Geoff,
I think you will find once you get your equipment and capture software in order and you get familiar with the routines, the setup will work for the entire night without much intervention. It all leads to automation, and the computer can run through multiple targets and collect all your data until dawn with almost no checking. Then you are free to do whatever else you want, visual with binoculars, watch for meteors or satellites, or whatever you care to. It takes a while to learn all this, but that can be your end result. Often I am inside processing previous nights' data, while the rig is out in the yard whirling away.
Clear Skies,
John
