Remote Control Astronomy Handbook

Menke Scientific

At Home in a Dome

We wrote "At Home in a Dome" in 1993 to help anyone interested in creating a permanent observing set-up. At that time, the web had not yet come into being and it was hard to find thorough discussions of observatory design for amateurs. We printed and gave away hundreds of copies of this 50-page booklet for many years. It has helped thousands of new owners, even those who built their own structures, make decisions about site selection, constructing a foundation and walls, and how to choose among various dome designs. Starting in 1997, when we launched our website www.homedome.com, we posted it online. Since selling our dome manufacturing business in 2002, "At Home in a Dome" remains available as a free pdf file on Downloads page of the Technical Innovations website.

(We recently discovered that copies of the original printing can be purchased online from sites offering used and out of print books. The online prices range upwards from $13 to $25. Amazing!)

Remote Control Astronomy Handbook

Until recently, there has been little printed information available on creating and operating robotic observatories with contemporary observing equipment and computers. We wrote this illustrated 57-page booklet in 2001 as a service to the astronomy community by drawing on our experiences and that of our dome customers.

You can download the Handbook in PDF format (490KB) for reading and/or printing. This requires that your computer have an Acrobat Reader, available free as described below.

The Remote Control Astronomy Handbook describes how to automate an observatory. It includes sections on the observatory, the telescope, cameras, focusing and computers. Click here to preview the table of contents.

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Many computers are sold with the Acrobat Reader application already installed. If you have this application on your computer you do not need to download the Reader application.

If you do not have this application, you can visit the Adobe Systems web site to download the Acrobat Reader application for your specific operating system (i.e.. Macintosh, Windows, Unix, etc.). The Adobe site provides detailed instructions for installing and using the Reader application.

Click here to get Acrobat Reader.