Plate solve issue

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admin
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Re: Plate solve issue

#11

Post by admin »

Hi,

thanks for sharing the test image. I can see what is going on now - SharpCap is sending a RAW image to the plate solving engine, which is strictly incorrect. Apparently it usually doesn't matter much in practice or I would have heard about this before now, but in your case the combination of sensor noise and the bayer grid in the RAW image is enough to be picked up as stars by the plate solving engine, causing the ridiculously large star counts and the failure to plate solve.

I think the conversion of the image to 8 bit (or, equivalently capturing in 8 bit) reduces the noise or bayer grid enough to no longer trigger the problem. Capturing with a lower gain or exposure would have a similar effect.

What I really need to do is to change the code to debayer RAW images before sending them to the plate solver - I will look into this, but unfortunately it is not quite as simple a change as I would have hoped.

cheers,

Robin
brisguy
Posts: 66
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2021 4:08 am

Re: Plate solve issue

#12

Post by brisguy »

Would setting the color space to RGB during plate solving be a workaround for now? Reducing the exposure and gain does not always work.
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Re: Plate solve issue

#13

Post by admin »

Hi,

yes, RGB should do the trick, or just download 4.0.8149, which includes an option (default on) to reduce the bit depth of an image to 8 bit before sending it to the plate solver.

cheers,

Robin
brisguy
Posts: 66
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2021 4:08 am

Re: Plate solve issue

#14

Post by brisguy »

I did try RGB last night and what a difference! I had to increase exposure and back off on the sigma value in order to get enough sources.

I will try 4.0.8149 next time I go out.

Thanks!
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