I have recently not been able to plate solve. I don't know what the problems are and don't know how to solve them.
Please give me some guidance on what I need to provide to you for you to assist me and get back to plate solving and polar alignment.
Especially, which Log files do I need to capture, and what kind of pictures do you need to see.
I am having the same problems with a Celestron 11HD and a Celestron 8HD telescopes, using CPWI to run the scopes, and two ZWO cameras, ASI294 MC and ASI290MM mini.
I think I am doing everything that I read in the HELP files, but obviously not.
Thank you for your assistance
Bill
PLATE SOLVE PROBLEMS
-
admin
- Site Admin
- Posts: 13344
- Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
- Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
- Contact:
Re: PLATE SOLVE PROBLEMS
Hi Bill,
so first of all we need to be sure which sort of plate solving are you talking about?
1) Plate solving inside SharpCap's polar alignment tool
or
2) Plate solving using an external program (Astap/Ansvr/Astrotortilla/ASPS/etc) kicked off by using the 'plate solve only'/'plate solve and resync' menu items or the 'GPS' button on the mount control.
Maybe it's both
In either case though, the best thing to do is
* Try it
* Save an image of the sky view that failed using the 'snapshot' button
* Save the content of the SharpCap log (after trying) - go to the 'Help' menu, then 'Show Log', then you can copy the log text to the clipboard or use the button to locate the log file on disk.
Once you have the saved image and the log, send both to me. If they are too big to upload here then you can use a file sharing platform like dropbox/onedrive/google drive and post a link here.
In general terms, some things to check are
* Can you clearly see stars in the image - make sure you reset any display stretch in SharpCap when checking for stars - seeing them only in a very highly stretched version of the image doesn't really count
* Have you got a reasonable field of view for plate solving? Anything less than half a degree in each direction is likely to cause problems. Given the focal lengths of your two telescopes, you are unlikely to get the ASI290 to solve at all - the field of view is just too small. The 294 camera is better, but still only about 0.55 degrees by 0.37 on the 8HD (smaller on the 11HD). If you are using a reducer then that would help increase the field of view.
You can check your field of view here : https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/ - click on 'Imaging mode' then choose your telescope and camera (or a similar camera from another make if yours is not listed).
cheers,
Robin
so first of all we need to be sure which sort of plate solving are you talking about?
1) Plate solving inside SharpCap's polar alignment tool
or
2) Plate solving using an external program (Astap/Ansvr/Astrotortilla/ASPS/etc) kicked off by using the 'plate solve only'/'plate solve and resync' menu items or the 'GPS' button on the mount control.
Maybe it's both
In either case though, the best thing to do is
* Try it
* Save an image of the sky view that failed using the 'snapshot' button
* Save the content of the SharpCap log (after trying) - go to the 'Help' menu, then 'Show Log', then you can copy the log text to the clipboard or use the button to locate the log file on disk.
Once you have the saved image and the log, send both to me. If they are too big to upload here then you can use a file sharing platform like dropbox/onedrive/google drive and post a link here.
In general terms, some things to check are
* Can you clearly see stars in the image - make sure you reset any display stretch in SharpCap when checking for stars - seeing them only in a very highly stretched version of the image doesn't really count
* Have you got a reasonable field of view for plate solving? Anything less than half a degree in each direction is likely to cause problems. Given the focal lengths of your two telescopes, you are unlikely to get the ASI290 to solve at all - the field of view is just too small. The 294 camera is better, but still only about 0.55 degrees by 0.37 on the 8HD (smaller on the 11HD). If you are using a reducer then that would help increase the field of view.
You can check your field of view here : https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/ - click on 'Imaging mode' then choose your telescope and camera (or a similar camera from another make if yours is not listed).
cheers,
Robin