First run with APT

[bobharmony]

I have been looking to step things up a bit in my imaging, wanting to add the ability to do multiple targets and automated meridian flips to my toolbox. I have been messing with APT as a possible tool to fill in the missing pieces. Up til tonight it has all been testing inside in the light so I can get a feel and learn the interface.

Tonight I brought it out to the open (well, at least to outside the back door) and gave it a shot. I was able to get it to slew to a star near my target and platesolve and center with it. Then I put the bahtinov mask over the front of the scope and used the focusing aid to get really close. The feature worked very well for me, and I was able to advance the focus in increments in a way I have never been able to do with BYE. I also like the gentle reminder to remove the mask when the tool is closed.

Then I went over to my target for the night (the Iris nebula) and tried to do a platesolve and center. PS2 failed to solve the image, and gave me an error "Run-time error '6': Overflow". Repeated attempts to solve gave the same result. Then I tried a blind solve with ASTAP and got the same error. Rather than spend the best night I've had in months troubleshooting the issue, I loaded up my old standbys, BYE and Astrotortilla, and have been plugging away for a few hours. I just went past three hours of subs for the night, and hope to get another before the trees intervene - it'll be close.

I did find information that the error can be caused by a corrupt PS2.ini file and tracked that down. It may be the issue, and I will try it again another night.

I also want to report that PHD2 is playing well again with the DEC backlash compensation I entered into the hand-controller before my last session (all the way back in April). Dithering has been running like a top and I only have one sub to toss out of the 66 I have taken thus far. Dither settle time is running in the 30-40 second range, which is much better than before the adjustment.

All in all, a good night thus far. I was treated to a nearby skunk letting go a while back. and I have been listening to an owl hooting away for the past three hours - love that sound!

Clear skies!

Bob

[JayTee]

Hi Bob,

Before the plate solve did you click on the "Scope Pos" button, it's near the top right corner in the Point Craft window that opens up? This lets the solving software (PS2) know where in the sky you are looking so it can dramatically reduce solve times.

Cheers,
JT

[Juno16]

Hi Bob,

Sounded like things started off really well. You will get through that error. If not try the APT forum. They have rescued me several times!

BYE kinda saved you last night.

My guiding started out fair to poor with many oscillations in both RA and DEC (very unusual). Then, it looked like my camera would strike the tripod leg before the AMF. It was close to flip time, so I went into sessioncraft and flipped with the manual method. Worked great. I wasn’t even to the meridian yet. Plate solved and centered fine and restarted guiding and imaging.

Unfortunately, the Guiding was much worse. I could see rough looking stars in my subs. Ended up shutting down.
Upon inspection, I found marks on the RA gearbox cover where the RA clutch lever was striking the cover and releasing some of the clutch pressure.
I also noticed that the DEC clutch lever also was striking the DEC gearbox cover and loosening it some too! I guess the clutches wear over time?

Anyway, sorry to go on so much about my issues. Dithering went well!

I hope that the rest of your night went well and hope to see your image soon!

Take care,
Jim

Looking forward to seeing your Iris!

[bobharmony]

Hi Bob,

Before the plate solve did you click on the "Scope Pos" button, it's near the top right corner in the Point Craft window that opens up? This lets the solving software (PS2) know where in the sky you are looking so it can dramatically reduce solve times.

Cheers,
JT

Thanks, JT. The first time I clicked on "solve" when pointed at the star I didn't set the coordinates, and was prompted to do so. I then found the "Scope Pos" button and was successful with the Solve. For subsequent runs, I did make sure the coordinate were set.

After the initial solve, and before I slewed to the second target, I did a GoTo++ under the "Center FOV at position". The Star centered very well after the first iteration, but then ran off two more iterations which didn't get any closer, just moved the star around the edge of the centering circle a little bit. Thinking PS2 was just going to do this for the rest of the night, I clicked the button to stop the iterations. Only then did I notice the log messages in the lower left corner which indicated it was working on 3 of 5 and would have stopped itself after the 5th pass. This may have been entirely self-inflicted.

In any case, I'll delete the .ini file and try it again to see if I can get it (and me) to behave better. This may just be a matter of the user learning a new interface.

Bob

[bobharmony]

Hi Bob,

Sounded like things started off really well. You will get through that error. If not try the APT forum. They have rescued me several times!

BYE kinda saved you last night.

My guiding started out fair to poor with many oscillations in both RA and DEC (very unusual). Then, it looked like my camera would strike the tripod leg before the AMF. It was close to flip time, so I went into sessioncraft and flipped with the manual method. Worked great. I wasn’t even to the meridian yet. Plate solved and centered fine and restarted guiding and imaging.

Unfortunately, the Guiding was much worse. I could see rough looking stars in my subs. Ended up shutting down.
Upon inspection, I found marks on the RA gearbox cover where the RA clutch lever was striking the cover and releasing some of the clutch pressure.
I also noticed that the DEC clutch lever also was striking the DEC gearbox cover and loosening it some too! I guess the clutches wear over time?

Anyway, sorry to go on so much about my issues. Dithering went well!

I hope that the rest of your night went well and hope to see your image soon!

Take care,
Jim

Looking forward to seeing your Iris!

Thanks, Jim. Yeah, it was nice to have a fall-back position ready. Sorry to hear you had such a rough go at it. Interesting discovery about the levers striking the covers and loosening a bit. Definitely bad news (or weird design). I'm not sure what the fix would be for that. In any case, it's good that dithering went so well.

I balance slightly east-heavy as a rule. I find the balance point (as well as can be done with the ASGT), then slide the bottom counterweight down the bar about 1/4". After the meridian flip, I slide it up the bar about 1/2" to maintain the east-heavy configuration. I'm not sure if it is needed or not, but I was very happy with the guiding on both sides of the meridian last night, particularly because the scope spent so much time pointed near at the zenith.

There are some interesting choices in the new version (1.5.369) of StarTools. I went through one attempt at the Iris using the "linear OSC" option, although I don't recall the exact name. It completely took away the orange mess I normally get with AutoDev but I wasn't completely happy with the end result. I need to take more time to figure out what the option that splits the data into RGB and a synthetic Lum portion does. I am doing a second pass right now selecting the "Linear" option, and have my ugly orange back in play. Will be posting some stuff up later, after Ive had a chance to work through it all. Ivo is sure upping his game with 1.5!

Bob

[Juno16]

Hey Bob,

Yeah, Startools 1.5 is very interesting and very powerful. Good luck with it.

I am stacking the data from last night just to see if I can pull anything interesting out of the garbage. Unfortunately, when I started imaging, M31 was in the city light dome. After a few hours into it, the histogram dropped all of the way down into the first block in APT (underexposed). I shut down and changed exposure settings and restarted about 11:30. So, i only have about 70 minutes of good (bad) data!
Hey, I’m not complaining! Stuff happens and I will work through it.

I did remove the clutch levers. They mount on a square brass block. I changed position 90 degrees so that they will not contact anything. Hopefully, the loosening of both axis contributed to my guiding issues. They weren’t loose, but were looser.

Hope you captured an image that you are happy with Bob.

Thanks,
Jim

[bobharmony]

Thanks, Jim. My first (and only) pass at M31 was the result of 60 minutes of lights. It is a pretty bright object and can handle the shorter amount of integration time.

Nice fix on the levers. Hopefully they were the main contributor to your issues. Now I'm going to have to look at mine, see if they are in a troublesome orientation and whether they need tweaking!

Bob