Rate not fast enough

[Dennis Miller]

I recently set up a new computer and tried my first imaging session last night. PhD 2 could not calibrate because it said it could not move my mount fast enough (to paraphrase), even though the Rate for bot DEC and RA was at 800, the maximum. Could not get beyond that error so no guiding... 

I had entered most of my settings manually so might have missed something. And I have two ASI ZWO cameras - the guiding camera and the main imaging camera - and when I chose camera, the option was just "ASI ZWO camera," but the log was it right - Camera = ZWO ASI290MM Mini. 

Btw, the log says "Windows 10" but I am using Windows 11.

Thanks for any help - clear night tonight, so hope to get back out there.

[Brian Valente]

Hi Dennis

Your EQAscom settings are too slow, which is a common settings error. 

Follow this guide:

https://github.com/OpenPHDGuiding/phd2/wiki/EQASCOM-Settings

Brian

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Brian Valente

astronomy portfolio https://www.astrobin.com/users/bvalente/ 

[Bruce Waddington]

And you need to use the new-profile-wizard to establish your configuration profile.  Doing it by hand is primarily allowed for developers at this point and is quite difficult to do correctly.  In trying to do it, you made a number of pretty critical mistakes. Just use the wizard, take the time to get the answers right, and you will probably get decent results to start with unless your mount has significant problems.

Bruce

[Dennis Miller]

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[Dennis Miller]

Thanks very muc,h Brian. Completed the wizard and now I'm running calibration. How long might that take?  It'd been several minutes already. And should I be tracking while calibrating? Thanks again for your help - very much appreciated.

d.

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[Dennis Miller]

Got it - done it. ;-)  Thanks very much for your help.

d.

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[Dennis Miller]

Follow-up:

The session started out well after I did all of the tweaks recommended here and in the EQMOD setup article - I uploaded the logs last night. I left the site for about an hour after starting up and when I came back, there was an error message saying: Unable to take 1 sec exposure after (x) number of attempts so stopping guiding... or something to that effect. Not clear what caused that, but I restarted guiding and again left until the session ended (a total of three hours). Just starting the integration now and will see how it looks later today.  We (At the veery end of the session, the guide camera was pointing into the trees, so I assume something about that will be reported in the log). Any clues as to why it would stop would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Logs:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/r4wee2gmuaubuy18gtxgp/PHD2_logs_FCGv.zip?rlkey=0qz9811giwhlzgktq3scy18lt&st=aqa0437o&dl=0

[Bruce Waddington]

If you'd like us to evaluate your results, please use the built-in log upload tool described here:

https://openphdguiding.org/getting-help/

Using DropBox is a minor PITA for us.  Also, the alert message you saw is described in the trouble-shooting section of the User Guide:

https://openphdguiding.org/man-dev/Trouble_shooting.htm#Problems-_Camera_Timeouts

Regards,

Bruce

[Dennis Miller]

  Thanks, Bruce. Thought I had uploaded the log last night but here it is

https://openphdguiding.org/logs/dl/PHD2_logs_bwG9.zip

I did a quick integration and it looks like the data is ok - note that at the very end of the session, maybe just the last few frames, the guide camera was pointing at trees...

I would very much appreciate your having a look and letting me know if you find anything I can act on. I will look thru the timeout section again and see what might apply - I've never had this issue in at least 100 sessions. But this is a new computer so I need to check the USB settings discussed in the manual where relevant - I did find a few "USB Hub" entries and disabled the power management option as advised...

Thanks again for the feedback - very much appreciated. 

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[Bruce Waddington]

You didn't include a session with a Guiding Assistant run so that's some missing information.  It looks to me like the Dec response isn't great, a common problem with these mounts.  I see that you used the Calibration Assistant but you didn't let it slew to an ideal location.  If you have sky obstructions, you can customize the location where the CA will slew.  Letting it do the slews is a generally good idea because it helps to clear Dec backlash.  If you run the GA, you can get more information on the Dec response - I suspect you've got some stiction on that axis.  Be sure your payload is well-balanced in Dec before you do that. I also suggest that you try using PPEC for the RA guiding.  You set that up in the 'Algorithms' tab of Advanced Settings.  Set the period length to 480 sec and disable the 'auto-adjust' function.  You can also disable the 'star mass detection' on the 'Guiding' tab of Advanced Settings, you shouldn't need that. If you're sure that your guide camera is well-focused, you should change the Min-HFD value to something that is representative of the faintest guide stars you can use.  The default value of 1.5 is too low for your system and might cause problems when you encounter sub-par sky conditions.  Getting a critical focus on the guide camera is important and needs to be done using some quantitative measure of focus such as the real-time HFD values shown in the Star Profile tool.

Regards,

Bruce

[Dennis Miller]

Thanks again, Brian.  Had an interesting session last night with SNR all over the place but no disconnects or times out. Can you take a look at this log and see if you find areas to improve? I did not do a new calibration last night because I could not move the scope <20 DEC without aiming at some trees.   Also, the mount ended up in a different position from where it started (i.e., the position I had set in SGPs frame and focus, confirmed by the values in EQMOD's UI)  but I don;t know if this is within an acceptable threshold. Unfortunately,  the final integrated inage missed the target I had set up completely, so I need to determine why the mount was so far off when it finsihed. 

Astrometry.net reports that my final  image is at 

Center (RA, Dec):	(323.855, 31.303)
Center (RA, hms):	21h 35m 25.230s
Center (Dec, dms):	+31° 18' 11.599"

but I started the session using the coordinates from Telescopius (EQMOD also showed those at the start)

20hr 45' 38"

30º 42' 30"

When the session ended, however, EQMOD reported that I was at

20:47:42

+30:57:30

so I don;t know how that drift between the start and end values, nor the location offset in the actual final image could occur, but they definitely impacted the resulting image and must indicate some serious problem. 

Love to know what you think.

Thanks very much,

Dennis

https://openphdguiding.org/logs/dl/PHD2_logs_3r3U.zip

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[mj.w...@gmail.com]

JNOW coordinates in one app, J2000 coordinates the another ?

Michael

Wiltshire UK

[Dennis Miller]

Thanks, MJ. I’ll check the settings, but I think they are both the same. Good suggestion. Dennis.

On Oct 24, 2024, at 3:59 AM, mj.w...@gmail.com <mj.w...@gmail.com> wrote:

JNOW coordinates in one app, J2000 coordinates the another ?

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[Dennis Miller]

Brian/Bruce - Wonder if you could look at this log and see what you find. I am getting a lot of drift in my mount during a session  - the difference between where it starts and where it ends - and I can't determine what else might be moving the mount during sequencing. What I note while imaging is that the SnR is very high at the start, often >200, and falls quite a bit near the end {this was a 4+ hour session}.  There may be some environmental factors, though, as I always end up pointing into trees when my sessions end. I will usually stop within a few frames of that happening, though. The A and Dec guide commands also seem to be very respectable, at least at the start.

Very curious how this looks, especially if there is anything that might indicate some unexpected movement of the mount. I can't tell from the log viewer, but doesn;t look like the drift is bad as reported there..

Thanks for any assistance.

https://openphdguiding.org/logs/dl/PHD2_logs_bMRA.zip

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[Brian Valente]

Hi Dennis

I will look at it today and provide some feedback

In general it's always better when doing diagnostics if you include a calibration run and a GA run of at least 2-3 worm cycles. Bruce mentioned this before, and here we are again. So please consider adding these if you'd like feedback in the future.

i have a couple questions:

How are you measuring the drift you are concerned about?

Can you summarize your imaging session: It looks like you are pointing east, imaging continuously across the meridian for a couple of hours?

Can you describe your imaging setup including the guiding setup? a few pics from different angles helps as well

 

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[Dennis Miller]

Thanks, Brian. Not sure what happened to the email with pix of the setup,  et al. But the good news is that I had a successful session last night and was hoping you could have a quick peek at the log. I did not calibrate before the session even though I was pointing at a new target. If you see any areas to improve, could you let me know? Otherwise. might be in good shape. And around 10 pm we were in the trees, so you can disregard that.

Thanks much for your help.

DM

https://openphdguiding.org/logs/dl/PHD2_logs_f3Jv.zip
 

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[Brian Valente]

i'd say overall it looks pretty good. there are some hiccups in a couple places but they are isolated

At this point, you should be good to go for imaging

I would increase your prediction gain to 70 for RA PPEC algorithm

There is something going on in your RA at 120 seconds, it is persistent and may be something in your spur gears or belt. You can work on that but enjoy some imaging in the meantime

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[Dennis Miller]

Thanks very much, Brian. I'll see if I can track down the RA issue, but I'm not sure it's having a big impact on the guiding... And did you mean the Predictive Weight parameter (" increase your prediction gain to 70 for RA PPEC algorithm")? Just want to confirm..

 Thanks again for your help.

d.

[Brian Valente]

>>> did you mean the Predictive Weight parameter (" increase your prediction gain to 70 for RA PPEC algorithm")

yes, see below

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[CaLIGHTs DSO Image Calibration Tool]

I took a look at the logs provided in this post and have the following comments...

2024-10-22_120301
-The RA and DEC guiding are very spikey.
-The Scatter plot available on the PHD2 Log Viewer indicates quantization effects  
 with the centroid calculation. This quantization causes these guiding spikes.
-This quantization issue re-appears in other logs you provided.
-Even though a full list of secondary stars were available...none of them were used for the entire 4hr session. The multistar code declared all of them Lost. Error messages were generated for every secondary star of every exposure. Here is a excerpt;
19:49:59.509 00.001 24852 Error thrown from C:\cygwin\home\Andy\projects\phd2-build-20240714-002513\star.cpp:162->coordinates are invalid.
-Neither the Primary, or any of the Secondary stars, had peak values higher than 32,000 so star saturation does not seem to be an issue.

2024-10-23_111535
-The same quantization effects generated hundreds of guiding spikes.
-At 20:09:03 there was a huge RA transient where PHD2 had to move this axis by approx. 25 arc-seconds. Most significantly is that PHD2 did not have to move this axis back to carry on guiding. It's as if something in the drivetrain slipped.
-Once again there was a full list of secondary star and none of them were used. All of the secondary stars were declared Lost.
-Neither the Primary, or any of the Secondary stars, had peak values higher than 23,000.

2024-10-27_133341
-The same quantization effects generated hundreds of guiding spikes.
-Once again there was a full list of secondary star and none of them were used. All of the secondary stars were declared Lost.
-The Primary and 2 of the Secondary stars were saturated at 65,535.

Peter

[Dennis Miller]

Peter - thanks indeed for the super deep dive into the log. I must confess I am not familiar with the majority of these "symptoms," what impact they have on guiding, and most importantly, how to correct them or if that is even necessary. I was pretty happy with the integrated image I got from that session, even though it's pretty tricky to pull out the good stuff (Crescent), but am eager to improve my guiding wherever possible. So if you have any specific suggestions for any of the issues you've noted, could you let me know?

Thanks for having a look in any event.

-d.

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[bw_m...@earthlink.net]

I don’t think we need to get into any arcane areas here to understand why you ran into some problems.  It has nothing to do with multi-star guiding nor does the guiding exhibit any “quantization” effects that I can see.  I will get back to you tomorrow with a more straightforward explanation of what’s going on and what you can look into to mitigate the problems.

 

Regard,

Bruce

yes, see below

 

On Tue, Oct 29, 2024 at 1:49 PM Dennis Miller <dha...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks very much, Brian. I'll see if I can track down the RA issue, but I'm not sure it's having a big impact on the guiding... And did you mean the Predictive Weight parameter (" increase your prediction gain to 70 for RA PPEC algorithm")? Just want to confirm..

 Thanks again for your help.

d.

On Monday, October 28, 2024 at 8:19:30 PM UTC-4 bval...@gmail.com wrote:

i'd say overall it looks pretty good. there are some hiccups in a couple places but they are isolated

 

At this point, you should be good to go for imaging

 

I would increase your prediction gain to 70 for RA PPEC algorithm

 

There is something going on in your RA at 120 seconds, it is persistent and may be something in your spur gears or belt. You can work on that but enjoy some imaging in the meantime

 

 

On Mon, Oct 28, 2024 at 4:27 PM Dennis Miller <dha...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Dennis Miller]

Thanks, Bruce. Very much appreciated.

.d

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/007801db2a86%247a479f20%246ed6dd60%24%40earthlink.net.

[Bruce Waddington]

Looking back through the history of this conversation, it seems to me like there have been questions that have gone unanswered.  In particular, Brian asked for a photo and description of your setup, but AFAICT we never got that.  I think we need to see it because this most recent log suggests there are some problems that need to be solved with your setup.  I assume that you're running with a separate guide scope, is that correct?  

If we look at the very start of the 4hr guiding session on 10/27, it's clear there's something on the payload that's causing instability:



Why did the primary guide star suddenly plunge 20 arc-sec to the east?  This is very unlikely to be caused by the mount, I think it's more likely that something is shifting around in the guiding assembly or you have a significant cable routing problem.  This is one reason we need to see the pictures.  Cable problems often show up when pointing near the zenith which is where you were.  We see the same kind of thing later in the session with Dec (Dec in green):

Remember that the Dec motor was idle when this large guide star excursion started.

The next topic of interest is the pattern of RA corrections that show a nearly-continuous stream of east guide pulses:

This is fairly unusual because the imaging payload was presumably on the east side of the pier - unless you are using a Newtonian scope.  Are you?  That's another important piece of information we need to help you with this kind of problem.  By the way, a constant stream of corrections in one direction can eventually create the sort of apparent drift or pointing error you were talking about earlier.  We can do a back of the envelope calculation as an example.  If PHD2 issues an east guide pulse of 100ms every 4 seconds - roughly your situation - and this continues for 4 hours, the total sum of guide corrections multiplied by your guide speed of 0.66 x sidereal gives us the total amount of movement: 0.7 degrees!  If your final pointing position was off by such a large amount, it tells us that the guide commands aren't really correcting for tracking error in the mount but for something else - flexure, cable pulling, etc.  I think your problems lie in those areas.  There isn't any "quantization" here, what we're seeing is simply a consequence of the min-move value for RA.  You get a zero correction if the tracking error is less than min-move and a non-zero (but varying magnitude) correction otherwise.

The previous post pointed out that you were effectively running with single-star guiding, which is true. However, this has nothing to do with the problems we're talking about here, which are more basic.  When there are large excursions, multi-star guiding is suspended in any case.  I haven't looked at the details yet but the multi-star guide list never recovered from the horrible performance at the start of your session.  I notice that you weren't using a session manager app in this log, so presumably you were sitting there watching.  The PHD2 display would have shown that none of the secondary star locations were being used starting immediately after the huge tracking errors.  The simple remedy would have been to repeat the auto-find operation once things looked reasonably stable.  As it was, you never did another auto-find for the whole session.  Most session manager apps do this for you as part of recovering from large tracking errors.  That said, I don't know why the secondary star locations didn't recover correctly, something I will probably look into.

Hope this helps,

Bruce

[Dennis Miller]

Hi, Bruce. Sorry - I had sent the pics but apparently they did not go through. Here they are again. 

I have an ASI 290mm mini for my guide camera.

My normal workflow is to set up my image sequence in SGP using the Frame and Focus tool (I either provide it with a URL of an intended target or the RA and DEC coordinates, which I get from Telescopius), wait for my intended target to cross the meridian, run a slew and center  via a plate solve, start PhD2/ looping, then multistar selection, then start guiding and wait for the first few values to show up in the data area, where I insure that the SNR is good - it is often >100 and recently >200. I also insure that the correction seems reasonable. Then I begin the sequence, wait for the first few frames to be downloaded, (with auto stretch I can usually see that i am pointing at the target) then leave the area. I return every hour to see if guiding is still looking good and also check the SGP UI. I try to be outside at the end of the session (when the scope points into the trees), which can be anywhere between 3 and 4 hours, depending on the elevation of the target...

Regarding the cables, I am very careful when I set up each night - the scope is permanently mounted on a stable platform, but I bring out my computer and all cabling/power for each session on a cart. I am very cable not to cross cables that are on moving components - the mount EQDIR and power, focuser cables, camera and guide scope power and USB), with those that do not move with the mount - Pegasus Powebox, etc..., and when the mount slews for the first time from N (home position) to S (target location), I also manually move a few cables as they move across an extruding component of the mount. (I think it's called a jackscrew). I think I'm pretty careful overall, but the cables themselves or the connection at their respective (input) ports might be an issue, or maybe some fraying... I can check.

I developed this workflow pretty much on my own - only been imaging for a few years (minus the past year, in which I did none at all), so there certainly is room for improvement. Very curious if you have some thoughts  or see something glaring or if there's anything you want me to test or try. And I saw somewhere in some PhD docs or tutorial that I should calibrate prior to every session in which there is a new target.. Curious about that as well.

Let me know what you think, and eternally grateful for taking the support this far. Very much appreciated.

.d

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[Brian Valente]

Hi Dennis

Two things that immediately jump out to me:

First, the rings that hold the guidescope - this ring-and-screw combo is notoriously unstable and could easily explain these excursions. Regardless of how tight you may make them, they are still prone to shifting

Second, I'm not sure what the visual finderscope is doing there, but i would remove it if you aren't using it.

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[Dennis Miller]

Thanks, Brian. I'll check with the dealer about how to better secure the guidescope - good tip there {if you know of a good product, let me know)

And the finder scope can probably disappear - haven't used it in years.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Dennis

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[Bruce Waddington]

In addition to Brian's points, all the dangling cables are pretty much a disaster.  Even the modest weight of a dangling cable connected to the guide camera can create a problem.  In your case, movement of as little as 30 microns - about 1/2 the thickness of a human hair - will create a 10 arc-sec apparent excursion.  You should employ a cable routing system that eliminates all these hanging cables - there is plenty of discussion about that on various astronomy forums. 

Returning to my earlier comments, you also need to insure that no part of the payload can "rock" in RA when the scope is pointed near the meridian.  And obviously, you can't ever step on that wooden platform at any time during the imaging session.

Bruce

[CaLIGHTs DSO Image Calibration Tool]

Bruce and Dennis,

I meant to include the attached image to indicate where I am seeing the quantization in the PHD2 Log Viewer. The "Scatter plot" I mentioned is the scatter graph of the yellow dots at the top-right of the guiding graph represents every guiding error (RA and DEC) from the selected log section. I believe the X and Y axis correspond to RA and DEC.  PHD2 Guiding also has a "Target" view which is similar. You will need to set the history length to 400 to "maybe" see if this quantization is happening while you are guiding. I say "maybe" because the PHD2 Log Viewer scatter graph has access to lots more data because it uses all the values from a log section. Your 4h36m48s log section from Oct 23rd has 4,512 values. A typical scatter graph will look like a yellow circle with no black voids as seen in the attached image.

Peter

[Bruce Waddington]

I don't know how the scatter plot in LogViewer is actually constructed, that's a question for Andy.  I never use it and I'm confident it doesn't tell us anything we can't see from the graph.  What I was trying to say before is that the third graph I showed, the one with the extended series of RA corrections in the same direction, is probably what's reflected in the scatter plot.  It is an unusual error pattern so it would probably result in an equally unusual scatter plot.  I would describe it as a bi-modal distribution rather than a quantization pattern because there isn't any quantization occurring in the underlying data which is all floating point.

Bruce

[Bobby]

I would move the scope off that platform on to the cold, cold, ground.  Dig three small holes for the tripod about an inch or two deep and spend a few minutes with a mallet to get those feet firmly in the ground.  Yes, your tripod will get dirty and eventually rust (like all of mine), but soil, while it does move, moves very slowly.  And you don't have to tip toe around it.

Bobby

[CaLIGHTs DSO Image Calibration Tool]

It would be great if Andy were to confirm what data is used to generate the scatter graph and maybe add some scales. I think the guide camera is somehow suspect...maybe an electrical grounding issue or a weak/ noisy power supply...maybe a suspect USB port. I didn't see how the mount, cameras or the computer are powered in the photos. We know that the computer is new. Have you ever seen this bi-modal distribution issue before?

Peter

P.S. I use small patio stones as the base for my tripod. Take the time to make sure the patio stones are installed firmly and then try to avoid stepping on them.

[Dennis Miller]

Thanks for the suggestion. But that platform is supported by four pylons that are encased in about 4 ft.³ of concrete and suffice it to say that it is rock steady. I’ve used a level to check it every couple of months since it was installed and it has not moved a fraction. So I’m not concerned so much about the stability of that support. Not only that but my PA has also remained steady… Just don’t think that that’s part of the problem. But thanks for the suggestion. 

On Oct 31, 2024, at 10:34 AM, Bobby <bobe...@equusbicycle.com> wrote:



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[Dennis Miller]

Can’t offer any input on your first point, but I commented elsewhere about the stability of the platform the tripod sits on. Thanks for the suggestion though.

On Oct 31, 2024, at 12:10 PM, CaLIGHTs DSO Image Calibration Tool <wols...@gmail.com> wrote:

It would be great if Andy were to confirm what data is used to generate the scatter graph and maybe add some scales. I think the guide camera is somehow suspect...maybe an electrical grounding issue or a weak/ noisy power supply...maybe a suspect USB port. I didn't see how the mount, cameras or the computer are powered in the photos. We know that the computer is new. Have you ever seen this bi-modal distribution issue before?

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[Brian Valente]

My read is that it's a lot less nefarious than what's suggested

the scale on the scattergraph correlates to the scale on the left side of the guide plot. The outer dimension of the scatter equals the max (see 1 below). if you drag your mouse up and down on the plot, you will see the scatter plot also change in scale.

west (i.e., 'up' on the plot) is to the left on the scatter plot.

the "quantization" is really the error of the RA axis flopping between a few points of significant error, i've tried to outlined them below. (I am guessing on the green boxes: it may be the resulting 

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[Bobby]

I would encourage you to try my suggestion.  It is very easy to fall into the "that's not the problem" trap.  I have done it way too many times.  "That cable is fine"  "Everything is tight"  "My cables are dressed"  Sometimes it is better to go all the way back to zero and start to rebuild rather than spend weeks looking for a ghost.  At the very least, you would be able to see if your platform design might even be an improvement over using soil.

Bobby

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Bobby Sapovits
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[Dennis Miller]

Thanks, Bobby., I appreciate the suggestion. I'm gonna start with the software and cabling side and see where that goes. The irony here is that my final integrated (though unprocessed) images are not horrible, at least to my eye (could be wrong, of course). Gotta spend a heap of time seeing what I can pull out of this, but I'm not sure the out of camera stretched image could be a whole lot better for under 4 hours of data (threw out about 80 of the frames from the session under discussion - scope landed in the trees.) Thanks again.

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[Rick Cohen]

It would be helpful to all if it was stated why the soil support of the tripod is superior to the wood platform as OP has described.  I'm sure he knows enough not to walk on the platform while imaging.  Although, I'm pretty sure I've seen it suggested in this forum that one shouldn't walk anywhere close to the tripod even when it's resting on grass or soil.

I suppose that the wood of the platform might be subject to expansion/contraction in response to changing temperature/humidity throughout the course of an imaging session.

[Dennis Miller]

Just a quick follow-up... I'm going to act on several suggestions offered here - cabling issues, mount rings for the guide scope, et al - thanks very much for those. Curious if anyone had a chance to view  the image of the Crescent I posted and if it shows any other serious defects/issues/concerns that would suggest/imply any other immediate remedial action. 

Thanks for any follow up.

.d

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[Dennis Miller]

Thanks for the note. Rick. We live in a semi-rural area with farms on several sides, including uphill from our place. We get some of their runoff and coupled with a high water table, the ground is wet and mushy many months of the year (excluding the current drought). No one in the local astro club with whom I spoke when setting up the rig suggested I put the scope on the ground with any type of support/stabilization, so that was really not an option, but I do get your point.

.d

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[Brian Valente]

Dennis regarding the image, it would be more informative if you posted a link to a full resolution raw fits file

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[CaLIGHTs DSO Image Calibration Tool]

Dennis,

I did a little experimenting and I think I found why you were never able to get multistar guiding to work properly. If you click on the PHD2 brain and then click on the Camera tab you will find, at the bottom of the window a checkbox called "Use Subframes". This needs to be NOT checked for multistar guiding to function correctly. I proved this using the PHD2 Simulator. It has nothing to do with the bi-modal distribution issue.

Peter

[Dennis Miller]

Thanks, Brian. I uploaded unstretched 32-bit integer and float files plus one stretched version of Sh 2-134 (last night's session) here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/jft0qpzp4ksmph2s7zb2s/AMl4uX8oXdp86GOKyrHKw0A?rlkey=ezwuh3oa5xg0ptpkn9bk14a3c&st=h86k07tm&dl=0

Hope those download for you.

I also uploaded a link to the log files for last night's session here:

https://openphdguiding.org/logs/dl/PHD2_logs_HU7e.zip

The night was split into a c. 2 hour session followed by a 1.5 hour session of the same target (with a couple of starts and stops...).  And as usual, the scope pointed into the trees at the very end of the night.

Before starting, I did a PA using Nina, which, when finished, reported I was well under 1 arc minute of error. When I checked in PhD, it said I was under 4 minutes... I also did a thorough cabling check and secured the USB cable to the guide camera using tape to avoid any possible movement.

I also did both a guiding assistant and calibration run before I started guiding.

Very curious how you would rate the guiding thru the evening and if/where you see issues, how any issues impact the final integrated image.

Thanks very much for any and all assistance. I think there has been a good amount of improvement, yet always eager to fine tune where needed.

.d

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[Brian Valente]

These look like integrated masters?

I was asking for just one single uncalibrated raw fits file, straight from the camera

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[Dennis Miller]

 Lightsh2-1340090S1x1F0045.fit

K - this should do it.

Thanks.

d.

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[Brian Valente]

close? 

This is very out of focus.

I'm looking for a regular light integration sub that you used to combine into your master, just one that is in focus, and a typical snap

What telescope is this?

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[Dennis Miller]

 Lightsh2-1340090S1x1F0102.fit

Ya, that was junk - sorry. I had to refocus during the session. This one should be better .

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[Brian Valente]

Generally it looks fine. Reasonable FWHM and eccentricity is pretty good

From your oof image, not sure what is your scope (and you didn't reply) but looks like either backfocus or collimation could be improved

Tracking wise it looks fine

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[Dennis Miller]

Sorry - imaging scope is a Skywatcher Esprit 100 ED.

(Guidescope is an ASI 290mm mini).

Good to know - the calibration and guiding assistant routines seemed to be happy. I wasn't sure what to infer from the spikes, but I'll move on at this point. Going to check the focus on the guidescope again though.

<<REALLY>> appreciate your help.

d.

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[Brian Valente]

so in which case probably the backfocus is off just a hair, but i would be happy with those results

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[CaLIGHTs DSO Image Calibration Tool]

Dennis,

I took a look at your guiding from Nov 2nd. The bi-modal distribution guiding issue seems to be gone now. Do you have any ideas what might have corrected this issue. Did you get a chance to turn off the "use subframes" checkbox?. Multistar guiding is still not working correctly. I think your guiding is very much improved.

Peter

[Bruce Waddington]

I need to clean up the multi-star behavior when the user has chosen sub-frames even though the multi-star option is also set.  Guiding works correctly on the primary (only) star, but it creates something of a mess in the debug log file with confusing error messages.  I will try to take care of that for the next dev release. 

Cheers,

Bruce

[Dennis Miller]

Hi, Peter. Thanks for the followup. Prior to the session for which you saw the most recent log, I did a PA, guiding and calibration assistants, so perhaps something from those is responsible. And I had forgotten to turn off "use subframes" prior to that session, so will try that on the next clear night. And yess, guiding seems much improved. ;-)

Thanks again for your help.

.d

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[Dennis Miller]

I think someone in this thread recommended I use subframes... But would multistar be a priority if it is only one or the other?

Thanks.

D.

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[Brian Valente]

You should use multi-star unless you have a specific reason not to

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[Dennis Miller]

Thanks, Brian 

No reason not to that I could think of.

.d

On Nov 4, 2024, at 11:17 AM, Brian Valente <bval...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[CaLIGHTs DSO Image Calibration Tool]

Bruce has already replied here that he will make a change to PHD2 that will address this "use subframes" issue.

[Dennis Miller]

Yup - got it. Thanks.

.d

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