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ASTAP help please

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Replied by Paul Nixon on topic ASTAP help please

So, last night I had an opportunity to try ASTAP last night with pretty good results.

First go, with the scope in the park position (pointing north toward pole), I did a "Capture and Solve" with "do nothing" checked. ASTAP solved almost instantly!

Second go - slewed toward Vega and tried again. It solved, tried to move the scope, *FAILED*. I reduced the exposure time until it solved, but now it was stuck in a loop. I upped the exposure and noted star trails. "I don't think it's tracking," I said to my wife keeping me calm. Turned out my RA cable had popped out. ;)

Third go - slewed toward Vega and tried again. Solved, slewed the scope. With Vega in view, it *FAILED*.

I clicked on "Capture and Solve" again - this time it solved, moved the scope, solved again, and now Vega was centered.

I now wanted to check my new knowledge re: PHD2, but first I had to change guide cam (I had swapped things around when using the Windows Stick).

After changing the guide cam from ASI120MM to SSAG, my Pi failed to boot. I tried several times and even with different uSD cards. NADA. @#$%! Turned out I may have lost my new powered USB3 hub - removing that from the link, the Pi came up and all was good, though I had lost quite a lot of time.

Main thing is ASTAP did seem to work nicely. Not sure what caused it to fail that one time - perhaps tonight I'll try again
3 years 9 months ago #55203

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Replied by han on topic ASTAP help please

Reducing the binning helps with ASTAP. With Astrometry.net some users have binning at 4x4 but ASTAP doesn't like/compute that. Best would be to set binning at 0 = automatic. The resolution after binning should 1280x960 or higher.

An other thing which helps is ASTAP version 0.9.370 released a few days ago. The star detection routine is rewritten and it's less critical for roundness of stars.

Han
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3 years 9 months ago #55239

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Replied by Clive Stachon on topic ASTAP help please

Glad you getting there :-)

As to the failed solve when in object is in full view - I too get this now and again but I also have had this with Platesolve2 and ASPS on Windows - never got the bottom of the problem but put it down to changing "Sky quality" (improved - so too many stars = timeout or deteriatored sky since previous image) .

I have already stated I use CCDCIEL which allows automatic Platesolving backup (use ASTAP first but if it fails it uses Astrometry version to retry platesolvong on that image) so its not a major problem for me and this process works well for me especially on a Sequencer type run.

But without sending images to someone like Han it would be unfair to say what the problem was (me or the software) and impossible for a developer to solve :-)

I guess thats why ASTAP now has the "slow" solve tick box. This is because, IMO , local Astrometry versions(Linux,Windows orothers OS) solve 99% of the time but are generally a lot slower on the same type of hardware. Whereas ASTAP and the like "cut corners" (sorry could think of a better phrase ) to improve speed - the later comment is not a critisim and I accept the fact "faster" this could be less reliable (even says this in the manual and on screen) - "swings and roundabouts" :-)

Clear skies and reliable platesolving :-)
RPI3 Ubuntu 16.04 / AMD desktop Kstars under Ubuntu 16.04 Mounts :azeq6 ,SWAZGoTo

RPI3 Fedora testing out on AMD desktop Fedpra 28 - running kstars 2.9.4 , Indilib 1.7.4 ?????
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3 years 9 months ago #55246

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Replied by Jerry Black on topic ASTAP help please


I may be off-base (I am frequently), but I seem to remember not to plug in a powered usb hub into the Pi before powering the Pi itself first. It attempts to boot using the power from the usb hub which is insufficient.
3 years 9 months ago #55247

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Replied by Paul Nixon on topic ASTAP help please

Han - I did not know 0=automatic!

Stash - this is not the software, I'm sure.

Jerry - thanks for that! I think you nailed it as that is exactly the scenario.

Last night, I had quite a bit of success, but also an annoyance. ASTAP generally solved in seconds, and reslewed the scope to center the object, and I was very happy *except*:

ASTAP more or less centered Vega, but it also failed to solve once Vega came on screen. I told it to try again and this time it solved. But it never put Vega dead-center and instead left it a bit high.

ASTAP would not center M20 at all. Even when I changed the accuracy threshold to 10 arcsec, it placed M20 at the edge of the frame. As such, I was unable to image M20 - a good thing really - I needed to get more M16 data anyway. But it was odd nonetheless.

ASTAP centered M16. I set up for 100 60s shots w/dithering. Somewhere along the line, M16 drifted down in the images. I attempted to recenter but ASTAP said it was within tolerance.

I did NOT try any other platesolving.

Any idea what setting I might have wrong that would cause all this? Likely candidates?

Thanks a bunch and clear skies!
3 years 9 months ago #55252

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Replied by han on topic ASTAP help please

Maybe you have two problem but lets first solve the solving. There are two binnings configurable. First the one of EKOS:

If you camera with something like 3500x2500 pixels or more set this at 2. If the resolution is less set this one at 1.


Set the ASTAP binning at auto=0



Then can you provide me with one of the FITS images used for solving for testing? You can find a FITS file at /tmp There should be one from last night. Upload it to nova.astrometry.net and give me the link or upload it to ufile.io/ and give me the link.

Han
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3 years 9 months ago #55255
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Replied by han on topic ASTAP help please

3 years 9 months ago #55257

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Replied by Paul Nixon on topic ASTAP help please

Thanks Han,

Under "Solver Options", the downsample was set to 2 and "Auto" is checked.

However, under ASTAP, binning was set to '2' - I've now changed it to '0'.

As for a FITs file - no such luck under /tmp. Is there another /tmp directory perhaps? Or perhaps I don't have a save feature enabled? Sorry, I hope I'm not sounding like a complete idiot.

I capture .NEF for imaging. I converted one to .jpg and uploaded it to astrometry.net. Here is a link to the results page: nova.astrometry.net/user_images/3731902#annotated
M16 started off dead-center and perfectly framed. However, some issue with dithering caused the image to drift downward, and when I attempted to recenter, it said it was within tolerance. M17 was far worse - right at the bottom edge of the screen.
3 years 9 months ago #55265

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Replied by han on topic ASTAP help please

Your image is easy solvable. The settings for solving looks all good now. The only setting to check is the focal length and so on for the correct image size calculation in degrees. If I recall it correctly this is set in the INDI driver. Normally I don't work in Linux/Ekos. We can check it using a FITS file created by Ekos.

I assume the temporary fits file in /tmp is deleted or moved to the bin after EKOS is closed. Any FITS file created by EKOS will do for checking. If you have a FITS from EKOS please upload it to nova.astrometry.net and provide the link or make a new one (dark) by the button Capture & Solve. The FITS header even from a dark will tell me if the focal length and sensor/pixel size are set correctly. If its too far off (>20%) the solver will struggle to solve.

You could also do yourself. The solved image from nova.astrometry.net tells that the actual dimensions are 0.66 x1 degrees. If you load any <strong>unsolved</strong> FITS file from EKOS in ASTAP GUI, the ASTAP status bar should indicated the image dimensions 0.66 x 1 degrees (portrait) or 1 x 0.66 degrees (landcape). See below. If not then your settings are not 100%. Is there any reason for the portrait mode?

An other second problem could be drizzle step size.

Han

Last edit: 3 years 9 months ago by han.
3 years 9 months ago #55268
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Replied by Paul Nixon on topic ASTAP help please

Hi Han,

I know the image is easily solvable - the problem is that for some reason, ASTAP thought the target was centered. It started off centered by ASTAP just fine, but over time, the target drifted down. It was when I attempted to recenter the target that something went amiss, and what you see is the result.

Is there any reason for portrait mode? Not that I'm aware of. It's something that just seems to happen and I really have no idea why. I've gone back through several directories of images and sometimes they are all portrait, or all landscape, and sometimes they start off landscape and turn to portrait.

I just took a dark with "Capture and Solve". I hope it contains what you need: drive.google.com/file/d/13oM2uJ4b0j8x-tD...m0R/view?usp=sharing

You were spot on - the image was in /tmp. I guess Ekos deletes these files when shut down.

It's cloudy here tonight so no imaging. :(

Thanks!
Last edit: 3 years 9 months ago by Paul Nixon.
3 years 9 months ago #55274

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