7 reducer installed this scope is imaging at a focal length of 1645 mm and focal ratio of f/7. The picture on the right shows Casey Good’s PRO unit with a Celestron C8 RASA imaging at a focal length of 400 mm and an ultrafast focal ratio of f/2.
