Automating my home observatory has been a lot of fun, and a lot of challenges as well! For new readers my home observatory is a 5×5 micro-observatory (i.e. no room to stand, just a building where the telescope can operate robotically) with a run off roof that is motorized with a gate opened, and is
connected to a computer that can operate the motor that runs the roof on and off it’s supports.
One of the big challenges I’ve faced is when should I open the roof? Obviously I can stick my head out of
the house and look up to decide, but for an automated observatory, that’s not very efficient. In this article I discuss a way to automated cloud detection using Machine Learning. Enjoy!
Detecting Clouds with Machine Learning