SharpCap Forums

I have been trying to use the feature tracking option - I know its still experimental.
I have a Skywatcher EQ5Pro mount which is set up correctly in the ASCOM properties.
I was trying to get it to track the limb of the sun with prominence's - Is this even a realistic ability with the feature?
Every time I try to get it to calibrate, it try's but errors either with ALT or AZ. I have attached both log files from the time.

Sharpcap Version 3.1.5181
Camera is a DMK 31AU03.AS
Windows 7 64bit Pro
Mount is a Skywatcher EQ5 Pro

Thanks for including the guiding log - I can see the problem from that log - basically SharpCap is expecting the image to move in (roughly) opposite directions when it moves AZ+ and AZ- and that's not happening - instead of being 180 degrees between the directions there is about 145 to 150 degrees between them. This is a big enough problem for the guiding calibration to fail. This gives the 'inconsistent angle' messages in the logs which are the most common problem.

One thing that occurs to me that could cause this is if the target is drifting at any significant rate during the calibration - ie if you are not trying to get the guiding to work, was the sun staying still on screen or was it drifting? I guess this sort of drift could be caused by an incorrect tracking rate (sidereal or lunar instead of solar) or alignment issues.

I can also see that I need to improve the guiding log further - I need to get the actual movement measurements into the log along with some of the data that goes into the graphs.

cheers,

Robin

Hi,

If you have time, please try out the latest version updated today. I have added more logging and also made the code allow more deviation between the different directions that are measured.

Cheers
Robin

Sorry for the late reply, I haven't been on and didn't get an email. I'm sure i had the mount set to solar rate for the Sun. My mount might not be correctly aligned at the moment, also the camera might have been upside down. When I get chance I will check all this out.

Just posting this as feedback for Robin,

I tried the Feature tracking tonight on a Celestron AVX mount fitted with a Skywatcher ED80 and a ZWO 120 MC on a 120 mm focal length guide scope.

I was tracking the Moon for several hours and it held perfectly. My mount was poorly aligned intentionally for this test but the feature tracking never missed a beat

Hi there Wolfie,

thanks for the report of successful feature tracking – it's great to get this sort of report coming in rather than just bug reports all the time!!

Cheers, Robin