I am experiencing poor results with EKOS default local plate solving. Some areas result in reasonable solution results, M13 as example. However the local default is always failing on NGC 7000 as an example. I saved one of the images and tried it through the online option and it solved without issue. Based on this I would like to switch local solving to a second option.
Has anyone experienced this? If so what are good local alternatives. Getting an alternative to work will likely be an adventure so I would like to start with one that has had good results.
Thanks in advance, Dan

I had ASTAP installed as an RPM. I changed the path to the installed bin and changed the method to ASTAP. I tried to perform a load and solve, it errored.
I then ran astap and loaded the fits file and hit the solve button. It solved quickly. The solution was off by a bit, but it solved. I tried several fits files in offline mode they all worked.
How can I approach solving the EKOS to ASTAP integration issue?

So far the results are:
local astap is significanly better than the solver included in kstars. I finds solutions for about twice as many attempts.
the online astormetry solves over half of the remaining images. It only failed on a noisy, contrasty image that may have been over exposed or the conditions were bad.
Are these each unique algorthms or are the differences due to configuration parameters. This area is a bit of a black box.

Hello Dan,

Could you share an image that you have issues to solve?

Also, your internal solver settings. I find it quite interesting that it can't solve the NGC7000 area.

Dan,

When StellarSolver was introduced to KStars, a lot of configurability was added to the star detection and plate solving. What was not added (and clearly would be useful) is some automatic means for configuring those parameters. As @Euripides implied, those StellarSolver parameters are important and I encourage you to look at them (though ASTAP is a fine approach as well). There are preset starting points for different configurations, but those themselves can be configured.

Also, it is often useful to uncheck "Use Position" and "Use Scale" to see if that's your problem (incorrect initial estimate for scale or sky position messing things up).

Hy

Thank you both. I will set up a fits file transfer portal to pass the image.
I have found the configuraiton page. However I have not been able to identify any description of the parameter. My site is in a Botle 7+ location and images below about 60 degrees tend to have a lot of background light. I have found fits viewers curve management have a significant effect on the number of stars identified.If there were a way to control the curve thresholds it could go a long way.
It is interesting. I have been starting a viewing session with M13 and the internal solver seems to do very well identifing it. However using the internal solver on either a polar alignment sequence or images not as high tend to fail. Its sensitivity seems to be identifing stars. I am only guessing but the issue seems to be with dimmer stars against the less than fully dark background here. The astap viewer seems to do a great job managing the curve versus the kstars fits viewer. I am not sure what knob to twist first. I can't find a description of the parameters.
Thank you both again. Dan

I will create a Dropbox account with the fits file. It solves on both remote and local astap. It does not solve on the built in solver. We are in for a cloudy period so I will not get to this unitl the weekend - busy, busy.
Thanks in advance.
Dan