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Operational Issues | |
- Critical Issues (0),
Major Issues (0),
Minor Issues (13),
Small Defects (1),
Continuous Improvement (17) |
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Images from 2021-09-08 >> [ Local Files >> ] | |
2021-09-15 | |
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All Sky Plate Solver (ASPS) | |
Schedule Builder - Calibration Targets | |
Main aims
Equipment & Software
Highlights
Summary Plots & Logs
Observing Plan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Observing Result |
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Dome & Scope Slewing Performance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Slew/Centering Performance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Guiding Performance |
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Sky Conditions (Locate Frames) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Night Sky Summary Plot Top axis: Sky Brightness at Zenith (in ADU/s) Lefthand axis: Local Time (hh LT). Righthand axis: Sun Altitude (degs) |
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Actual Weather vs Pre-Session Weather Forecast |
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Session Event Log | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Post-Session
Stop Hub Services
2021-09-13 10:02 (Local) appears instead of
Stop Hub Services
2021-09-13 10:02 (Local)
Fixed attempted 2021-09-13 (AstroMain 3.41.11)Back to Top
All Sky Plate Solver (v 1.4.5.11) was downloaded and installed today on the
Development Computer in order to test out its ability to plate solve images that
have proven difficult to plate solve using either CCDSoft/TheSky6 or ASTAP.
After installation of the program the relevant index files were downloaded and installed
via the program's Index Installation wizard. For my telescope (~3000mm), the
wizard installed index files relevant to FOV from 2.0' to 22.0'
[
Note: at the commencement of the installation a messge was shown that Microsoft
Web Expression 4 application had to be closed for the installation, why they
could be sharing the same system file or whatever is unclear ]
1) All Sky Plate Solver
Running the program from its normal window, it was found that plate solving
was fairly slow. There is no way to enter an initial best estimate
of image's RA/Dec position and it is uncertain whether it takes RA/DEC
from the FITS image. If not the latter then it will undoubtedly take a long time
to plate solve.
2) COM object access (asps.dll)
a) Tried to access
PlateSolver from my AstroMain program using
Dim ASPS as
Object
ASPS =
CreateObject("AllSkyPlateSolver.PlateSolver")
but this produced an exception at run time saying that the ActiveX Conponent could not be created.
b) Added AllSkyPlateSolver reference to my AstroMain project and
used the following code
Dim ASPS as
AllSkyPlateSolver.PlateSolver ' this allowed the
PlateSolver's method and properties to be selected after typing ASPS.
ASPS = New AllSkyPlateSolver.PlateSolver
but this produced an exception at run time saying
{"Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {BB5A41D4-511E-4AA6-ACB2-7B1EE7269216} failed due to the following error: 80040154 Class not registered (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040154 (REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG))."}
Examining RegEdit suggest that the PlateSolver is registered, but to be double sure the following command was used to re-register the ASPS.dll
C:\Windows\SysWow64\regsvr32.exe C:\Windows\SysWow64\ASPS.dll"
3) Command Line Access
Using the method of calling the
All SKy Plate solver from command line with arguements works but there seemed to
be some critical issues
Submitting the following as a shell command
"C:\Program Files (x86)\PlateSolver\PlateSolver.exe" /SOLVEFILE
"C:\Data\MyAstroImage.fit" "C:\Data\Result.txt" 3000 20.4 1.39983305555556
12.9458333333333 1.0
based on the format required
PlateSolver.exe /solvefile <FileName> <OutputFile> [<FocalLength>] [<PixelSize>]
[<CurrentRA>] [<CurrentDec>] [<NearRadius>]
Eventually after several minutes produced an output file with the following:
OK
21.0170919267
12.9154788080
17
11
1.40
-0.93
2998
Whilst
a plate solution was achieved (OK), and whilst the returned Declination, Fov
dimensions, plate scale, camera angle and focal length values were close to expected the value
returned for RA (21.017..) is completed off.. It's a very along way from image's
actual RA (1.3998). Its unclear how PlateSolver managed to return such as
incorrect result. Given the NearRadius value of 1.0 (degrees) that was specified,
it is unclear why the PlateSolver would have moved so far from its starting
location.
Conclusion
Given the slow performance seen and the return
of false postive (incorrect) plate solutions it is concliuded that AllSKy Plate
Solver provides me with no benefits above the plate solution methods already
used. Therefore after 5-6 hours working with AllSky Plate Solver it was
decided to give up and uninstall the program. To remove the Index files
(some 30 GB) the 'astrometry' folder in user / appdata folder area had to be
manually deleted.
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A new scheduling initiative is the capability to include a before and/or
after calibration star/starfield for a given target. For example this to
automatically obtain calibration spectra for an offset star for later
calibration of a target's spectra.
This requires the following work (red
& green boxes indicate current status of work)
AstroPlan 1.23 /
Database :
Creation of new project(s) to contain the various calibration
star/starfields that will be added
Spectral
Calibration (program ID=50)
Extension to the target table to include 3 new fields
(AstroPlan 1.22.10)
CollectCalibration (integer), 0
or 1
CalibrationBeforeID (integer) - which relates to a
specific calibration star/starfield
CalibrationAfterID
(integer) - which relates to a specific calibration star/starfield
Extension to TTargetRecord object
CollectCalibration (boolean)
CalibrationBeforeID (integer)
- which relates to a specific calibration star/starfield
CalibrationAfterID (integer)
Addition of checkbox field on target form
CollectCalibration (checkbox)
Addition of new tab on target form which appears or not dependant
on the UseCalibrationFields setting, with new fields
tabCalibration (tab)
txtCalibrationBeforeID (textbox)
txtCalibrationBeforeObjectName (textbox)
txtCalibrationAfterID (textbox)
txtCalibrationAfterObjectName (textbox)
btnSelectCalibrationAfter (button)
btnSelectCalibrationBefore (button)
Other derived fields for
Con, Offsets, Notes etc
Add functionality to allow Select of Calibration Star/Starfield
Functionality for saving/loading target data from database
including new calibration fields
Extension to TTargetRecord object
IsCalibrationField (boolean) (integer or string, before / after)
CalibrationForTargetID (integer) - the target that item relates to
Extension to Plan table (AstroPlan 1.22.11)
ElementType (string) CalA, CalB, MI,
Extension to Observation table ( (AstroPlan 1.22.11)
ElementType (string) CalA, CalB, MI, ToO, ToO-F
Modification to ScheduleBuilder
UseCalibrationFields (boolean)
CalibrationFieldType
(integer or string, before / after)
Inclusion of
Calibration Star/Starfields into plan before/after target as appropriate (new
code)
Maintainance of target & before/after calibrations
as an unsplittable entity (new code)
Extension to Plan Chart
indication of Item type
(calibration / must include)
Extension to Result Chart
Indication of Item type
(Calibration / Must include / ToO , FastReact)
AstroMain :
Extension to TClass object
ElementType
(string) CalA,CalB, MI, ToO, ToO-F
CollectCalibration (boolean)
'
IsCalibrationField (boolean)
' CalibrationType
(integer/enum before/after)
CalibrationForID
(integer) - the ID of the Target that item relates to
Add handling for new field : ElementType.
Retrieve ElementType from Plan
Update
ElememtType with ToO or ToO-F for Targets of Opportunity
Update InsertObservation routine (save ElementType to observation)
Extend Reporting
Calibration
Before/After Items
IsCalibration,
CalibrationType and Name of Target that item relates to.
Other
AstroVOE and AstroSN to use new TTargetRecord with updated
InsertNewTarget (AstroVOE 1.8, AstroSN 1.6)
2021-09-16 19:00 New versions released
AstroMain 3.42, AstroPlan 1.23, AstroVOE 1.8, AstroSN 1.6
Schedule Builder Notes:
- GetActiveTargetSet() only brings back Targets which are Active and from
Projects which are active and set to Use.
(This could be a problem
since Calibrated Targets are generally not active Targets. They only
become active because of their association with a Target require collection of
calibration data. For timing being set the "Spectral Calibration" project to
'Active' and 'Use For Scheduling', but set rank of calibration stars to lowest
rank (4). Calibration stars need to get into TS() array in order for
Airmass Calculations etc to be made. ChooseTarget() routine could be modified so
that targets in "Spectral Calibration" project are specifically excluded
from being choosen as 'primary' targets.)
- TActiveTarget structure needs to be extended to include following extra
fields:
CollectCalibration (boolean)
CalibrationBeforeID (integer)
- which relates to a specific calibration star/starfield
CalibrationAfterID (integer)
and GetActiveTargetSet() needs
to be extended to read this extra fields.
- GetActiveTargetSet() needs to be extended in order to cross-reference the CalibrationBeforeID and CalibrationAfterID with their respective TS array position.
- TObservation structure (element with a plan) needs to be extended to
include
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This Web Page: | Notes - Session 913 (2021-09-08) |
Last Updated : | 2024-09-30 |
Site Owner : | David Richards |
Home Page : | David's Astronomy Web Site |