Swansea Astronomical Society Blog: What is inside M33?

There are a large number of NGC and IC designated objects that are actually part of the Triangulum galaxy M33.

The data for this session were captured in January 2025. We were working with Distributed telescope control via Ethernet over mains with a headless Linux computer attached to the telescope, controlled remotely by AstroDMx Capture.

List of equipment

Celestron AVX mount
Stella Mira 66 ED APO refractor
ZWO Electronic Focuser
ZWO Electronic Filter wheel with R-G-B, UV/IR cut and Ha filters
SVBONY SV 605MC 14 bit Cooled monochrome CMOS camera
SVBONY SV165 Guide scope
QHY-5II-M guide camera
MeLE Quieter 2D fanless mini PC running Fedora Linux and an INDI server.
TP-Link LS108G 8 Port Gigabit Network Switch
Tenda P200 x 2 Powerline Ethernet adapters
JJC DHS-1 USB Lens Heater Strip x 3 (For imaging scope, guide scope and ZWO electronic focuser)
Multi USB 4 Port Plug Adaptor
5A 12V Power adapters x 3 (For mount, Cooled CMOS camera and Lens Heater Strips)
Mains extension lead

Click on an image to get a closer view

The telescope setup

The small headless computer is connected via Ethernet to a powerline ethernet adapter which is paired with a matching powerline ethernet adapter indoors. This link forms a reliable and encrypted Ethernet connection between the powerline ethernet adapters and thus allows the small form factor computer to be accessed by its IP address from any computer on the local network.

AstroDMx Capture is run on the capture computer connected to the local network and can access all of the devices in a similar fashion to how they would be if they were connected directly via USB. PHD2 auto-guiding software is run on the guide computer. This essentially creates a distributed system.

The imaging computer and the guide computer are both located indoors along with the ethernet switch and one Ethernet power adapter which is plugged into the mains. We use two separate computers for convenience of divided activities between two people, but the imaging computer alone could have been used alone, doing the tasks of both computers. The imaging computer runs AstroDMx Capture and the Guide computer runs PHD2 guiding software. We work this way because we are always testing the current development of AstroDMx Capture, and we prefer to monitor the session at all times.

The rest of the equipment is located outdoors at the observing site at the front of the house or on other occasions in the observatory area at the top of the rear garden. All that connects them is a mains extension lead.

30 minutes worth of 5 minute exposures were captured through each of the filters,

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture saving exposures through the UV/IR cut filter