Sharpcap and Stellarium

Discussion of using SharpCap for Deep Sky Imaging
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Tiago Ferreira
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Re: Sharpcap and Stellarium

#11

Post by Tiago Ferreira »

admin wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 4:52 pm Nice video :)

Just so you know, the confirmation (press OK) for plate solving appears if the distance between the current mount position and the solved position is more than 5 degrees. If it is less than 5 degrees then it doesn't ask for confirmation.

I wonder if you could also find a use for Deep Sky Image Annotation in your videos? viewtopic.php?t=4977

cheers,

Robin
AHHH. So that's why. Interesting. I've added it to my video description.
Yes, the Annotation feature is the next "dossier" i have pending from Sharpcap, after consolidate this push-to routine in my brain i will look to that one. I'm curious about it although i didn't push that button yet. :)
One thing which is always in my mind about sharpcap is some kind of noise removal tool. Live stack has a decent quality however at the end i usually give a simple tweak on PS Express where i can reduce the image noise. It does something similar to Topaz Denoise AI but for free. On live stack we keep stacking to remove the noise, may be i'm not using the noise reduction values in the right way, i keep them on 0,5 because i saw something you said about that in the past, i can't remember.
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GoFraRo
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Re: Sharpcap and Stellarium

#12

Post by GoFraRo »

Thanks a lot. Exactly what I was looking for. Now I can revive my Newton for visual observations.

Gottfried
TS Photoline 60/360, TS Photon 150/750 Advanced Newton, Bresser 90/500 & MC 127/1900, ZWO ASI120MC-s, Player One Neptune-C, Altair Hypercam 294C Pro, SVBONY SV165 Guidescope, iOptron Cube Pro & CEM25P, Bortle 4, Germany-northwest region
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Tiago Ferreira
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Re: Sharpcap and Stellarium

#13

Post by Tiago Ferreira »

IMPORTANT UPDATE: with the new versions of sharpcap, for this to work flawless we need to check the TRACKING box on the SharpCap mount control section (near the plate solve button, at the bottom/right).
Youtube channel: https://youtube.com/@DobsonianPower

12" f/5 Dobsonian GSO
8" f/6 Dobsonian GSO
6" f/5 Dobsonian Go-To Virtuoso Gti
Dwarf II Smart Telescope
Geoptik Eartha Eq Platform
ZWO ASI224MC + ZWO ASI294MC
mjanzou
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2022 12:34 pm

Re: Sharpcap and Stellarium

#14

Post by mjanzou »

Greetings,

TOTAL NEWB HERE and don't mean to hijack this thread but I'm using a CEM26 eq mount and have questions in regards to using stellarium with scp4 and phd2. I have a 10 year old ES ed80 triple refractor that has been used exclusively for observation until I very recently picked up this mount with an asi120mm mini/30mm guidescope and asi533mcp mounted via a .8 ff/fr to try my hand at EAA/AP.
I have php2 setup and calibrated along with scp4 and stellarium with (tele plugin) and first tried to use stellarium for the goto/sync function and scp4 for photo acquisition. I was under the impression that I needed open phd2, sync the target in stellaruim and finally initiate live stacking in scp4.
What I observed was the the although I synced to target in stellarium the scope would drift off target until I stopped guiding with php2. Is this normal behavior? Another observation was when I tried to platesolve in scp4, I got an exception 2 error even though astap is configured and platesolves without issue when testing in setup tab. I believe I have a workflow issue (amongst likely many others) and trying to understand who is controlling the mount when you use scp4, phd2 and stellarium together. Should I just open, connect and minimize phd2? or fully establish guiding within phd2 before I start? Or sync telescope in stellarium, or initiate mount goto and platesolve control exclusively in scp4???
In simple terms, what workflow steps (program launching and configs), assuming PA is already good (I'm using ipolar), would one take to properly setup for an EAA outing? I will get to AP after some initial gratification...DOH!
For a little background on myself currently retired, grew up in Seattle (great place to be a teen in the 70's), jumped on the Boeing bandwagon and spent my initial 13 years as an Avionics analyst (black-hole magical boxes). In 1998 jumped ship and doubled down$$$ at the Microsoft fanboys club, anyone remember Y2K? Spent the last 20+ years as an MCSE/DBA/EMC mass storage admin-analyst. So I do feel somewhat comfortable around PC's and little electric thingies.... However this new hobby has given me a good initial schpanking and would appreciate some feedback from the pros.
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admin
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Re: Sharpcap and Stellarium

#15

Post by admin »

Hi, welcome on board :)

The best thing here is to slow down a little and get things working with a simpler set up before moving on to the more complex ones :)

From your description that images drift when PHD2 is trying to guide but not if you turn it off, it does sound as though the guiding setup or calibration is messed up somewhat, so I would suggest leaving PHD out of things until everything else is working as planned - then you can concentrate on getting PHD2 working without having to worry about other stuff :)

In theory everything should be able to talk to your mount at the same time, so nothing to worry about there. If you are managing to connect 2 or more programs to the mount at once then that part of things is probably good (particularly if they *both* show the correct co-ordinates updating as they change).

Plate solving... The fact that the test button gives success is good - that validates that the plate solving application is installed and configured correctly and that SharpCap can talk to it. However, the test button sends a known image file with a good selection of visible stars in it to Astap, which is an easy thing for Astap to solve. Real plate solving can fall over for a number of reasons, including

1) Not enough stars visible in the image (or too many, or hot pixels that look like stars). Any of these can confuse the plate solving engine
2) The mount not being close to the co-ordinates that it claims to be at - with the Plate Solve and Sync function, SharpCap limits the search to within 15 degrees of the current location - if the position is further out than that then the operation will fail
3) Too small a field of view (shouldn't be an issue with a 533 camera and ED80, but worth mentioning)
4) Too big a field of view, particularly if there is significant distortion in the field of view

In your case, the error code 2 from Astap suggests not enough stars detected (see https://www.hnsky.org/astap.htm - scroll down to command line / error codes). If that's the case then consider increasing the exposure/gain to get more stars visible - also check the focus is at least decent as out-of-focus stars can be an issue.

hope this helps,

Robin
mjanzou
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Re: Sharpcap and Stellarium

#16

Post by mjanzou »

Thanks Robin,

Your reply got me started looking at setup and focus. PA seems good, ipolar has no issue platesolving and I do eventually get to the holy-grail, green cross/circle. I then checked out my guidescope/120mm-mini focus running phd2 by itself and can establish an auto guide-star selection, getting 7 to 10ish, with my fwhm slightly above 3. Closed phd2 and ran scp4 to check focus on the 533 and ran into an issue. I was using the scp4 multistar focus tool and got down to 4ish however, after tightening the focus lock screw, the focus blew up to 25. The focuser on my ed80 is the older 2" crayford style unit having 2 thumbscrews on the bottom, one for focuser tension and the other for lock. Since I initially could not hold focus reliably without using the lock screw, I ended up adjusting the 4 focuser (pre-tension) 2mm hex screws to hold the focus tube securely enough without needing to engage the focuser lock screw to begin with, problem solved I hope? I plan to run scp4/stellarium and try to get platesolving established on the next outing.
Does scp4 or stellaruim need the phd2 'server service' running in background to sync targets?
I'm still somewhat confused about what process controls guiding/tracking once you have platesolved/synced your target.

thx,
mj
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Re: Sharpcap and Stellarium

#17

Post by admin »

Hi,

glad to hear that you are making progress :)

As to what controls the mount, once you are on a target, the mount will continue to track by itself without needing any software on the PC to tell it how. If you want guiding then PHD needs to be running so that it can monitor the guide star and send corrections.

Do you need PHD server running? If you want SharpCap to talk to PHD then you do - SharpCap talking to PHD allows SharpCap to be aware of things like the guiding stopping for some reason and also to syncronize dithering operations done by PHD with the timing of camera exposures.

cheers,

Robin
mjanzou
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Re: Sharpcap and Stellarium

#18

Post by mjanzou »

Hi Robin,

A most interesting development.

I contacted Explore Scientific customer service about my ed80 focuser troubles and spoke with Tyler (CS Mgr.). After a lengthy 12 email and eventual phone call to clear up any confusion, he offered to rebuild my focuser and throw in an OTA clean/collimation service. The only cost I needed to cover was shipping it to them. Keep in mind I purchased my ed80 direct from them in April of 2012, over 10 years ago.
Needless to say, my scope is on a UPS truck as we speak and although I will be down a month or 2, I look forward to getting some reliable pics in the near future.

Unbelievably amazing customer support staff at ES is an understatement....

mj
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admin
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Re: Sharpcap and Stellarium

#19

Post by admin »

Hi,

that does sound like excellent customer service!

Certainly crayford focusers can be troublesome - they fix the backlash so often associated with rack-and-pinion mechanisms, but the problem it can be difficult finding the right compromise between not slipping and tight enough not to rock. I remember sanding the black anodised finish off the friction plate of a crayford at one point to get a rougher surface to cure the slipping problem...

cheers,

Robin
mjanzou
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Re: Sharpcap and Stellarium

#20

Post by mjanzou »

Hi Robin,

Just an FYI on my ed80 debacle.

I sent it to ES and they tried but could not fix my focuser. No replacement crayfords in stock and none expected to be produced any longer. They did clean/collimate the OTA but it is a lost cause for any AP functions. Its on its way back to me free of charge still functional for visual only and will be used as such since I just got my brand schpankin new Askar fra300 quintuplet (AP only) yesterday afternoon along with filters/drawer, EAF yada-yada...

I'm really lookin forward to firing this thing up except for one problem, there is a 4300+ and rapidly growing acre forest fire burning 30 miles from us so it might be fall before I see clear skies or breath clean air again.

mj
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