SharpCap Forums

Hi Robin,
I encountered a problem with SharpCap using the FWHM filter that I really really love by the way... I noticed that I am getting red bars for images that fall UNDER the FWHM filter ... Not sure why this is happening. I am also getting question marks on frames for some reason.
I am using a Skywatcher eq6R Pro mount and guiding with PHD2.
Any insight would be great!!
Thank you,
Marc
STLS

Hi Marc,

I think the bars show as red for any frame that isn't added to the stack - regardless of the reason. So - for example - if the frame is rejected because the brightness filter is also turned on and that rejects the frame you get a red bar. Also, if the frame cannot be stacked because of a failure to align, you get a red bar.

My guess is that in your case it is failure to align, caused by not detecting enough stars in the input frames for a reliable alignment calculation. Failure to detect enough stars can also lead to the '???' display for the FWHM - if there are either no stars detected at all, or if none (or too few) have a reliable FWHM measurement.

The best bet is to probably look at the star detection options in the 'Alignment' tab. You can turn on the option to highlight the detected stars and then adjust the options to optimize the number of stars being found. If you switch to 'view raw frames' when you are doing this, you get to see the stars detected in the frames from the camera (when you are viewing the stack, you see the stars detected in the stack).

Hope this helps,

Robin

thanks Robin I will see what the individual frames show. There were a number of stars though so I am not sure what it was or is.
I will be streaming tonight again with SkyTour LiveStream on youtube so I will be checkin on this...
Thank you,
M