adman
09-09-2011, 12:00 PM
Thought I would use the moon-y night again to try out some new software. I have just got plate solving working with MaxIm Dl and Pinpoint, and while reading about these came across PoleAlignMax which is a neat (and free) program to help with polar alignment using plate solving.
It promptly clouded over despite being a crystal clear afternoon, but in the end it didn't matter becasue I ran in to a few snags:
1. When opening PoleAlignMax, the log window said "Cannot find Maxim CCD window" or something similar, and "Cannot connect to camera"
2. It will only connect to the ASCOM telescope simulator - and if I try to change it to Gemini ASCOM, it is not even in the list - despite being able to connect to it in MaxIm DL
I also understand that there are some issues with PoleAlignMax in that it has issues translating between J2000 and JNow coordinates. There is a checkbox setting in Gemini ASCOM that says something like "Gemini expects J2000" - should I check this or not.
All suggestions gratefully received
Adam
It promptly clouded over despite being a crystal clear afternoon, but in the end it didn't matter becasue I ran in to a few snags:
1. When opening PoleAlignMax, the log window said "Cannot find Maxim CCD window" or something similar, and "Cannot connect to camera"
2. It will only connect to the ASCOM telescope simulator - and if I try to change it to Gemini ASCOM, it is not even in the list - despite being able to connect to it in MaxIm DL
I also understand that there are some issues with PoleAlignMax in that it has issues translating between J2000 and JNow coordinates. There is a checkbox setting in Gemini ASCOM that says something like "Gemini expects J2000" - should I check this or not.
All suggestions gratefully received
Adam