While One-Click Observations and Pro Datasets are included in your subscription plans, you will need to pay extra to submit Advanced Requests. This is because you are basically renting our telescopes for observing a target of your exclusive interest.
The cost of your Advanced Requests will be charged in credits and depends on the telescope utilisation time, which is the sum of the total exposure time of your images and the observation overheads.
The unit cost of 1 credit is $1, €1.10, £1, A$1.60 and C$1.30, the currency will depend on your country of residency.
You can buy credits directly from the Telescope Live app, using your credit or debit card. You can read more about credits here.
Telescope Price List
See below the prices per hour of telescope utilisation. Note that discounts up to 50% are available when observing during the full moon.
| Telescope Name | Telescope Model | Cost per hour of utilisation |
| CHI-3 | ASA RC-1000AZ | 140 credits/h |
| SPA-2 | Officina Stellare 700RC | |
| CHI-1 | Planewave CDK24 | 120 credits/h |
| SPA-1, SPA-3, AUS-2 | Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4 | 75 credits/h |
| CHI-2, CHI-4 | ASA 500N | 60 credits/h |
* SPA-2 is currently discounted as the maximum exposure time allowed is 120 sec, instead of 600 s, which causes higher overheads. This is because autoguiding is currently disabled.
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