New PHD log analyzer

[johnw3d (John)]

Hi all. I recently released a beta version of a new freeware analyzer for PHD logs and thought I'd post a note mentioning it here. Not sure if this is the best topic-area for such a post, perhaps someone can point me at the right place, if not here.

Among other things, it lets you graph and analyze individual guiding sessions, can display values in arcsecs or imaging pixels if you enter guider and imager specs, has a realtime mode that follows an active guiding session, has a couple of drift-analyzing modes that attempt to estimate polar-alignment error and field-rotation, and includes a guiding calculator that lets you do what-ifs on exposure time, drift, polar-alignment error, field rotation, and so on.

It handles PHD v1.13 and v1.14 formatted logs, there are versions for both Mac and Windows, and it's free. The latest version can read MaximDL guide logs and has a new "guidebox" graph that helps tune PHD parameters.

You can read more about it and download it here - http://www.countingoldphotons.com/phdlab .

All bug reports and feedback welcome.

Enjoy,
John

[BlackWidow (Mardy)]

I will download and give this a try. Looks very good. Thank you for offering your work to others.


Regards
Martin

[g__day (Matthew)]

Missed this thread oops!

John it would be very useful if PHD Analyser could:

1. Review calibration data and make suggestions for DEC backlash settings (i.e. if the guide star doesn't end calibration near where it started I'd guess the telescope's hand controller should have better DEC backlash settings and this might actually improve alignment, tracking and guiding (regardless of Dr Stark's initial thoughts - I don't know whether he allowed for mounts that attempt to correct for polar misalignment and altitude based refraction in his thinking)

2. Try and break polar misalignment into both Alt and Az components (provided one enters the targets RA and DEC accurately) - always wishes PHD queried via ASCOM the mount and recorded where it was pointing when it recorded the log data.

3. Makes any recommendations on whether one is chasing the seeing. For instance my main OTA is viewing 0.44 arc second per pixel - whilst my local seeing is only good for 3-4 arc seconds per pixel. To compensate for this focal length I use:

1. longer times between star captures say 3- 4 seconds,
2. require greater drift before a pulse guide is issued,
3. resist switching
4. reduce aggressiveness and raise hysteresis
5. bin the guide chip 3*3 to have fatter pixels reflecting a larger centroid for guide objects to play with

It would be terrific if PHD Analyser could make suggestions on how to better set up my rig and guide parameters. I see that I have some strange DEC recurring patterns going - will investigate this, but I also see my RA tracking is fairly brilliant +/- 0.3 arc seconds - which seems phenomenal! Now if I can just get DEC as good things will be sublime!

Cheers,

Matthew

[coldlegs (Stephen)]

John

Could you please tell me which of the following "python" files need
to be downloaded for you software to run on an XP 32bit computer?

XZ compressed source tar ball (2.7.5) (sig)
Gzipped source tar ball (2.7.5) (sig)
Bzipped source tar ball (2.7.5) (sig)
Windows x86 MSI Installer (2.7.5) (sig)
Windows x86 MSI program database (2.7.5) (sig)
Windows X86-64 MSI Installer (2.7.5) [1] (sig)
Windows X86-64 program database (2.7.5) [1] (sig)
Mac OS X 64-bit/32-bit x86-64/i386 Installer (2.7.5) for Mac OS X 10.6
and later [2] (sig). [You may need an updated Tcl/Tk
install to run IDLE or use Tkinter, see note 2 for instructions.]
Mac OS X 32-bit i386/PPC Installer (2.7.5) for Mac OS X 10.3 and later [2] (sig).

I'm guessing it's at least one of the X86 MSI files.

Cheers
Stephen

[g__day (Matthew)]

John

Expect it would be
Windows x86 MSI Installer (2.7.5) (sig) and / or
Windows x86 MSI program database (2.7.5) (sig)

Anything with 64 in it is for a 64 bit version of software (and very few folks I hazard would have Windows XP 64 bit, besides me that is )

[John K]

Just a question on this - I have installed the program, but when I open my log, I get no graphs or data, yet there is plenty of data on the log as such.

Am I missing something here?

John K.