Technical Support Services
For an industry that is built around highly complex equipment used primarily at night, the lack of any technical support services during those same hours has always felt like a missed opportunity. It was a request made time-and-again by customers and clients shopping for astronomy gear, and as good as the forums and social media can be they never quite match the power of a real human with real experience.
And with nearly a decade of experience providing customer service to the retail astronomy industry, After-Hours Astronomy (“AHA”) is excited to offer a wide range of real-time, late-night technical support services to astronomers and astrophotographers of all experience levels. These range from beginner-friendly options like our “First Night Out” package to the more advanced “Observatory-Grade” technical support services. The founder of AHA has helped hundreds (…probably thousands) of astronomers over the years through his work at in the astronomy industry, and through his experience working with astronomy clubs and professional-grade observatories. And we’re positive he can help you too!
After-Hours Astronomy delivers tech support in real-time through your choice of communication platforms, including Google Meet video conferencing, Zoom (if you have an account), traditional telephone calls, text messaging, or email correspondence. Basic services are offered in 30-minute chunks, with volume discounts available for multiple sessions. Examples of services that fall under this banner can be found below, but feel free to Contact Us for more specific details or to chat about your specific technical support needs.
General Assistance
This option is for all basic technical support services, ranging from the most common challenges like a bad cable, to more intermediate troubleshooting like tracking, backspacing, and more. General Assistance will cover the majority of issues encountered with today’s small to mid-size astronomy equipment, but please Contact Us if you have any questions before booking or if you are unsure of which service to pick.
Questions about basic setup and operation for just the vast majority of commercially available astronomy equipment.
Basic troubleshooting for issues such as poor autoguiding performance, elongated stars, backspacing concerns, etc.…
Collimation and optical maintenance for most traditional scope types.
Integration of new components into your existing system
Mount alignment procedures - solar, polar, stellar, AZ, EQ, you name it!
First-steps of image calibration, stacking, and processing. And recommendations on where to turn for advanced processing support.
Cleaning and upkeep of optics and mechanical equipment like mounts
Establishing or troubleshooting connections (wired or wireless) between the imaging equipment and your computer(s)
Power management and planning - either at home or when traveling
Cable management and organization of equipment
Setting up communications with manufacturers or software designers where necessary
And much more! Contact Us today with any questions!
Example services include:
Advanced Assistance
This option is intended to offer the most in-depth of all available service packages, and it is best-suited clients who have moved on from traditional beginner setups (and beginner questions). This can mean you have a genuine observatory, a semi-permanent backyard setup, or even a full rig that gets transported to your favorite dark site. But unlike the General Assitance option these sessions would not be about the basics of nightly setup and alignment routines, and would instead be focused on optimizing YOUR specific gear and addressing any problems relevant to YOUR specific setup. This package will usually entail multiple sessions and is meant to offer a more hands-on, longer-term support than the "General Assistance" option.
System performance optimization
Optical anomaly diagnosis and troubleshooting
Real-time assistance with cleaning and any assembly/disassembly related to the cleaning process
Assistance with selection of equipment, software, and site planning for your observatory.
File management and data storage solutions.
Sky monitoring and weather system integration
Installation and calibration of hardware sensors
Assistance coordinating with multiple manufacturers and contractors to build or repair your facilities.
Remote power management
Website design, business planning, and non-profit management assistance for anyone interested in creating a commercial, research, or educational/outreach facility.
ALL of the same technical support service as with our General Assistance option
And more! Contact Us today with any questions!
Example services include:
First Night Out!
This option entails a full 3 hours (9pm -12am MT) of one-on-one support to help get everything in your system operational. Whether it’s genuinely your first night out or if you just got some new gear and need to start over from scratch, this is where to go for if you need to learn your system from the ground up. Everything will be covered from the physical setup and breakdown of your system, the storage of your gear, software, polar alignment, and more. For this “First Night Out” package there will be a required form when booking that will ask you to list your gear and your overall level of comfort with this equipment and hobby in general. Please make sure to fill this out to the best of your abilities,
Before the session you will be required to have Google Chat (or Zoom if you’re hosting) and HelpWire for real-time screen control. If you are unable to install HelpWire or Google Meet then please reach out in advance and we can set up a mandatory 30-min “General Assistance” reservation devoted to installing these two communication programs and explaining how to use them.
*Solar setups are welcome too but will require special arrangements for a daytime session. Please reach out to schedule this directly.
Pre-Purchase Assistance
Whether its different brands or completely different types of technology, there can be a ton of questions before you ever get to the point of needing our tech support services.
With this in mind, After-Hours Astronomy wanted to offer a service specifically aimed at helping you make sense of all the gear available in today’s market. Whether you’re looking at brand new gear or something used selection there are more options than ever before, and researching every possible combination of equipment can be a months-long process to do from scratch. But with this package we can cut through all of those choices together to build a system quickly and easily that is based around your specific needs, budget, and experience level.
Please note that After-Hours Astronomy promises to always provide impartial and unbiased advice, with all recommendations based on more than a decade of first-hand experience as both a hobbyist and as an employee of the retail astronomy industry.
*10% Discount when purchased alongside the “First Night Out” service
Any type of physical repair services
Any type of troubleshooting or maintenance on systems involving fully automated observatories that cannot be accessed while troubleshooting.
Collimation and optical maintenance for refractors or binoculars, custom optical configurations, exotic optical configurations, or any optical equipment valued at over $50,000
Programming and configuration of fully automated remote systems. You must have in-person access to the equipment in question.
Any tasks that require computer programming or coding
Support for any systems running entirely on Linux-based computers
NAS drive setup or configuration, along with any other networking-related tasks.
Anything requiring coding, such as writing scripts or building a system from scratch with something like a Raspberry Pi or Linux-based system.
3D printing services or advice