SharpCap Forums

Just came back from starwatching. I used Sharpcap plate solve with no problems. It worked without any problems.

This time the plate solver did not work as well. When I tried to plate solve APM 08279+5255, my telescope would go crazy. The telescope would try to slew, but get caught on some part of the mount. It also happened to some objects. I would have to turn off the telescope and use Starsense to calibrate the Goto. I have a CGEM II mount using ASI294mc Pro. I first connect the telescope through Cartes du Ciel and then Sharpcap. I close the window that controls the telescope throught Cartes du Ciel.

Also, Sharpcap would not plate solve despite seeing many stars in some areas of the sky, mainly closer to the horizon. I adjusted sigma by lowering and still happened.

Hi,

If you can share the SharpCap log file from the case where the telescope seemed to slew randomly then maybe we can work out what was going wrong. Sometimes you can get a false match with plate solving that can be a long way away from the real location in the sky, but SharpCap limits the search area to 15° of the current position, so that shouldn't be the case. I suppose that if you are pointing somewhere very close to the meridian then the plate solved position may be on the other side of the meridian from the current position which may make the telescope try to do a meridian flip.

Cheers,

admin wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2020 3:38 pm Hi,

If you can share the SharpCap log file from the case where the telescope seemed to slew randomly then maybe we can work out what was going wrong. Sometimes you can get a false match with plate solving that can be a long way away from the real location in the sky, but SharpCap limits the search area to 15° of the current position, so that shouldn't be the case. I suppose that if you are pointing somewhere very close to the meridian then the plate solved position may be on the other side of the meridian from the current position which may make the telescope try to do a meridian flip.

Cheers,

In regards to APM 08279+5255, I have had no trouble with the telescope plate solving when it was east of the meridian as it was rising. The last session, the quasar was close to the meridian.

In regards to plate solving I use ASI294mc Pro with TEC cooling. I set the exposure to 1 second and at 570 gain. I use a Lumicon Deep Sky filter and plate solving has worked for me until recently.

I have StarSense on my Celestron Evolution 9.25. The StarSense camera plate solving function solves for GoTo pointing. Does it make sense to setup Plate Solving function in SharpCap? Are they mutually exclusive?

Plate solve succeeds, but mount does not recenter with any settings in Plate Solve.
Would like to use "Sync mount and re-center target." Also tried "Offset the mount position to center the target." Don't really know what the difference is.
Losmandy Titan 50 mount, Gemini II controller, Ethernet interface using Gemini Telescope.NET.
SharpCap Pro 3.2 version 3.2.6396.0
Tried with both Astrotortilla and ASTAP. ASTAP is faster in solving.
What I don't get is how SharpCap knows where to center the mount to.
I've used SkySafari Pro 6 to do a GoTo, and I've used the Gemini app to do a GoTo. Neither makes any difference.
I've set the target name, and that doesn't make a difference.
The manual doesn't give any clues as to how SharpCap knows where to center to.
I've wasted hours trying to get this to work.
Field of View of imaging camera is 0.53 x 0.35.
A GoTo from any position comes within ½ radius of FOV.

Hi,

which option you using to start the plate solving? To get the re-centring to work you have to use the button in the mount controls. The one in the tools menu deliberately only reports on the position of the mount – it takes no action.

Cheers, Robin

admin wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2020 8:25 pm Hi,

which option you using to start the plate solving? To get the re-centring to work you have to use the button in the mount controls. The one in the tools menu deliberately only reports on the position of the mount – it takes no action.

Cheers, Robin

To start plate solving, I click on Tools->Plate Solve.
I now have another problem with plate solve using ASTAP. It takes 7m to solve.
Using Astrotortilla it takes 1m 20s to solve.
ASTAP standalone takes <7s to solve.
Regarding re-centering, I'm actually running the observatory remotely. I don't have access to the mount hand control.
There is no function on the hand control for "plate solve."
Remotely, the mount is accessed with the Gemini II app.
There is no functions in the Gemini II app for "plate solve."
So what button on the Losmandy Titan II or the Gemini II Controller are you referring to, because I have no idea what you're referring to.

Does ANYONE know how to make ASTAP work? Does ANYONE know how to make re-centering work with plate solve using a Gemini II controller?
Maybe I should be asking Losmandy.