Independent weather intelligence and enclosure safety for your observatory

Keep the observatory software you already use.

Add the weather system built to protect it.

WeatherSentinel is a standalone NextAstro weather and safety system for robotic, remote and locally operated observatories. It provides the weather intelligence and safety functions of WEMA and the NextAstro Hub without requiring the site to become a NACS-controlled observatory. In this mode, WeatherSentinel operates as its own first-class weather-station site: collecting local measurements, monitoring wider weather threats, maintaining safety state and publishing a dedicated weather view through the NextAstro Hub.

More than a weather-station display

A physical weather station tells you what its sensors can measure at one point right now. That is essential, but it is not the whole weather picture. WeatherSentinel can combine local temperature, humidity, pressure, dew or frost point, sky temperature, wind, gust and rain measurements with broader information such as forecast cloud, ground radar, satellite rain products, lightning, snow and nearby severe-weather warnings. Where fitted, an all-sky camera can add a direct view of local cloud conditions.

The result is not simply a collection of numbers. WeatherSentinel evaluates the information against site-specific limits and reports an actionable weather assessment for the observatory.

No. It uses compatible local weather hardware, but adds multi-source weather intelligence, configurable safety decisions, persistent safety holds,
historical context, remote visibility and optional enclosure protection.

Yes.

Yes. WeatherSentinel provides a native N.I.N.A. integration and local ASCOM-compatible Observing Conditions, Safety Monitor and Roof/Dome interfaces. Its native interface retains richer WeatherSentinel information, including exact safety reasons, source-specific rain detection, holds, forecasts and night history.

Yes, where compatible enclosure hardware has been commissioned. It can also be used as a weather and safety monitor without taking control of an enclosure.

After a successful start and configuration check, local safety monitoring and local client access continue with the last validated settings. Internet-based weather inputs may naturally become unavailable, and WeatherSentinel treats unknown or stale safety information conservatively. Queued history is sent to the Hub after reconnection.

No software can replace sound enclosure design, reliable hardware, sensible commissioning and appropriate physical fail-safes. WeatherSentinel is designed to make remote operation safer and more intelligible, not to make an absolute hardware guarantee.

Pricing

USD$499per year
  • EUR 425 /year
  • AUD$ 700 /year

Yearly Subscription

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Pricing

USD$4995per month
  • EUR 43 /month
  • AUD$ 70 /month

Monthly Subscription

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FEATURES:

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A clear answer, with the reasons attached

WeatherSentinel answers the question that matters at a remote observatory: is it safe to open?

If the answer is no, the system reports the reasons. An unsafe local reading, stale or unavailable safety data, detected rain, approaching rain, lightning, snow or another active weather hold can veto opening. Holds remain visible with their remaining time so the system does not declare the site safe the instant a hazardous event appears to have passed.

Every active safety hold is a hard veto. WeatherSentinel does not display a contradictory green weather assessment while a rain, radar, lightning, snow or severe-weather hold is still active.

Protect a roof or dome without replacing your observatory software.

WeatherSentinel can operate as a weather and safety monitor alone, or it can be commissioned with a connected roof or dome. Opening requests are checked against the current assessment and safety holds, then checked again when the request reaches the enclosure-control thread. Closing remains available when
conditions are unsafe and receives priority over ordinary commands.

Local clients cannot turn off weather safety, erase holds or request an unsafe manual override. If the weather state is unknown or stale, WeatherSentinel fails safe.

This makes it possible to add NextAstro enclosure protection while continuing to use the imaging, sequencing and scheduling tools that already suit your observatory.

See the weather locally and through the NextAstro Hub

The browser-based Hub provides a dedicated WeatherSentinel site with:

  • current local conditions and data age;
  • a prominent safe-to-open assessment with exact reasons and active holds;
  • a structured nightly forecast and, where enclosure control is commissioned, the planned enclosure state;
  • a current-night conditions timeline and retained weather history;
  • rain, satellite, cloud and danger-map products where available;
  • all-sky imagery and 3-, 12- and 24-hour animations when an all-sky camera is installed; and
  • administrative settings and live operational logs for authorised users.

At the observatory computer, the native N.I.N.A. integration provides weather, safety-monitor and roof/dome devices together with a WeatherSentinel panel. The panel shows current conditions, the exact safety reasons, active holds, the nightly forecast and night history without requiring the operator to leave N.I.N.A.

Native REST and ASCOM-compatible interfaces are also available for other local software. They all use the same WeatherSentinel safety state and the same serialised command path, so there is no separate safety policy hidden inside each client.

Local safety with connected oversight

WeatherSentinel uses the NextAstro Hub for configuration, remote visibility and durable weather history. After the system has started with a validated configuration, a temporary Hub disconnection does not stop its local safety and client interfaces. It continues with the last validated settings, retains weather-history records for later delivery and reconnects normally when the Hub becomes available again.

The local interface is private by default. It is intended to run on the observatory computer or an explicitly commissioned private network, not as an unprotected public control endpoint.

A standalone system today, part of NACS whenever you need it

WeatherSentinel is deliberately separable. You do not need to change how you schedule observations, control your camera or process your data in order to use it.

If the site later moves to the full NextAstro Control Suite, the same local weather and safety contract can remain in place while WeatherSentinel becomes part of a fully managed NACS observatory.

Add NextAstro weather intelligence without replacing the observatory system you already use

Talk to us about your local weather hardware, enclosure controller and current observatory software. We will help determine the appropriate WeatherSentinel installation and commissioning path for your site.

NEXTASTRO WEATHER SYSTEM

Brief Overview of the NextAstro Weather System

What nextastro WeatherSentinel does not require

  • It does not require a telescope to be controlled by NACS.
  • It does not require you to replace a working local weather station.
  • It does not require your existing imaging or sequencing workflow to change.
  • It does not treat cloud forecast alone as a substitute for properly commissioned local rain detection.