HOW DOES IT WORK?
1. Determine your tier
Our quick tutorial or our Pier Wizard will help determine in seconds which pier tier is right for your telescope system.
2. Reserve your pier
Lock in your spot by making a reservation deposit. Piers are first come, first served.
3. Ship your gear
Ship your equipment or drop it off in person at Starfront. We'll coordinate the details with you either way.
4. We install and align
Our on-site team installs your rig to your exact specs, polar aligns it, and dials everything in.
5. Begin imaging
We work with you to verify your scope is capturing data properly. Once you're up and running, your subscription begins.
How does tech support work at Starfront?
Starfront Observatories has a full time onsite team that can handle any issue with your telescope. We do collimation, polar alignment, tip-tilt, electronics board swaps, and basically everything else that can be done to a telescope. With the amount of telescopes we have worked on here, we have seen everything!
Just submit a ticket in our support system and we can help you out.
How do you ship a telescope?
Firstly, the most important thing to note is that you should always insure the shipment of your telescope system. Accidents are rare but not impossible. Knowing this, it is also good to familiarize yourself with UPS packaging standards, because if you poorly pack your system and it breaks, it is on you. Alternatively, you can take your gear to UPS and ask them to pack it for you, in which case any damage to your insured equipment will be on UPS!
Some special things to note when packaging:
-Uninstall ZWO EAF or similar from your OTA before shipping.
-Uninstall any USB from their ports before shupping.
-Do not leave flat panels installed before shipping.
-Uninstall your camera from your OTA before shipping.
-Pack your counterweights (or any weighty items) separately from the rest of your gear as they are the most likely to damage your equipment.
-When shipping a German equatorial mount, leave the gears (or clutches) disengaged, so that loads cannot be transferred to the gear teeth.
-For SCT telescopes, lock your primary mirror locks down to prevent a mirror flop.
-Also for SCT, make sure your secondary mirror screws are not loose, tighten them securely! We can collimate the scope later!
-If you still have your included boxes or carrying cases, these are an easy way to ship gear.Please keep in mind, that we do not store boxes or cases here. If you send us a hard case and want it back, you need to provide a return label for us to return the case to you.- Install your lens caps and covers before shipping. This protects your gear and keeps your optics clean.
-If you are covering up any surfaces with tape, painter's tape is best because it doesn’t leave any residue on your gear.
In general, when you pack equipment, it is a good idea to give your equipment a healthy layer of bubble wrap to prevent dents, and then surround it with padding material (peanuts, newspaper, airbags, etc) to protect against jolts or drops.
ANYTHING left on the OTA which sticks out is subject to higher damage risk. EFWs, EAFs, flat panels, anything 3d printed. Please uninstall these and pack them separately to keep them safe.
It is also a good idea to grab a couple of quick pictures of the packages before they are shipped. We also take pictures of packages as they arrive. This way if there are any issues, you have proof of the package condition prior to shipment.
How does the reservation and billing work?
Our refundable deposit simply secures your pier at our remote telescoping observatory (since there are limited spaces). It is fully refundable at any time, no questions asked. It also serves as the installation fee when your telescope is installed (i.e. your install is included with the reservation deposit).
Once the telescope is capable of taking images, then the monthly billing for the system starts!
What if I have multiple telescopes or a piggyback?
Two simple options: 1) Depending on the size of the scope (piggyback and side-by-side options are only available for Lite piers and larger), you can either piggyback on to your main telescope for an additional fee of $100 / month or 2) you can rent a separate pier. The additional piggyback or side-by-side system does not incur an additional installation fee (so only the additional $100 monthly fee applies).
We treat piggyback and side-by-side systems the same (+$100 / month for each additional telescope). Adding an extra scope is additional work, not just initially for installation, but also for ongoing maintenance and support. Additionally, it consumes more communal resources (e.g., bandwidth).
What do I need to send?
We provide the pier, pier adapter, an ethernet connection, and an AC outlet power connection. You need to send the rest, which amounts to:
Imaging essentials, such as:
-Imaging camera
-Telescope
-Mount
-Guide scope or OAG (off-axis guider)
-Guide camera
-Computer
This also means the peripherals required to make that stuff work, such as:
-USB cables
-Power supplies
-Web power strip Ethernet switch (if using multiple network devices)
-Ethernet cables
Mounting essentials:
-Polar alignment pins (the ones on your tripod) so we can attach them to our pier plate
-Tripod flange screws (commonly 3x M6 bolts on AM3/AM5 mounts)
-Pier adapters for oddball mounts (GM1000HPS, CGX)
When you ship, label your items with your name.There is no such thing as overlabeling! If you have a photo of your setup, or anything special required in the installation, please also send this digitally or printed with your gear.This will help us do the installation exactly as required.
Once the system is here on site, we will install it and cable manage it ourselves. So there is no need to send any zip-ties.
Also please include an itemized list of the gear you are shipping here as this will help us verify your item inventory as they arrive.
