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Remote Hosting in Spain:
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Remote Hosting at e-EyE in Extremadura, Spain

11/2/2016

2 Comments

 
​​A recent conversation with Rupert Smith of Astrograph.net on Facebook led me to find out about the facility named e-EyE in Extremadura, Spain. Created and ran by Jose Luis Quiñones and his wife Cristina Fabo, this facility provides many things beyond remote hosting. This includes accommodation on-site, a conference room for courses, an area powered with mains electricity for star parties, a pool, an area for BBQs, etc. Most interesting for me was the actual observatories for remote hosting. 
Currently there is one shed with six piers in it. These have individually-controlled, motorised roofs. Customers having their equipment hosted at a pier have full control over their own motorised roof, via ASCOM. 
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​The site has an amazing night sky, with SQM readings ranging between 21.5 and 22.9 - little to no light pollution to speak of. Best of all, Jose Luis and Cristina are extremely friendly and accommodating, providing my wife and I with a very enjoyable introduction to the facility. Definitely somewhere we would want to stay a few nights as a break from everyday life. 

Though we did not choose a particularly nice day to visit (we decided to go only the day before!), I was told that the number of clear nights per year at the e-EyE facility ranges between 136 and 236, as measured. They estimate an average of about 200 clear nights per year. 
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​​The drive up from Gibraltar was very enjoyable, at just under 4 hours driving, over a distance of about 320 km. Certainly close enough for me to casually go over in a weekend to set up my equipment over there. I have already chosen my pier and it is reserved, pending receiving some equipment I need. I look forward to this tremendously, as it will allow me to image remotely from home and in an amazing night sky, many, many more nights a year. 

To start off, I will have my Borg 77EDII telescope as my hosted telescope. In the future, I will probably upgrade to a longer focal length refractor, as I am quite keen on refractors and may want to zoom in more. I impatiently await everything I need so I can load up my car and stay a weekend at e-EyE, getting all my things sorted! I also look forward to a fantastic relationship with Jose Luis and Cristina, hosting courses up at e-EyE, like on PixInsight. More to come on that front!
2 Comments
Kevin Desoisa link
21/3/2016 13:37:27

What a fantastic place. I am sure that it will help you reach new heights in your work.

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Arie Nagel SQM RGB LUM HDR DBE STF APS KLM ABC :-) link
6/8/2016 21:42:05

Looks great, almost like a recreation park! Michael van Doorn (also on FaceBook) and I have a set up in Astrocamp/Nerpio, where we enjoy around 290 nights per year with roofs open under similar dark skies.

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