Hi,
As I was away from home the last few day I couldn't experiment much with real hardware, and I'm sorry for the delay between my replies.
I'll try to answer as many points in this message so it can get a bit long, but first of all thanks @soundfan for joining in as it looks like we're facing the same problem!
Every tests I ran was using Carte du Ciel, the GSS telescope simulator, and ASCOM Sky Simulator (from the same dev as ASTAP) configured to mimic my camera setup (IMX290). This setup being "perfect", only a negligeable offset will be measured with the plate solve and sync function.
admin wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2024 7:30 pm
the difference between J2000 and JNOW should not put you off target by more than about 8 minutes of arc, so if you are ending up a degree or more off then J2000/JNOW is not the whole of the problem.
I can confirm that after changing this setting in GSS the view in Stellarium/Carte du ciel barely moves. So J2000 vs JNOW is eliminated.
admin wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2024 7:30 pm
1) Do you have the option to solve/sync turned on in SharpCap? If so, turn off to test if the initial GOTO movement goes to the correct co-ordinates as recorded (JNOW) in the log for the target.
2) Once the plate solving is disabled, check that the GOTO co-ordinates shown in GSS/SharpCap mount panel are correct after the GOTO movement.
3) If you have a sky pointing model set up in GSS (multiple sync points recorded), then try turning it off temporarily to see if that has an effect. In particular if you have a sky pointing model you need to change the plate solving option from 'sync and recenter' to 'offset goto'
1) Tried it with both options, with the sync option turned off and targetting M51 (Theory : AD=13h30m56,16s DE=47°04'12,7"):
Code: Select all
SEQUENCE
MOUNT GOTO RA=13:29:54,0,Dec=+47:12:00
TARGETNAME "M51 (NGC 5194,Whirlpool Galaxy)"
END SEQUENCE in async Task SharpCap.Sequencer.SequencerContext.RunAsync(ScriptBlock script)
Debug 18:08:26.208597 #1 Sequencer : Starting : in void SharpCap.Sequencer.SequencerContext.OnProgress(string e)
Debug 18:08:26.232783 #1 Sequencer : Starting : Move the mount to (RA,Dec) RA=13:29:54,0,Dec=+47:12:00 (RA=13:37:60,0,Dec=+47:12:00) in void SharpCap.Sequencer.SequencerContext.OnProgress(string e)
Debug 18:08:26.260812 #1 Sequencer : Info : 'Converting RA=13:37:60,0,Dec=+47:12:00 (J2000) position to RA=13:39:02,3,Dec=+47:04:36 (JNOW)' while running step Move the mount to (RA,Dec) RA=13:29:54,0,Dec=+47:12:00 (RA=13:37:60,0,Dec=+47:12:00) in void SharpCap.Sequencer.SequencerContext.OnProgress(string e)
Debug 18:08:34.929526 #1 Sequencer : Info : 'Mount slew complete, waiting for mount to settle.' while running step Move the mount to (RA,Dec) RA=13:29:54,0,Dec=+47:12:00 (RA=13:37:60,0,Dec=+47:12:00) in void SharpCap.Sequencer.SequencerContext.OnProgress(string e)
Debug 18:08:44.938508 #1 Sequencer : Completed : Move the mount to (RA,Dec) RA=13:29:54,0,Dec=+47:12:00 (RA=13:37:60,0,Dec=+47:12:00) in void SharpCap.Sequencer.SequencerContext.OnProgress(string e)
Debug 18:08:44.940796 #1 Sequencer : Starting : Set imaging target name to 'M51 (NGC 5194,Whirlpool Galaxy)' in void SharpCap.Sequencer.SequencerContext.OnProgress(string e)
Info 18:08:44.942428 #1 Target name changed to M51 (NGC 5194,Whirlpool Galaxy) in void SharpCap.Models.Application.set_TargetName(string value)
Debug 18:08:44.954730 #1 Sequencer : Completed : Set imaging target name to 'M51 (NGC 5194,Whirlpool Galaxy)' in void SharpCap.Sequencer.SequencerContext.OnProgress(string e)
Debug 18:08:44.961558 #1 Sequencer : Completed : in void SharpCap.Sequencer.SequencerContext.OnProgress(string e)
Info 18:08:44.966122 #1 The sequence is now finished
2) I don't understand which set of coordinates I should look for in the logs as both of them seems wrong, which can be confirmed by Carte du Ciel :
- CDC_M51.png (88.58 KiB) Viewed 240 times
3) I don't have any model configured in GSS, and I don't even think it supports poiting model. But Stellarium managed to send the mount to the right coordinates, and so did Sharpcap when using coordinates from stellarium.
It seems more likely that Sharpcap's catalog or Sharcap's conversion results in wrong coordinates being used as GOTO command.
To prove that issue, I've ran multiple go-to with sharcap's catalog and plate solves to confirm that the mount was sent to the expected coordinates :
M33 was almost 2° off :
- CDC_M33.png (91.4 KiB) Viewed 240 times
M63 was 1° off :
- CDC_M63.png (97.58 KiB) Viewed 240 times
M101 was very close !
- CDC_M101.png (91.08 KiB) Viewed 237 times
M42 was 1° off too :
- CDC_M42.png (115.16 KiB) Viewed 237 times
And finally just to confirm that it's not only Messier catalog, NGC3626 :
- NGC_3626.png (118.21 KiB) Viewed 237 times
It might not be important but the target seems to be always to the right of the sensor.
I hope my logs will bring more information to the table, because it doesn't seem to be a problem of syncing but rather of catalog being off.
Thanks very much for looking into our issue,
Cheers!