The cost of Advanced Requests is charged in credits.
For the Advanced Requests, the final cost depends on the telescope utilisation time, which is the sum of the total exposure time of your images and the observation overheads.
Telescope Price List
See below the prices per hour of telescope utilisation. Note that discounts up to 75% are available when observing during the full moon.
| Telescope Name | Telescope Model | Cost per hour of utilisation |
| CHI-3 | ASA RC-1000AZ | 135 credits/h |
| SPA-2 | Officina Stellare 700RC | 120 credits/h |
| CHI-1 | Planewave CDK24 | 110 credits/h |
| SPA-1, SPA-3, AUS-2 | Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4 | 75 credits/h |
| CHI-2, CHI-4 | ASA 500N | 60 credits/h |
| CHI-5 | Nikon 200 F/2 | 45 credits/h |
| CHI-6 | Officina Stellare RH200 | 50 credits/h |
Moon discounts
Because moonlight can badly affect your images, we offer significant discounts when observing with the moon above the horizon.
The discounts are based on the moon illumination (100% means full moon, 0% means new moon). The discounts are as follows:
- 10% of the full cost for moon illuminations between 25% and 50%
- 25% of the full cost for moon illuminations between 50% and 75%
- 50% of the full cost for moon illuminations higher than 75%
There is no discount for moon illuminations less than 25%.
How is telescope utilisation calculated?
The telescope utilisation is calculated based on the total exposure time of your images, plus the observation overhead.
The observation overhead is the extra time that is required during the fulfilment of an advanced request to set up the telescope for the observation (slewing to the target, focusing, fine centring and guiding star acquisition), and to process and download every single exposure (this includes filter change if needed, download time from CCD to the computer, RBI flushing if present, and plate solution).
During the submission of an advanced request, you will be able to monitor the total cost of your advanced request, and the individual charges for exposure time and overheads, in the COST SUMMARY on the right side of the screen.
How can I minimise the telescope utilisation?
The overheads depend strongly on how you structure your image series. Obviously, each observation will have its own requirements. However, it is good to know what increases and what decreases overheads.
The main factors that can decrease your overheads are:
- Use long exposure times, such as 600s
- Disable dithering
- Bin your images