plate solving with ASTAP

Somewhere to ask questions about the best way to use SharpCap
Forum rules


If you have a problem or question, please check the FAQ to see if it already has an answer : https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap-faqs
Post Reply
wooleybull
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 14, 2022 2:22 pm

plate solving with ASTAP

#1

Post by wooleybull »

HI i am using ASTAP with my ZWO 120MCS on the 30F4 mini guide scope for plate solving. I image with my D5000 DSLR and Sometimes it works but mostly I get messages saying too few or too many stars detected! i adjust gain and exposure, then will get no solution found message or it will just freeze.
i have attached my log file.
Cheers Michael
Attachments
Log_2022-05-14T22_37_29-4872.log
(465.85 KiB) Downloaded 24 times
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13177
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
Contact:

Re: plate solving with ASTAP

#2

Post by admin »

Hi Michael,

some things you can try

* Make sure you have the latest Astap installed - it is being updated regularly, so if there is a problem in Astap it maybe has already been fixed

* Make sure that your mount co-ordinates are accurate - hopefully they will be to within a degree or two, but if they are a long way off (more than 15 degrees) then you will get a failure to solve, since SharpCap limits the search to within 15 degrees of the current mount position

* Try entering the focal length of your 30F4 (120mm ) in the plate solving settings in SharpCap - that should cause SharpCap to calculate the FOV and then pass that to Astap, which may help (and speed things up as Astap does not need to try varying FOV values)

* Capture an image and upload to nova.astrometry.net and check the plate solve solution calculated there - co-ordinates, field of view, etc - matches what you expect.

cheers,

Robin
Post Reply