We currently use two computers for the bulk of our work in the UMBC Observatory. The first is the Control Computer(CC). The second is the Data Computer(DC). The CC runs Windows X and the DC runs Windows Y.
Control Computer
The CC has all of the drivers and necessary serial hardware components for delivering motor commands and receiving encoder signals from the Observatory.
Read more about the motors we use on this page.
DFM TCS
This software is the interface telescope operators use to issue nearly all telescope commands. We control the telescope position, focus, and mirror doors from this interface.
ASCOM Dome Control
This software is the interface telescope operators use to issue nearly all commands to the Observatory Dome. We control the position of the dome and the dome shutters from here.
The Sky 6
This software is a fancy star chart. It show us accurate positions of celestial objects in real-time, but also allows us to connect to DFM TCS. In this way, we can issue motor commands through The Sky 6 to control what object the telescope is looking at.
Data Computer
The DC has all of the software required to collect imagery from the Observatory. It’s also the newer computer of the two, so we choose to run other pieces of software on this computer that helps us identify astronomical targets.