Telescope Live 3.0 Is Now Online
Today is the day.
After months of development, hard work, and testing, we are now officially launching Telescope Live 3.0!
Below, you'll find a video that will tell you all the same things you see written in this blog post.
So it's up to you either to read this email or to watch the video.
Telescope Live 3 will offer you a renewed experience, by getting rid of the frustration and issues that we’ve been having so far, and by opening the largest and ever-growing archive of observations dedicated to astrophotography.
Let Me Check Telescope Live 3.0!
Let me briefly summarize the improvements and changes we have applied (especially for those who didn’t have the time/chance to read the previous communications).
The Improvements We Have Made
- From today, you will have immediate access to our entire database of data gathered in the last few years, consisting of more than 120,000 images, or 7,000 of observing time.
- Instant download of every observation will be possible, so no more waiting for your data
- You will never miss an observation again, as everything will be available for grab, at any time.
- Thanks to a new feature called Observation Bundles, you will be able to build huge datasets for all your favorite targets
- As in the past, new observations will keep coming in, and you will be able to grab them instantly
- We are increasing our quality control so that you’ll always get the best quality images
- And there is more… We want to make you feel more connected to the observing experience, so from today you will be the ones deciding what we observe next!
Your New Monthly Credit Allowance
To make all this possible, we are implementing a new credit system.
Each One-Click Observation will now have a value in credits.
Starting from today, your plan will give you a monthly credit allowance:
- If you are in Bronze, you will get 5 credits per month,
- if you are in Silver, you will get 20 credits per month, and
- if you are in Gold, you will get 50 credits per month.
The monthly fees for the plans will not change!
These credits can be used to grab One-Click Observations but they can also be used to submit Advanced Requests, as in the past.
If you are an active subscriber, we are adding your credit allowance today, so that you can start using Telescope Live 3 straight away. You will also receive your monthly credit allowance at every new billing cycle.
The value of each One-Click is calculated based on the telescope used and the total exposure time.
You get a 30% discount for One-Click Observations acquired in the last 24 hours, or if you book One-Click Observations in advance, before they are acquired.
Gold members will also get an additional 20% discount for the older archive observations as well.
The average value in credits of a One-Click, considering the discounts, is super cheap at only 0.6 credits!
This means that almost all of our existing clients will be able to get much more images than in the past.
The Faster & Cheaper Advanced Requests
we couldn’t forget about you and all the other “veterans” able to exploit Remote Imaging at its full potential!
In fact, we have also made some quite good developments on our most sophisticated observation modality: the Advanced Requests!
The first thing to know is that the Advanced Requests are now prioritized against any other observation.
The second significant improvement is that Advanced Requests are now cheaper.
Thanks to our improved software, we have been able to reduce observation overheads, so that the final prices of your observations will go down by a significant amount.
To encourage the use of our coolest observing modality and allow more people to become true remote observers, we also decided to reduce the hourly prices for telescope utilization across all our telescopes with price reductions ranging from 10% to 30%!
If you want to read more about the improvements in the Advanced Requests, you can read my dedicated blog post.
What happens to the Pro Datasets?
The Pro Datasets have been replaced with the “Observation Bundles”, which are collections of all the single One-Click Observations gathered about a specific target from the same telescope and with the same observation’ settings.
All the Pro Datasets that you’ve already downloaded have been automatically assigned to you, so you don’t have to pay again.
What happens to the future observations that I have already booked?
As the acquisition method is changing, your future bookings have been canceled and you will need to book your observations again through the new section Future Observations.
The REAL advantages of Telescope Live 3.0
- Access to the largest and ever-growing archive of observations dedicated to astrophotography
- With Telescope Live 3.0, we are guaranteeing that you’re able to get the observations, instead of paying even if you are not getting your images
- Almost everybody will find that they can get many more observations than in the past
- Never miss a One-Click Observation again
- Instant downloads, no more waiting – it’s not a lottery anymore!
- Get the observations you really want, forget about the ones you don’t need
- Be the one deciding what to observe next
- An easier-than ever interface
So these are all the improvements now available to you.
But it ain’t all!
Let’s celebrate together our 3rd birthday!
Since we are now approaching our third birthday, we thought it was necessary to celebrate in some way.
So, besides these new improvements, we have crafted the “Happy Birthday TL” promotion.
In some days, we will launch this promotion that will allow you to buy credits at a fraction of the actual cost.
Basically, you will have the chance to stock up credits for the winter season.
However, I will tell you more about this promotion in the following weeks…
For now, I’ll leave you in peace to enjoy the updated version of our platform!
Up till then, See you space cowboy…