STARLING SHARED OBSERVATORY CONTROLLER
Lunaticoastro’s device to remotely control shared observatories
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—January 2026: the STARling comes out in the market!
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Starling is designed as a near plug-and-play roof control solution for professional and semi-professional shared observatories.
It consolidates roof control, safety monitoring and automation into a single controller, simplifying deployment and operation in multi-user environments.
Sentinel and Client Roles
Sentinel (Observatory Manager)
Observatory manager with full control over the infrastructure and safety conditions. The Sentinel supervises the system and can take over control when required.
Clients (Observatory Users)
Authorised observatory users who interact with the system under a common access model, enabling coordinated and conflict-free operation in shared observatories.
Access permissions depend on the user role, not on the device used: Sentinel and Clients can access Starling from desktop, tablet or mobile devices.
Supported Roof Systems
All roof control functions are consolidated in Starling: motion control, safety inputs, and automated operation sequences.
Starling, to remotely coordinate control of shared observatories.
Easy to use and with powerful features.
Highlights of the Starling Shared Observatory Controller
- Designed to enable several clients (users) to seamlessly interact with a shared observatory
- Includes safeguards for the owner of the roof (the sentinel) to be able to take over where necessary
- Powerful and versatile controller for observatory equipment: roof, alarm, lights, dehumidifier, and much more!
- With functionalities to allow clients to interact with the roof as if they were the only ones sending commands to it
- Ensures ASCOM compliance so clients can continue to use their preferred astronomy software
- With different access levels: comprehensive control panel for the sentinel and public control panel for clients
- Local manual control (no PC required). Starling allows physical buttons or switches to be connected for manual operation — ideal for maintenance tasks or quick on-site control without powering up a computer.
Accessible for clients via
Mobile-friendly control panel.
No app needed!
Pinning the Starling’s Control Panel to the home screen gives it an app-like feel!
With the Starling
The sentinel can:
- open and close the roof
- can control any device connected. In addition to the fixed outputs for service light, alarm and dehumidifier, Starling provides 3 free relay.
- view and monitor requests from clients
- monitor safety conditions with the Cloudwatcher or other safety devices
- override safety conditions and operate manually (open/close the roof or trigger outputs when required)
- monitor a number of other conditions through sensors, including the status of the roof, power fail, emergency…
Clients can:
- open and close the observatory roof
- monitor the roof position in a “single-user” way, ensuring third-party automation software behaves correctly
- interact with the roof via third party software (Sequence Generator Pro (SGP), Voyager, ACP Observatory Control Software, N.I.N.A. and more) through ASCOM, or via the public control panel or via API
- check the status of devices connected to Starling
- monitor observatory conditions including safety status
A simple API enables easy integration with existing applications and custom web dashboards (for example, an observatory status page), while offering the versatility, robustness and reliability required for professional and semi-professional installations.
Local manual control (no PC required)
Starling supports local manual control using physical buttons or switches, enabling essential actions without a PC.
This is especially useful during maintenance, allowing an operator to open/close the roof, turn the service light on/off, or activate configured outputs directly on site.
Hardware I/O Overview
The connection label provides an at-a-glance overview of all sensor inputs and relay outputs, making installation straightforward and reducing setup errors in real observatory environments.
Inputs (IN)
Roof open switch
Roof closed switch
Unsafe
Power fail
Emergency
Security override
Open/Close
Master Close (forced close authority)
Relay outputs
5 pre-assigned relays for typical observatory loads:
Dehumidifier
Alarm
Service lights
- Open roof
- Close roof
3 free relays for custom functions
2 of them can be assigned to control roof flaps
Starling web interface
Technical specifications:
- Manages 8 relays
- 8 input sensors
- Extremely protected against noise
- Direct network connection (ethernet)
- Power supply: 12V (up to 24V is fine), D.C., requires less than 1A, standard 5.5 / 2.1mm jack, positive inside.
- Size: 135 * 50 * 244 mm. box only (total mounted 148 * 55 * 244 mm.)
- Easy installation with DIN rails (optional)
