When centering a target the mount doesnt settle, so the plate solve fail

Hello,

When the mount slew to center a target the plate solve fails because it seems that the telescope is not settling.
Here is the log file:

I am using SQP 3.2 and EQMOD.

Marcelo

Looking at your log file, Marcelo, ASTAP seems to be solving the image just fine, although you seem to have a settling time of only 1 second, which seems a bit low - my settling time after a slew is 10 seconds just to be on the safe side, so I would first try increasing the settling time. If that has no effect, I’d double-check that everything is set correctly in EQMOD, as EQMOD has a pointing model system that must be turned off - see this thread - Help from EQMOD users - Sequence Generator - Main Sequence Software (sequencegeneratorpro.com). The main take-away from it was:
A) Don’t use any pointing model at all. Let plate solve manage the whole alignment process.
B) Use EQMOD version 1.28m and set the side of pier option to “pointing”
C) Do not enable meridian flip in the eqmod software. Let sgpro manage the process.
D) Set the meridian flip at 2 degrees past meridian.
E) Set the mount meridian software limits at greater than 2 degrees.
F) Set the epoch in the mount as J2000
G) Alignment/sync user interface set to “dialog based”.

Apologies if you have already checked all of this - I’m not sure what else to suggest.

Thanks Terry,

Some of the settings I have already but the Epoch was set to something different.
A) Don’t use any pointing model at all. Let plate solve manage the whole alignment process.
Where can I ensure that?
B) Use EQMOD version 1.28m and set the side of pier option to “pointing”
Any particular reason?
C) Do not enable meridian flip in the eqmod software. Let sgpro manage the process.
Yes
E) Set the mount meridian software limits at greater than 2 degrees.
So this translates 8 min pass meriadian in SGP right?
F) Set the epoch in the mount as J2000
Yep
G) Alignment/sync user interface set to “dialog based”.
Done

Lets see how it goes tonight.

Thanks

Here are my settings, a couple of years old but worked solidly for me. You don’t have to use version 1.28m, there’s a help page somewhere on here written around 1.28m and that set up is known to work. In my experience the version I was using was very stable.

Thanks I will try to test tonight with your settings.

Just a heads up, if you are using a AZ-EQ6 mount with EQMOD, I’ve found it important to turn off the encoders, as otherwise the mount sometimes appears to “resync” by itself after slews and make platesolving less reliable.

Mikael

1 Like

Thanks I will try with that disabled.

I’ve had no issues with SGP’s pointing my scope with a different arrangement between SGP and EQMOD. I use EQMOD’s “nearest sync point” pointing model which is restricted to pier side only sync points. EQMOD is set to “append on sync” which adds sync points only when doing a plate solve from SGP’s control panel. Plate solves done from an image DO NOT add sync points. For me, this has given me a pointing model that always locates the target within the center third of my QHY22 camera’s fov with quick centering of the target using a plate solve from a sample exposure. If the target is too far off center of the fov, I can open the plate solve from SGP’s control panel and do an additional plate solve which adds a sync point near the target. This additional plate solve usually takes less than 30 seconds, and doesn’t significantly delay starting imaging the target.

Options in EQMOD control whether the new sync point I’ve added gets saved for use in future sessions.