SharpCap Forums

In a chance comment with a member in our astro club I discovered his platesolving takes milliseconds whereas mine takes 1 to 2 minutes.

I am using SharpCap and ASTAP.

How long should it take and can I speed it up somehow?

Hi,

the biggest speed up is gained for Astap by setting the focal length of your telescope correctly in the SharpCap plate solving settings - be sure to include the effect of any reducer or barlow lens, and you will need to upate this value if you change to a different telescope. By setting the focal length, you limit the amount of work that Astap has to do (how much searching). However, setting the value incorrectly will stop it from working at all, so be prepared to change back to 'Do not use' if you have problems.

Another thing to be aware of is that plate solving takes longer for smaller size fields of view - if you are using a longer focal length telescope or smaller camera sensor than your friend, you will be taking images of smaller patches of the sky, which means there are more possible positions to check, so slower.

thanks,

Robin