ASTAP Platesolve works great ! But

Hi,

I have been platesolving for a good 10 years with all sorts of gear and applications, but I’ve never seen this. 80% of the time plate solve will work, event with large errors. I don’t want to brag, but I know how to tune my gear :slight_smile:
But sometime, when the plate solver takes several steps to adjust the centering, it takes a picture BEFORE the scope has finish slewing, resulting in star streaks which, you can understand, will most likely result in a fail plate solve.
I use ASTAP with SGP 3.2.0.613.
I have a Quattro 10’’ newton on a NEQ6, it’s a light-heavy setup with some inertia. I have a quite large periodic error and backlash that I intend to fix in a much needed hypertune in 2021.
In the meantime, I was wondering if it was possible to instruct ASTAP to wait 1 second between slew and picture taking.
I will also look into EQMOD to see if it can wait before sending a “I finished slewing” confirmation, if such thing is possible.

I too have seen streaking during plate solves on the first frame. I second this recommendation to be able to put in a pause to allow the mount to settle before taking the exposure.

Mike

IME, it can depend a fair amount on the direction and axis from which the mount approaches, your mount’s backlash, etc.

Control Panel -> Telescope -> Mount settling time may help you out here. :slight_smile:

I have that set to 8 seconds for my G11, which is generous, IMO for a 35 pound payload. I keep the backlash very small. The streaks aren’t minor. They are across 1/4 of the CCD’s width. I don’t see it on every sync, but it is there from time to time. I have also seen the first sync frame take an exposure while the Pyxis rotator is still in motion but it only causes one sync cycle to fail so I shrug it off.

Mike

This sound like exactly what I need ! Change is done, now waiting for clear sky.

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