Question: how do you align charts with photos?

[bojan]

So far I have been doing this manually, and obviously not very accurately ...
Is there some simple to use application that will do the job?
I have heard of PinPoint Astrometry engine (downloaded, but not tried yet, it is free to try license after that you have to pay for it) but it may be the overkill for a relatively simple task.....

[avandonk]

Bojan I use RegiStar and it works very well. If it does get stuck I make two maps one with and one without the nebula etc outlines that can confuse things. Here is a high res example of a Scutum wide field.

It could be overkill for what you want. If you want some done send me the images by email.

270k
http://users.bigpond.net.au/avandonk/MAP.jpg

Bert

[rogerg]

CCDSoft + TheSky is what I use these days, does it automatically. But before getting that working I used to use photoshop manually to do it, and Astrometrica.

Astrometrica will overlay stars (and minor planets etc) but I don't think galaxies etc. And it's a steep learning curve I found. But once understood it's good for matching up stars.

[higginsdj]

I think the only issue with Astrometrica is setup - setting the config to work with your images. After you have that correct then everything happens with the push of a button.

[bojan]

Guys, thank you all for the suggestions, I will try all of them:-)
Bert, thank you for your kind offer, but at the moment there is nothing urgent, and would like to have more permanent solution for this issue :-)

[rogerg]

Agreed, from what I've used it. It was certainly the setup when I had to learn lots about pixel size, rotation, flipping, saturation level, etc etc :)