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Friday, January 15, 2021

New ATEO Portal - Less is More!

Insight Observatory is very excited to announce the release of its new ATEO Portal!

As we gathered valuable feedback from many of our Insight Observatory ATEO Portal subscribers over the past few years, we wanted to assure accessing the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) for educational and standard use was an easy and pleasurable experience.

When we launched the first version of the ATEO Portal in the fall of 2017, we only had one remote telescope available to access, the 16" f/3.75 Dream Aeropace Systems astrograph reflector (ATEO-1). At the time we didn't foresee the remote telescope network expanding with affiliate imaging systems located around the world.

M42 - The Orion Nebula imaged on ATEO-1 and processed by Utkarsh Mishra using Insight Observatory's new Advanced Image Request application now available on the new ATEO Portal dashboard.
M42 - The Orion Nebula imaged on ATEO-1 and processed by Utkarsh Mishra using Insight Observatory's new Advanced Image Request application now available on the new ATEO Portal dashboard.

The first version of the ATEO Portal was designed and developed having the advanced astrophotographer in mind, fully automating the imaging process. Well... After listening to and taking suggestions from our portal users, we decided to "tone it down" a bit and get back to basics. The new version of the ATEO Portal is 100% intuitive and user-friendly, to a point where the user instructions fit on one section of the portal's dashboard.

Screen capture of Insight Observatory's new ATEO Portal dashboard displaying its new "Basic Image Request" application.
Screen capture of Insight Observatory's new ATEO Portal dashboard displaying its new "Basic Image Request" application.

There are now two options for accessing Insight Observatory's remote telescope network for requesting image data. One option is "Basic Image Request". This option is similar to the Insight Observatory's Personal Image Request (PIR) application. The difference is that there are more imaging parameter options to select.

Screen capture of Insight Observatory's new ATEO Portal dashboard displaying its new "Advanced Image Request" application.
Screen capture of Insight Observatory's new ATEO Portal dashboard displaying its new "Advanced Image Request" application.

Another option is the "Advanced Image Request". This option will allow users to request specific custom image data from Insight's remote telescopes including start date, which telescopes to image on, the number of images, filters to use, exposure lengths, and right ascension and declination coordinate input if needed. Image set requests can also be made on this application for Starbase, Insight Observatory's image set repository.

Here are just a few more changes to the image request process using the new ATEO Portal dashboard:
  • Image Credit System Removed - ATEO Portal users will no longer be required to purchase imaging credits in advance. The new portal dashboard works on a "pay as you go" model.

  • Scheduler Removed - The "Advanced Image Request" application will allow users to request an optional start date for acquiring their image data. This allows us to image your object at its best position in the sky and avoid bad weather cancellations.

  • Telescope Console Replaced - The "Advanced Image Request" application has replaced the Telescope Console making requesting image data from all of our remote telescopes very quick and easy.

  • Automatic Image Data Upload Removed - Image data requests will be reviewed by Insight Observatory staff to confirm the quality of data is 100% satisfactory before uploading to the ATEO Portal user's home folder.

  • Image Queue Added - There now is an image queue in the new ATEO Portal dashboard allowing users to monitor the current status of their image request(s).

You may access the new ATEO Portal dashboard using your previous login credentials and you still will have access to your user profile and Starbase image set repository from the new ATEO Portal.


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