The SharpCap Deep Sky Sequence Planner

[admin]

Hi folks,

this is a new feature that is currently taking shape in the 3.3 beta releases - an easy-to-use sequence planner that is much simpler than the full sequence editor.

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The planner contains an area at the top where you configure the initialization steps needed for your capture plan - things like camera settings, target, cooling, guiding and focus.

Below that is the capture list - here you can set up capture of light, dark, flat etc frames, including filter changes if you have a filter wheel and the option to override the default exposure/gain if necessary. You can specify pauses before/after captures if you need to arrange for flat illumination or cover the aperture.

At the bottom is the list of actions (currently only one) to be taken at the end of the imaging run. In future there might be more options here - shut down the computer for instance.

The choices you make here build a sequence (using the same steps available in the sequence editor). You can even edit the sequence created by the planner to customize it to your needs.

You will see that there are a lot of buttons marked 'Test' on the planner - each of these will run a test of the options/capture step it sits next to, so that for instance you can test the autofocus settings work correctly on their own rather than having to run the whole sequence just to get to that stage. Capture list 'Test' buttons will capture just one frame using the provided settings - enough to make sure it's working right and any filter/setting changes take effect correctly.

Some of the additional options I am thinking of adding include things like

* refocus on filter change
* options to get the guiding application started if it isn't yet guiding
* pause and alert if guiding lost
* load a saved capture profile

and potentially more. Really keen to get feedback on if/how this works for people and what other features they would like to see.

Robin

PS. In the future there will be a Solar/Lunar/Planetary sequence planner too

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[AstroBob1949]

looks nice m--thanks

[Butterbelly]

I quickly tried the Wizard and it is definitely going in right direction - afraid I cant go/do any more testing at the moment so as I trust you implicitly would accept anything you come up with
cheers Keith

[admin]

Hi folks,

thanks for the vote of confidence - the key thing I'm looking for here is what things need to be added to make it as useful as possible without becoming 'every option and the kitchen sink'...

Robin

[astrorunner]

Hi Robin.

I don't know if this is something that can be easily added or not but it would be a big help for me. Can the dithering function be also done independently of guiding? For some of my AP I really do not need to use a guider, but I DO need to dither. Not having to have a second guide scope/cam just to dither would be great. Forgive me if this is already possible but I couldn't see how.

Thanks,
Bert

[admin]

Hi Bert,

it's certainly something that could be added in future - basically this would just be a small random offset of the mount co-ordinates, correct?

cheers,

Robin

[astrorunner]

Yes, I was kind of foreseeing something like a pixel offset index, and then maybe just do a pattern like a square, or whatever PhD does. I suppose when using the sequencer I could also do it manually by inserting a delay somewhere, then doing my dither, then telling sharpcap to resume. (I'd have to study the wizard again to see if that's an option). But having it automated would be a lot nicer.

[howardgrams]

I too think this would be super helpful!!

Howard

[Ddaniel84]

Hi Robin
Sequencer is very very welcome ! I haven't see where enter a start date (or hour!). It's important (flip and ephemerides).
Chers, Dominique

[admin]

Hi Dominique,

the waiting until a time isn't available in the sequence planner, but it is in the full sequence editing tool - look at the 'Wait until <Time Of Day>' step in the 'Misc' category.

One thing you can do is use the sequence planner to put together your capture plan, then press the 'Advanded Edit' button - this will transfer what you have set up in the planner into the full sequence editor for further refinement (like putting in a pause until a particular time).

Please do remember that this is the newest part of SharpCap 4, so it may contain bugs - please test in advance of any observing opportunities!

cheers,

Robin