Installing AstroTortilla for plate solving

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umasscrew39
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Installing AstroTortilla for plate solving

#1

Post by umasscrew39 »

I downloaded AstroTortilla v 0.8 on my Windows 10 computer. No issue with that. I did some of the initial setup steps like calculating my FOV for my cameras on my scope and entered the values and did my narrowest and widest selections, set the scale min/max values, the search radius, and custom options. When it comes to setup the camera, the drop down has programs listed like Nebulosity, What do I select for SharpCap? Do I just select ASCOM camera and then have my ZWO plugged in so it is selected?

Regards,
Bruce
Last edited by umasscrew39 on Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Installing AstroTortolla for plate solving

#2

Post by turfpit »

umasscrew39
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Re: Installing AstroTortolla for plate solving

#3

Post by umasscrew39 »

Thanks, Dave. This is what I am following for the setup but it doesn’t explain what to do other than pick from the drop down menu.

Bruce
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Re: Installing AstroTortolla for plate solving

#4

Post by BlackWikkett »

@umasscrew39

For SharpCap you don't need to do anything. SharpCap detects the installation. You just need to make sure you have the correct index files downloaded and installed to cover your field of view for the range of telescopes and camera combinations you intend to use. From what I recall SharpCap ignors the AstroTortilla settings and passes the info to it for solving. The only setting that is adjustable is sigma. Found in the SharpCap settings.

Beside the drop down menu you can also click the plate solve / sync icon in the SharpCap mount control.

-Chris
umasscrew39
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Re: Errors Installing AstroTortolla for plate solving

#5

Post by umasscrew39 »

Cannot get it to work. Keep getting error messages up top on the screen that are hard to read but one says: too few stars detected, try to lower sigma. But that makes no sense. Many stars can be seen and I lowered the sigma but no change. There is another error message (says,line 47) about index files but cannot read it. AstroTortolla loaded fine and I downloaded the files for my sensors and telescope. So, not sure what the problem is. SC did detect AstroTortolla automatically at: C:\Users\myname\AppData\Local\Astrometry\bin\solve-field.
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Re: Installing AstroTortolla for plate solving

#6

Post by admin »

Hi,

All the messages that may be appearing briefly at the top of the screen will be there for you to read much more easily in the SharpCap log. Normally you would want to set the sigma value so that between 50 and 200 stars are detected as part of the plate solving process. Higher sigma values will mean that only the brighter stars get detected and a smaller number of stars will be detected. Lower sigma values lead to more stars being detected, but also more chance that noise or hot pixels will be mistakenly picked up at stars.

The other message about files not being read makes me wonder if you have some indexes that were only partially installed – again, check the log and post the contents here if nothing obvious suggests itself once you've seen what the log says.

Cheers, Robin
umasscrew39
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Re: Installing AstroTortolla for plate solving

#7

Post by umasscrew39 »

Hi Robin

Wish I could but can't seem to find any log entry. I only see the logs of my captures in my capture folder. I thought the plate solving info would be in there too. So, not sure what is going on. I can only try plate solving on the next clear night and hope it works or I can find the log with the info in it.

Thx
Bruce
mAnKiNd
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Re: Installing AstroTortolla for plate solving

#8

Post by mAnKiNd »

Hi Bruce, just to chime in your plate solving efforts, I started out with Astrotortilla and quickly switched to All Sky Plate Solver http://www.astrogb.com/astrogb/All_Sky_ ... olver.html and never looked back..

Hope this helps, if not, I tried.. :)
Minos
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Re: Installing AstroTortolla for plate solving

#9

Post by umasscrew39 »

Thanks, Minos. I'll take a look. Not sure why I am having so much trouble with this and I really need it with my scope 11ft off of the ground in the observatory.

Thx again,
Bruce
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Re: Installing AstroTortolla for plate solving

#10

Post by admin »

Hi,

The plate solving info should show up in the SharpCap log while SharpCap is running – see the example below.

You can get the log by going to the help menu and choosing the option to 'show log' – do this before you try plate solving and watch to see what output shows up in the log during the plate solving progress.

Cheers, Robin
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