Solar Mosaic Tool changes tracking from solar to star

[mike@mulcahys.us]

I select Solar tracking for the mount but the solar mosaic tool changes it back to Star tracking.

Mike Mulcahy
Version 4.1
ASI174mm mini
Windows 10
No crash log

[admin]

Hi Mike,

what mount do you have? There are a few mounts that where the ASCOM driver doesn't give SharpCap the option of choosing the tracking rate out of solar/lunar/sidereal - that might be the problem. If you have an iOptron mount then please try updating to the very latest SharpCap 4.1 from our download page, as I added a workaround for that particular issue for iOptron mounts a month or so back.

cheers,

Robin

[mike@mulcahys.us]

Robin,

My mount is an Astro-Physics AP-900.

By the way, the solar mosaic tool is AWESOME.

Cheers,

Mike Mulcahy

[admin]

Hi Mike,

Ok, I have no personal experience of the AP mounts, so not sure if they allow detailed setting of the movements rate. You can check by looking in the mount movement area in SharpCap on the right - see what options are available in the tracking rate dropdown to the right of the tracking on/off button (https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.1/#GOTO%20Mount%20Control) - that should reflect the list of rates that the mount makes available to SharpCap.

I also made a tweak to the code for yesterday's update based on your feedback - now the mosaic tool will skip trying to adjust the tracking rate if the mount is already tracking and the ASCOM driver doesn't support setting the required (lunar/solar) rate.

cheers,

Robin

[mike@mulcahys.us]

Robyn,

AP mounts use a very robust ASCOM driver which supports multiple tracking rates including solar. Solar can be selected on the Sharpcap telescope tab which I do before running a solar capture.

Later in the mosaic process the same option has been reset to Star but the displayed form is non-responsive when I try to change it back to Solar. After the capture it still appears to be on Star. I really cannot tell which tracking mode was in place during the capture but the mosaic frames seem less accurate then those displayed before the mosaic run is started although they are still usable.

I tried to include some screen shots but this reply form does not seem to accept clipboard pastes.

The best solution would be for Sharpcap to set the tracking to solar and leave it there during the mosaic. The AP ASCOM driver definitely supports this.

Mike

[admin]

Hi Mike,

OK, that's odd then, since I have just checked and nothing in the mosaic tool deliberately sets the rate to Sidereal - it should set solar/lunar depending on target at the start of the alignment and keep it at that throughout.

If you can spot at which stage it changes, that would be helpful, as would a SharpCap log from an affected run - Hopefully those will let me dig into it a bit further.

cheers,

Robin

[mike@mulcahys.us]

Here is some more detail on this behavior which I experienced again today:

1. Open solar mosaic
2. Select auto
3. Set tracking to solar
4. Select Start Alignment. Tracking is immediately reset to Star.
5. After Alignment, switch tracking back to Solar.
6. Fine tuning screen does not change tracking.
7. Run mosaic. It still shows solar tracking but when I select continue is switches to star and the mosaic is executed using star tracking.

I have confirmed these tracking settings by observing the ASCOM driver control panel.

Mike Mulcahy

[admin]

Hi Mike,

which version of SharpCap did you use for the tests? In the new update (released Monday), I added some changes with the intention of not changing the mount's tracking configuration if the configuration already matched the desired rate. I was hoping that those changes would resolve the issue.

cheers,

Robin

[mike@mulcahys.us]

Hi Robyn,

I will try the new version and let you know how it goes.

Mike Mulcahy

[mike@mulcahys.us]

Robyn,

Sorry to say the new release did not fix the problem.

I set tracking to solar before invoking the mosaic tool.

After selecting Start Alignment tacking was switched to sidereal.

After alignment was complete I switched it to solar again.

When I executed the mosaic it switched back to sidereal on the slew to the first panel.

It seems like when a slew command is issued the tracking status is automatically switched to sidereal and not reset afterwards.

I will be away from my telescope until mid July so I won't be able to give you any more information.

Mike Mulcahy