Plate solve issue in Test Camera Deep Sky

[carlomuccini]

Plate solve in Test Camera Deep Sky

I use this image as an example: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TQg8xp ... sp=sharing

I'm loading it in Testing Control Image
(In the header of the FIT file there are all the data of the shot, including time and RA and DEC coordinates)
OBJCTRA = '21 12 33.000' / Epoch : JNOW
OBJCTDEC= '+60 02 10.000' / Epoch : JNOW

Mount Selected : Telescope simulator for .NET

Plate solve (sharpsolve)

1. From the control panel Scope Control I read some random coordinates and not those recorded in the file header
ok ...

1a. I press Play Solve and Sync from panel Scope Control: after many seconds no solution found

1b. From Menu tools /Plate solve (solve only) start from RA 07 and finally (many second) found a solution in RA 21 but the scope panel remain in random position RA 08 DEC -20

From green message on top:
Solution : RA=21:11:50,1,Dec=+59:56:47 (J2000)
Field of View : 1,0602x0,7220 degrees
Time : Thu, 15 Aug 2024 17:32:49 GMT
Orientation : up is 99,4 degrees E of N



1c. From Menu tools /Plate solve and resync start : failed

Carlo

[admin]

Hi Carlo,

that all sounds pretty much as expected behaviour.

The 'Plate solve and sync' menu item (and the equivalent button in the telescope controls) only searches in a limited area around the current mount co-ordinates (15 degrees by default). It's designed to correct the pointing of the telescope if it is incorrect due to relatively small GOTO errors, etc. With random starting co-ordinates, the image is 99% likely to be outside the 15 degree limit, so no solution will be found.

THe 'Plate solve only' menu does search the whole sky (but it starts at the current mount co-ordinates on the theory that that approach will on average find a solution faster). So, it will find the plate solve for that image, but as it says, it is 'plate solve only' - it does not try to sync the mount to the co-ordinates found. Plate solve only will report the co-ordinates and store the data internally so tools like 'Deep Sky Annotation' can be used.

cheers,

Robin

[carlomuccini]

'Plate solve and sync' and 'Plate solve only' works very well.

The problem is that when you open the FIT file, the image center coordinates saved in the FIT header are not read and are not updated in the panel. As a result, everything else does not work.

Carlo

[admin]

Hi,

there's no real intention for that to happen. While it kind of makes sense if you are using the ASCOM test mount as your mount, it would cause a mess if it activated when you were connected to a real ASCOM mount. Unfortunately it's not trivial to work out if the mount being used is simulated or not - ASCOM has two or possibly 3 simulators now, plus there are simulators for EQMOD and GSS and maybe more that I don't even know about.

If you want that then you can either manually drive the simulated mount to the area of the image, or set the 'solve and sync' search radius in the settings to a higher value so that it will search a large area of sky in 'solve and sync' and then offer to sync even if the initial position is a long way off.

cheers,

Robin