[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Here's my checklist:

1. Open the dome shutter
2. Power up the observatory laptop
3. Establish a remote desktop link with control room PC
4. Power up the camera, establish link and set temperature (CCDSoft)
5. Point scope at the Zenith (Tak Temma mounts assume that’s where the scope is pointing on power up).
6. Power up the mount & establish a link (The Sky).
7. Power up the dome, establish link (Automadome) and “home” it
8. Start dome tracking
9. Select a bright star within cooee of the target and slew to it
10. Centre the star in the finderscope and Synch (TheSky)
11. Slew to the target and re-synch if necessary
12. Focus using CCDSoft (usually a 10-15 minute task – I don’t have motorised focusing)
13. Make sure the Field of View indicator in TheSky matches what the camera is seeing. This may require fine pointing adjustments to position the target in the field using short exposures with the camera. Re-synch if necessary
14. If this is NOT a continuation of a previous session, select a guide star to get the best framing and rotate the camera as necessary. This step is skipped if it’s a continuation session.
15. If this is NOT a continuation of a previous session, slew to a suitable bright star in close proximity of the target and calibrate the mount (CCDSoft). This step is skipped if it’s a continuation session.
16. Curse the clouds that saw me setting up and decided to move in closer.
17. Go inside (to the control room) and take a dark exposure
18. While the dark is underway, set up CCDSoft for the light exposures.
19. After the dark exposure, commence autoguiding and monitor for a minute to make sure all is well
20. Commence the imaging run

Right now for a continuation session I’m finding that this takes no more 20-30 mins with focussing being the longest step (at long FLs temp has a significant effect on focus). If it’s a brand new target, I’d add another 10 minutes or so (assuming the camera is already attached).

Cheers, Marcus