On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 09:16 AM, Worsel wrote:

Terri

Which of the plate-solving options within SGP are you using?  I know the APPC Pro manual suggests PlatSolve2 form Planewave, but ASTAP is much faster.  A local install of astrometry.net is nearly as fast.  Obviously there is a learning curve with both, but once configured, they are good to go.

Bryan

Hy Bryan, thanks for your response.     I use platesolve2 as my base, but have a local copy of astrometry.net for blind solving as well.     I have not tried Astrometry.net outside of using it with SGPro and blind solving.     I've not tried ASTAP either but I'll look into it, thank you for the pointer!

Terri

Konstantin:  That is good to know.

Terri:  I have use of a permanent pier at a roll-of-roof observatory 100 miles away at the club's dark sky site but I tear down the mount and bring everything home.  I don't leave my gear out there.

Yes, I am using the ASI1600.  It took me about 30 minutes to do a 68 point all sky mapping run the other night with Sequence Generator Pro and using PlateSolve2.  The imaging and the plate solving ran pretty quick.  4 seconds for the exposure and plate solves were usually done within another 4 or 5 seconds.  So it looks like I am averaging less than 30 seconds for each point, including slewing.

So, I was very happy with the tracking I got using a 68 point all sky map.  However, I am wondering if I can get even tighter tracking accuracy if I run a more dense map that is focused on the specific path my object for that night will take.
--
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net/wp/ 
Image Gallery - http://astrophoto.net/wp/image-gallery/
Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/users/deanjacobsen/ 

Terri

Which of the plate-solving options within SGP are you using?  I know the APPC Pro manual suggests PlatSolve2 form Planewave, but ASTAP is much faster.  A local install of astrometry.net is nearly as fast.  Obviously there is a learning curve with both, but once configured, they are good to go.

Bryan

Hey Dean, I've noticed you use the ASI1600 camera as I do.     What program do you use for capturing and how long is your point mapping taking?   I'm asking because I'm curious about your efficiency and how long it takes.    For some reason, I thought you were using an observatory setup.. but I see you're mobile like me.    I'm curious as to the results of what you're talking about here.    2 line mapping, does this mean like 2 rows or points on a dec line along RA?   I see you have 4 rows on the picture above.   

For me, I have to wait till it's dark enough to use my  polemaster to polar align, although I'm sure I could go earlier with the RAPAS.   So this doesn't allow me to even start to point map until maybe 9:45pm or so in Vermont.     From memory, the last time I tried a model, it took me 35 minutes to do what was called a 'small model' of around 30 points.     I used it more or less as a test.   And I'm using SGPro for my plate solving.   For whatever reason, its efficiency for imaging is not great, and what I mean by this is how much overhead is taken by downloads and other control signaling..    So even though my plate solves, after the first, happen with the first plate searched, it's still slow.    If I had a 60 point model, it would take maybe 60+ minutes.     So for the most part, I haven't even bothered doing more modeling.    

So I am interested in what others use for capture/plate solving to maybe improve my overall efficiency.    Clear skies are scarce for me this time of year.  Last night I setup, polar aligned, plate solved, and then what seemed like a Vermont shaped cloud came over and ended my night without a single imaging frame captured.

Best,
Terri






   

Hi,

Forgive me if this has been covered before...

I set up my mount each session.  Get an accurate polar alignment, etc.

I want to incorporate APCC's tracking rate correction and do unguided imaging whenever I can.

When I set up I always know the object that I am going to image and I never start before 45 degrees elevation in the east and never go past 45 degrees down the western side.

I always do just one object a night and park on the object for about 6 hours if I can.

So, the question is... Do I need to set up a whole sky APPM mapping run when I know the declination and the path that tonight's object will be taking?

For instance, if my object is at 0 degrees declination, then can I just do a dense APPM run that brackets 0 degrees? 

The image below is a screen shot of what I was thinking of for a 0 degree declination object:



--
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net/wp/ 
Image Gallery - http://astrophoto.net/wp/image-gallery/
Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/users/deanjacobsen/