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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Re:Can you change the settings on the CCD simulator?

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Hi all,

I'm a complete beginner getting up to speed with Kstars/EKOS on Astroberry. Had a few clear night recently but I feel like there's a lot to learn and glad to see there's a simulator rather than having to wait until it gets clear and dark to play.

I'd like to change the CCD simulator to match my guide camera (ZWO ASI120MC-S) as I'm having great trouble trying to plate solve. So change the resolution, pixel size etc. I see in the INDI control panel there's a simulator config tab that has the settings I want to change, but they are all greyed out. What am I missing?

Cheers!
3 years 11 months ago #51631

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Hi Sid,

Sorry, I don't know the answer to your question. But I do have a few questions for you. Why do you want to do plate solving with the guide cam? If it is for pointing the main telescope then please note that there are many factors that influence the difference in pointing between the main telescope and guide telescope (mis-alignment, flexure, etc). For that reason, plate solving with the main telescope should be used for pointing the main telescope. Having said that, there are many reasons why plate solving may fail. Can you tell us all about the guide telescope used and what settings you used for plate solving? Actually, if you enable debug logging and upload the logs here then we can try and help you fix that.


Clear skies, Wouter
3 years 11 months ago #51640

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Thanks for the response wvreeven. Short answer is I'd like to get the simulator working regardless as after tonight it looks like no clear skies for a while!


Sorry I worded that poorly. The ZWO 120 is the only camera I have right now, and it's attached to the main OTA, not the guidescope. I wanted to experiment with this and make sure I understand how everything works before I start investing in expensive CCDs or a new-ish DSLR. I have an old Nikon D40X that I intend to use as my main camera for experimentation, but as far as I can tell as it's really old the best I can do with it is an IR remote shutter release, I can't wire it up and control it through EKOS.

So my workflow (I think) will be putting the ZWO 120 on the OTA and plate solve for aligning the mount and scope (HEQ5-PRO using EQMOD and a Celestron 127SLT), park, then swap the Nikon onto the OTA and put the ZWO 120 into the guide scope for guiding. Baby steps though, got to get a successful solve before I do any of that!


At a guess, I think my shots are far too noisy and astrometry is incorrectly picking up noise as stars then failing to solve. The offline solver is basically looping through every index file and not finding a match, the online solve is also failing. Here's Capella for example: nova.astrometry.net/user_images/3525214#original. Any advice appreciated, though with clear skies tonight hopefully a lot more time to experiment. I'll upload logs tonight if I still struggle.
Last edit: 3 years 11 months ago by Kieran.
3 years 11 months ago #51641

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nova.astrometry.net/extraction_image_full/4089024

This is the image with sources detected by astrometry.net. As you can see, the pattern noise is damaging the detection. If you overcome this issue, you should be OK.

Your workflow is OK, as long as you provide the right focal length to the alignment module, and make sure your guider is aligned properly. Remember that you may loose your sync points when parking, so prefer a mount model.

-Eric
3 years 11 months ago #51652

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Cheers. Finally managed to get one to solve, on a 10 second exposure and critically I think with darks to remove most of the noise. Unfortunately then the camera flipped between refusing to take shots and then refusing to download them (even though it showed me the preview). I suspect due to the USB3 interface's bandwidth and my old Raspberry PI 2. Still, a win!
Sorry, what do you mean by this?
Last edit: 3 years 11 months ago by Kieran.
3 years 11 months ago #51655

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Parking your mount will remove your sync points. You can experiment with this by aligning, checking that your mount can slew precisely, parking, and then un parking and retrying your slew and check where it ends. The mount model, however, will retain and transfer the sync points when connecting the mount. But it's been long since I fiddled with that, so I may not be up-to-date on thus subject.

-Eric
3 years 11 months ago #51737

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