Plate Solve doesn't work SC4 (yes, I used the search function already)

A place to report problems and bugs in SharpCap
Forum rules


If you have a problem or question, please check the FAQ to see if it already has an answer : https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap-faqs

Please also read about Troubleshooting USB Issues before posting.

*** Please do not post license keys - please report any problems with licensing to 'admin' by private message ***

Please include the following details in any bug report:

* Version of SharpCap
* Camera and other hardware being user
* Operating system version
* Contents of the SharpCap log after the problem has occurred.
[If SharpCap crashes, please send the bug report when prompted instead of including the log]
User avatar
GoFraRo
Posts: 42
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2021 8:45 pm

Plate Solve doesn't work SC4 (yes, I used the search function already)

#1

Post by GoFraRo »

Hi,
although getting through all postings related my problem, I'm not able to fix it by myself.
Setup: Win10, SC4 pro latest version, iOptron Cube Pro, Player One Neptune-C, ASPS/Astrometry with all relevant files installed, TS 60 f/6,
I cannot bring plate solve to work. Tried already all settings as mentioned in the related posts and checked all relevant parameters (i.e. FL).
Plate Solve solves and solves and ... without result.
It doesn't matter, wether using the menu options or the button in the mount navigation tile.
Tried already different camera settings (Exp, Gain).
Anything else I can do to circle it in?
I would really appreciate any hints and tips and help.
CS
Gottfried

PS: taking a snapshot and uploading it on nova.astrometry works
TS Photoline 60/360, TS Photon 150/750 Advanced Newton, Bresser 90/500 & MC 127/1900, ZWO ASI120MC-s, Player One Neptune-C, Altair Hypercam 294C Pro, SVBONY SV165 Guidescope, iOptron Cube Pro & CEM25P, Bortle 4, Germany-northwest region
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13177
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
Contact:

Re: Plate Solve doesn't work SC4 (yes, I used the search function already)

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

please could you share the snapshot of the image that fails(or the link to the version on Nova.astrometry.net) and the SharpCap log (which should have a lot of information about the plate solving progress).

cheers,

Robin
User avatar
GoFraRo
Posts: 42
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2021 8:45 pm

Re: Plate Solve doesn't work SC4 (yes, I used the search function already)

#3

Post by GoFraRo »

Hi Robin. thanks a lot for the quick response.

As an example, I uploaded the tmp221F png-file to astrometry and it is solved https://nova.astrometry.net/user_images ... 7#original

Comparing the log info (attached below) with the astrometry outcome, I could see a misalignment between mount and actual image location. It seems, I have to improve my mount alignment procedure.
Could this be the reason for not solving ?
But it seems to me, the plate solver cannot find the proper fits-file for some reasons.

Unfortunately, the weather went bad (again and again), so we can only use the data from last evening.

off-topic but maybe interesting: while doing some investigation on this I figured out some differences in the given resolution as stated by Player One, Sony (the chip vendor), and in comparison ZWO 178MC. The same chip, different specs. And you can add also other camera vendors.

Player One: 3096 x 2078, 7.4 x 5mm, 6.4MP
Sharpcap: 3096 x 3078, 7.43 x 4.99
Sony: 3072 x 2048, ?, 6.38MP but "number of effective px" 3096 x 2080, 6.44MP
ASI178MC: 3096 x 2080, 7.4 x 5, 6.4MP

Regards from rainy Germany
Gottfried
Attachments
tmp221F.tmp.png.CameraSettings.txt
(1.3 KiB) Downloaded 37 times
Log_2021-10-11T19_03_00-4504.log
(566.52 KiB) Downloaded 42 times
TS Photoline 60/360, TS Photon 150/750 Advanced Newton, Bresser 90/500 & MC 127/1900, ZWO ASI120MC-s, Player One Neptune-C, Altair Hypercam 294C Pro, SVBONY SV165 Guidescope, iOptron Cube Pro & CEM25P, Bortle 4, Germany-northwest region
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13177
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
Contact:

Re: Plate Solve doesn't work SC4 (yes, I used the search function already)

#4

Post by admin »

Hi,

the location is close enough (you are a degree or two out in each direction, but the search area is within 15 degrees of the reported mount pointing, so that will be fine).

However, your image is very dark - it's almost impossible to see any stars on it without applying a strong stretch. This is at least part of the problem, because when you do stretch you see that the stars that are there are not really much brighter than the noise level in the image. If you combine this with the small sigma value you have set, it leads to the detection of a very large number of stars (~2000). I expect a lot of these are just noise, which then confuses the plate solving engine.

I think therefore that you will get better results by

*) Increasing the sigma setting from 20
*) Taking longer exposure / higher gain images where the stars are clearly visible.

Even so, I am still struggling to get your image to solve in Astrotortilla (maybe I need more index files). Astap however solves it in less than 1 second...

cheers,

Robin
User avatar
GoFraRo
Posts: 42
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2021 8:45 pm

Re: Plate Solve doesn't work SC4 (yes, I used the search function already)

#5

Post by GoFraRo »

It seems, my longer post from yesterday evening unfortunately got lost somewhere. Ok, hopefully I can recap what I wrote.

I did some tests and was digging deeper into how the solver works.

- First of all, I checked the ASPS settings and the completeness of the index files.
- I converted the png file to fits, because ASPS can only work with fits and jpeg.
- Comparing the files, obviously, the fits file is much brighter and shows more stars (I just used Fitswork to load the png and save it as fits. No stretch or any other manipulation).
- I did a test on my Laptop (under Win 10/64 and Windows Tablet Win 10/32). The latter I use for mount control and running SC. On the Laptop, I got a solved image within 5 sec. On the other (much smaller) system it took about 85 sec. But solved!
- I have attached the log and wks file.
- Main differences between the ASPS log and the SC log is...
- downsample 4 instead 2
- found sources 310 vs 2209

Might it be possible, to offer some options in the solver settings to influence the performance of the solver, i.e. downsample factor or image format etc. ?

However, I'm working on a solution to use a small guidescope with my ASI120MC-s for this purpose. Hope to have it up and running this weekend.

Regards Gottfried
Attachments
Image_png_vs_fits.png
Image_png_vs_fits.png (613.09 KiB) Viewed 948 times
ASPS_WKS.txt
(15.38 KiB) Downloaded 34 times
ASPS_log.txt
(7.01 KiB) Downloaded 36 times
TS Photoline 60/360, TS Photon 150/750 Advanced Newton, Bresser 90/500 & MC 127/1900, ZWO ASI120MC-s, Player One Neptune-C, Altair Hypercam 294C Pro, SVBONY SV165 Guidescope, iOptron Cube Pro & CEM25P, Bortle 4, Germany-northwest region
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13177
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
Contact:

Re: Plate Solve doesn't work SC4 (yes, I used the search function already)

#6

Post by admin »

Hi,

I think that the downsampling might be key here - that will reduce the noise level in the image a lot, meaning that there is much less chance of picking up noise as stars (which I'm fairly sure is at least part of the problem). One way to test this in SharpCap would be to use 2x2 or 4x4 binning in SharpCap while testing the plate solving to see if that helps make it work nicely.

Currently SharpCap adds -z 2 if the frame width exceeds 2000 pixels and -z 3 if it exceeds 4000 pixels ( -z 4 above 6000 pixels, but not many cameras get there). The advantage of this approach is that it doesn't need settings adjusted if you use different cameras (imaging, guiding, etc) at different times. Perhaps I could change the auto algorithm a bit to try to put the width of the frame in the range 750 - 1500 pixels once downsampling is applied - that would apply -z 3 in your case, which would average 9 pixels instead of 4, so be quite a noise reduction.

cheers,

Robin
User avatar
GoFraRo
Posts: 42
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2021 8:45 pm

Re: Plate Solve doesn't work SC4 (yes, I used the search function already)

#7

Post by GoFraRo »

Thanks Robin, this sounds great.
I was thinking about binning, too, and will test it when it is possible.
The change of the algorithm sounds also very promising.
Today, I got my 30 f/4 (120mm) Guidescope and want to use it in combination with the ASI120 as "finderscope".
Do you think, that setting it to Bin 2x2 (that results in a resolution of 640x480) and Mono8 may work for the PlateSolver ?
Regards
Gottfried
TS Photoline 60/360, TS Photon 150/750 Advanced Newton, Bresser 90/500 & MC 127/1900, ZWO ASI120MC-s, Player One Neptune-C, Altair Hypercam 294C Pro, SVBONY SV165 Guidescope, iOptron Cube Pro & CEM25P, Bortle 4, Germany-northwest region
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13177
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
Contact:

Re: Plate Solve doesn't work SC4 (yes, I used the search function already)

#8

Post by admin »

Hi,

with the lower resolution camera, I think that binning may not be needed - I would only try it if you have trouble at the standard 1280x960 resolution.

cheers,

Robin
User avatar
GoFraRo
Posts: 42
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2021 8:45 pm

Re: Plate Solve doesn't work SC4 (yes, I used the search function already)

#9

Post by GoFraRo »

Hi, just an update on the subject. The last two evenings were the only ones with almost clear sight.
I did an upgrade to my rig with a SVBONY Guidescope 30 f/4 in combination with the ZWO ASI120MC-s.
I double checked the ASPS installation as well as the parameter settings in SC. I have downloaded every index file.
I tried several star constellations, all kind of camera settings (highest gain and 2/5/10 sec Exp, bin1/2, etc) and SC parameter adaptions.
No way to get an image solved.
It's solving and solving. Sometimes it ends with a failure message, sometimes it stops in the middle of the process.
But, uploading the captured image to astrometry.net, it immediately solves it. Even with overexposed grainy pics or images containing only few visible stars.
Regards
Gottfried
TS Photoline 60/360, TS Photon 150/750 Advanced Newton, Bresser 90/500 & MC 127/1900, ZWO ASI120MC-s, Player One Neptune-C, Altair Hypercam 294C Pro, SVBONY SV165 Guidescope, iOptron Cube Pro & CEM25P, Bortle 4, Germany-northwest region
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13177
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
Contact:

Re: Plate Solve doesn't work SC4 (yes, I used the search function already)

#10

Post by admin »

Hi Gottfried,

sorry to hear that you are still having problems. Do you have logs and any saved images from the most recent attempts? Also, does the plate solving test button report success (in the plate solving settings).

thanks,

Robin
Post Reply