1) To begin, we first need to log in to the Launchpad using your username and password. This will bring you to a screen similar to the following:
2) From here, you will want to click on a telescope that shows "Available" like the picture below.
3) Once selected, you will be prompted to log in:
4) Enter your Username and Password to log in. If you receive an error, be sure to do the following:
- Ensure that you are entering the correct Username and Password.
- Ensure that you are entering the Username in all lower case - ACP (the telescope control software) can only accept lower case Usernames.
- Ensure that you are entering your password exactly as you originally typed it in - passwords are case sensitive.
- Ensure that you have more than 10 points remaining in your account - Access to telescopes is disabled when accounts fall below 10 points.
- If you have made a change to your account recently (password, address, plan upgrade, plan downgrade, plan renewal, point purchase), please wait 15 minutes and try entering your information again. Accounts must re-sync to all systems following any changes, regardless of how small.
If all of these fail, please contact support, as your account has likely become desynced and will need to be manually synced to the telescopes. Be sure to include your account Username and which telescope you are seeing an error on.
5) Once logged in, you will find yourself on a "Welcome" screen, like this:
6) From here, select One Click Image:
7) This will bring you to a new screen that has an image of the current All Sky Camera to show you the weather, and a list of available targets that includes the target's official designation, a sample image, it's more common name, RA, DEC, Azimuth, Elevation, and how long the system will expose for. Clicking Submit on the target of your choice will begin the image process.
8) After taking your image, you will need to download it from the FTP server. We have another section of FAQs that cover this process that you can find here.