Maxim DL pro + Starry nights 6 proplus

[bmitchell82]

with the above programs i am under the idea that i can plate solve with them. Is there anybody about that does this?

[jase]

Not sure about the combo you mention Brendan. TheSky and CCDSoft will do it. MaximDL requires Pinpoint for plate solving operations.

[bmitchell82]

mm i was looking at that, and the pro version runs Pinpoint LE. what i am unsure of is how to get starry nights to read the data put into the FIT header

[jase]

Pinpoint LE will plate solve with limited functionality. I think I understand what you're trying to achieve. When you take an image, you want to plate solve it to determine true center, the have that value reflected in Starry Night...right?

What you need is a ASCOM hub so that both MaximDL and StarryNight will connect too. Have you tried POTH?

[bmitchell82]

what is POTH sorry still learning :) and what is the Ascom hub?

From my readings if you start in starry nights you hit capture image which passes control to maxim to take the image, once you have taken the image you proform a pinpoint LE astrometry reduction which finds where the picture lays around a cirtain point once this is done it writes the information into the fits header and when you go back to starry nights it suggests that it reads the data saying where the telescope is truely pointing with regards to the camera and image. is there a easy and cheap way of doing what i want to do? remembering i am a uni student that earns >200 a week :D

[White Rabbit]

Well, for a weeks wage then, $200 have a look at max point, it's about the 200 mark. I was looking at it a while ago and it looks quite good. I was told though that Tpoint is much better, but is only compatable with The sky. I even emailed the developer of Tpoint to see if there was a stand a lone version but it costs a bomb. Most pro observatoris use Tpoint btw.

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/astro/resources/manuals/TPoint.pdf
http://www.cyanogen.com/point_main.php

Here is the thread that I started a while ago about it.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=51749

I hope this is what your talking about.

[Terry B]

Elbrus plate solves for free
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/StarLocatorElbrus/?yguid=333414068
You just need to be able to tell the program where the scope is pointing. If you use ASCOM then Elbrus will pick up that data. There are other ways as well but I would have to check at home.

[bmitchell82]

... my spare money = about 20 bucks so it would be more like 3-4 months possibly more :) and ide have to know that the program will be 100% what im looking for and test it before i buy it. Im not the sucker who goes and drops $$$ on software to find that it is absolutely useless. :)

Im positive that Maxim does what i need to do i just need to sort out exactly how to do it.

Oh and i now know what your talking about for the POTH. :) i utilize it already hahaha. EQMod Starry nights and PHD both go to the EQMod program that is connected to the telescope! so i can utilze maxim with eqmod to pull the data needed for the fits.

[OzRob]

You can get Max Point on a 30 day trial.

http://www.cyanogen.com/point_dl.php

[bmitchell82]

Thanks for that, i have just "applied" for the trial. lets see how we go :)

[jase]

I used MaxPoint a while ago. It will do what you've asked, given it acts as an ASCOM hub. Ultimately, the responses in this thread have answered your original question. MaximDL coupled with StarryNight will not meet your plate solving requirement without supplemental software.

[bmitchell82]

alrighty then, i have finally got everything i need to do my plate solving. how long should it take to run a plate solve, im hoping not as long as its presently taking other wise its quite pointless.! :) i might just need to optimize my settings but when you don't know whats good.!

[jase]

The length of time it takes to plate solve will depend on how many stars your attempting to match. With a wide field instrument it is easy to clock up ten of thousands of stars in the frame, you don't need to solve them all to obtain excellent pointing accuracy! How many you chose to attempt to resolve comes back to performance of the solving process and the engine you're using to perform the task.

Below is a snapshot to give you an indication of timings, ~9 seconds to match 388 stars. This is with FSQ/STL11k, so wide field...

11:09:13 Image finished
11:09:16 Plate-solve final image
11:09:22 44171 image stars found
11:09:23 4877 catalog stars found
11:09:25 Solved! 388 stars matched.
11:09:25 Average residual is 0.66 arcsec.

If you're finding the processing is taking too long, try adjusting the pointing exposure time. Shorter will deliver less stars to solve, longer the opposite. You can also alter the star matching magnitudes - so you only match stars within a magnitude range. No point trying to match mag 19 stars if your instrument will not go that deep in a 10 second pointing exposure. If possible, binning the camera can assist.

[TheDecepticon]

Brendan, have a look at Elbrus if you want. It can be a bit of a pain to download and set up, but it is all freeware and works very well. Ooops, I see it is recommended already:rolleyes:

[White Rabbit]

Let us know how you go with max point because I'm really interested in it myself.

[bmitchell82]

I have to learn how to use Maxim first :) wow its a big old program with lots and lots and lots and lots of buttons! im used to my good old PHD and Nebulosity! easy to use :) PHD style! ill get to max point soon

[White Rabbit]

I thought max point was stand alone??