The way to control astronomy equipment when taking astrophotography has come a long way over the years from manually adjusting things to having computer software that does a lot of the hard work for us. There are two main contenders when it comes to automation of portable amateur astronomy rigs and we will cover them both so you can decide.

So it goes without saying that this is going to cover the two most popular options even though there are other solutions. ASIAIR from ZWO and a mini PC which usually runs the Microsoft Windows operating system.

So for those who don't understand what is meant by a mini PC, simply put, it is a computer that is very small. Some mini PC systems can fit in the palm of your hand while others are a bit bigger but still portable enough to be easy to take with you on an astrophotography session. Why aren't we talking about laptops here? Because a laptop can not sensibly be mounted to your telescope, whereas the ASIAIR and a mini PC can be mounted to a telescope meaning laptops are not a contender here.

the first we include here is the ZWO ASIR system which has a varied of additions depending on connectivity and other features but the basic idea here is that it is an enclosed system