Internet Based Telescope Control Applications

Welcome to the NorthWest Astronomy Group's telescope control website! This website is developed for the purpose of having a place where internet users can come together to colloborate on the usage and control of the telescopes at the Vernonia Peak Observatory. There are 3 main applications with are available which can be used to monitor and control various functions of the telescopes. The StarChart application is used to show where a telescope is pointing, the Telescope Drive application is used to control the position of the telescope, and the Camera and Image Viewer application is used to control the CCD camera on the telescope and to monitor images as they are produced by the telescope.

The applications can be ran from within your browser as applets, or they can be downloaded to your computer and deployed as web application. Applets will not take up any disk space on your computer and run only as long as your browser is running. Web apps are downloaded to your computer and run just like any other application, however they still require that you have an internet connection open in order to run them. In addition, there is a 3rd party applet available for chat room, message board, and white board services. (This will be available as a web application soon)

Before you get started using these applications, it is strongly recommended that you read or at least skim through the available online documentation in order to develop an understanding of the model and usage of these application. Not all functionality is available yet, and this is still a work in progress so don't be surprised if there are still bugs and features missing. Generally, if a feature is documented in the documentation, it means it is mostly functional. Currently all applications are running in simulation mode, and nothing is connected to actual telescope hardware yet. You can view the online documentation by clicking the help button in each of the applications, or by clicking here.

Good Luck and enjoy your visit! If you would like to give some feedback or suggestions, again you can do so by clicking on the help button in each of the applications, or by clicking here.

Telescope Applications deployed by applets

Fill in the fields here if you wish to use your browser to deploy the telescope control applications as applets. Choose an identifier for yourself, and if you are a guest visiting our site, choose anything for a password. (members should use the club password to gain access to full control priviliges). Clicking on the Submit button will then cause your browser to load a web page from which you can select the various applets to run.

Telescope Applications deployed by Java Web Start

Click on each of the following links to download and install each application as a web app on your computer. The first time you do this, the Java virtual machine and the WebStart Manager will also be downloaded and installed on your computer (If not already installed) . Once installed, the applications can be started by coming back here and clicking on the links again, or by opening the WebStart manager and clicking on the appropriate icon within it. Also you may have the WebStart manager install icons on your desktop and in your start menu for easy access to start the applications.

Windows Platforms automatic installation

Manual installation for other platforms