I’m just getting started with SGP (and AP for the most part), so I apologize if my question is a newb question. And truthfully everything isn’t totally working correctly yet but I’m making progress. My guide camera is a ZWO 120mm-S with a ZWO 60mm Guide Scope and I’m trying to use PHD2. I’m finding that when I’m doing GOTOs after completing my PA, I’m not consistently getting to my target. I’ve done my PA from PoleMaster (and SharpCap Pro 3.2) and in both cases I haven’t had the best luck with GOTOs. My mount is a SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro with a Shoestring USB direct to hand-controller port cable (so not ST4 cable) and I’m using EQMOD. The thing I’m not sure about are star alignments and mount syncing after completing PA. I haven’t been doing them and not sure if I’m supposed to be doing that. Can anyone comment? I’ve also been trying to use Stellarium for target acquisition, at least initially. Is that OK? It’s controlling my mount Ok, but not sure if it’s competing with SGP in any way. If I supply just my target names directly in SGP, will it be able to locate them itself? Is it using Plate Solving to confirm the positioning and fine tune the locations? I think I have local Plate Solving installed but if someone can help me to confirm I have it setup correctly please let me know? And what are the limitations on the catalogs it can use? I’m not imaging anything strange so I’d think it could handle anything I’ll be tackling in the near future anyway. Appreciate any guidance. Thanks.
It sounds like your almost there…
I take it you setting up every time ? if so, then the procedure I would use is (NOTE very Simplified):
1: roughly align mount, with all gear on. note at this point nothing needs to be powered
2: Polar align, as you have a Pole Master, just use that. You could use the SharpCap procedure, but it really isn’t needed.
3: start SGPro \ Stellarium or CDC \ PHD2 and connect all the gear.
4:Ensure that you are starting from the Park position i.e. weights down and OTA pointing towards Polaris, but note that you won’t be able to see Polaris through the OTA (normally, unless widefield)…
5: If you have entered a target, that you want to image, in a sequence, Un-parking the mount, and initiating the sequence, will cause the mount to slew to the target…
This is where the ‘magic’ happens, as if you have Plate Solving installed and working, it will nudge the mount such that it is on-target by taking a series of images and comparing with a known database…
As I said that is a simplified procedure, usually most people seem to bailk at the Plate Solving bit, but it isn’t too onerous…
Julian
Thanks for your reply. I’m definitely not almost there but slowly getting closer.
Regarding your simplified procedure, I have a few questions: (sorry, I’m an engineer and generally dig way too deep but it serves me in the end!)
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Despite lots of people saying otherwise, I have always started by leveling my mount before starting. How important is that with using Plate Solving?
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Can you help me to be sure I’ve got Plate Solving setup correctly? I believe I’ve got local solving setup, which is what I want. But not sure how to ensure it is properly setup and working.
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Is there any benefit to having a better starting PA? Or are you just looking for a beginning good PA? It seems the PA obtained from SharpCap Pro is generally better than what you can get from PoleMaster since it is using Plate Solving but it does take a bit longer.
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Just a clarification, since it seems you are advocating allowing SGP to deal with running the GOTOs for targets (which I’m loving, I’d really like to minimize the software being used if possible), is there any reason to use Stellarium (I really hate the UI!)? I do use SkySafari 6 Pro on my phone just to see my FOV indicators for my possible scopes & cameras and check meridian timings for possible targets and its nice to do without having to deal with the imaging laptop (and I can do that from the tent while running sequences on other targets).
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So, you are saying that the SGP Plate Solving should handle the GOTOs to targets without anything other than a PoleMaster PA and operational guiding (another of my problems)? And that should guarantee the target is in the middle of the field every time? Well, if that’s true (and I certainly hope it is), something is wrong with my setup (which doesn’t surprise me). But now I have to figure out what’s wrong. How would you debug this?
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Another side question is field rotation. I don’t have a motorized field rotator, so I may have a need to manually rotate my camera before starting an image run. How do I do that? Is there a way to get a liveview of what the camera is seeing so I can make adjustments?
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What about focusing? I don’t have auto focusers and only have Bahtinov mask for 1 of my 3 scopes. Is it best to use SGP for focusing or something else like SharpCap Pro? I understand the importance of this and need a way to get this as good as I can. How do you deal with focusing?
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Have you used automatic meridian flips in SGP? Can you walkthru how that works and any possible problems that I need to be warry of?
Appreciate any further guidance. Thanks.
I’m also an engineer…
1: It doesn’t have to be super level, just look at what SW provide with the mount…
2: yes but I need to know how you’ve installed PlateSolve2 | ASTP etc.
3: getting really good PA is better in a ‘fixed’ setup, but as you are setting up every time, PoleMaster will get you close enough.
4: I don’t use Stellarium, but instead prefer CDC, and it is just used for identifying target and just ‘following’ where SGPro is sending the mount, just for ‘peace of mind’/
5: Plate Solving doesn’t handle the goto’s, it just ensures that the system is actually pointing at the target. It’s SGPro that sends the mount to the target as defined in the “Target Settings \ Location (J2000)”
6: as for field rotation, to me, its a nice to have, as I can always rotate\crop the processed image, without having to resort (in my case) to rotating the camera\off-axis guider\filter wheel assembly.
7: focusing is a little more tricky, as without an auto-focuser, and as part of the initial setup process, you will need to slew to a bright star & manually focus, but as you’re an engineer I’m sure you will soon knock up your own focus system (or even buy)
8: I’ve never had a problem with meridian flips, I find that the system knows when it need to do one, and just does it…
A few more questions.
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I’m assuming you’re using EQMOD. My Telescope connection through SGP is ‘EQMOD ASCOM HEQ5/6’, is that the same as you use?
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Regarding my Plate Solving setup. I’ve think I’ve installed ANSVR (Local Astrometry.NET). But how do I confirm that? And if I haven’t gotten that installed, how do I reinstall it? I want to have it installed locally, in case I don’t have internet access, which I generally do but it’s very slow via my phone. I live in the city with no sky access at my apt and have to travel about an hour to my imaging site.
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Can you give me a bit more info on your focusing approach. Or are you using auto focus? I’m heading to Cherry Springs PA for 5 days of imaging (or as much as I can get) and I won’t have much Bahtinov (only 1 scope and I’m not sure how much I’ll be using that), so any advice on how I can do focusing without Bahtinov would be helpful.
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So you use SGP auto meridian flips without problems?
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For me at this point, I view field rotation as definitely a nice-to-have too. I would be very happy to just be able to get any images that just contain my targets that are at least basically focused. My bar is very low at this point, lol! Of course, that will change, but I’m trying to keep my expectations low.
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The main goal for me this week is to just try to get a repeatable workflow that will allow me to get reasonable data for my targets. I will definitely fine-tune things as I move along but hopefully I will gain some experience with SGP, my gear and cameras and will at least tackle focusing techniques at a level that will at least allow me to get some useable data. That’s my plan anyway.
Again, if there’s anything you can add that will help me avoid unnecessary problems, PLEASE let me know. And if there are any lurkers out there that can add some pointers I would very much appreciate it. Thanks.
Be sure to have EQMOD in DIALOG mode. Using the sync model may clash with the solver. Provided you have polar aligned decently and have the correct time and location plugged into SGP and whatever planetarium program you are using the plate solver should center your target. You DO need to provide SGP with proper target info and there are several ways to do this… for instance you can go to astrobin.com and find your target there thru a search. Once found, say M13, copy the web link address from the address bar of your browser and then go to your sequence and call up your first target. Edit the target and you find where you can paste that info in and it will be converted into ra and dec coordinates. Be sure to check both Slew To and Center On boxes. Under your current profile settings\telescope you may have to change the sync behavior setting to Target Offset. Try the default Sync setting first and if it struggles and never centers (but get close) go to Offset. As always be sure your camera scale setting is accurate. The angle setting seems to rather forgiving.
1: yes
2: on the PC with ANSVR installed, in a browser, you should be able to go to http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/config if the config page shows, it’s working
3: I built my own focuser(s) based on Robert Brown’s excellent, MyFocuserPro2 (Arduino ASCOM Focuser Pro2 DIY download | SourceForge.net) the most difficult part is mounting the stepper motor, but as I have multiple 3d printers, I can just design & print what’s needed.
4: correct no issues with flips, usually I don’y even know till it comes to stacking the images & find that some are ‘upside-down’…
Julian