Mosaic Planning

[johnb]

Hi

Need some pointers for Mosiac planning please, I have seen some programmes that assist but they do not seem cheap, is there any way I can somehow overlay a frame onto a star chart to see how much I can capture and then overlay a few more to understand how many frames I will need etc - I guess its all about which charts to use and then a matter of scale etc

Pointers appreciated

John B

[Dann]

There is a little free programme that does a similar thing. 'iMerge' allows you to pull your frames you take onto a canvas. From there you can movethem around and make sure you have an overlap etc.

You cant overlay on a star map but it might be of some use.

[johnb]

thanks that does help but ideally i want to work out somehow how many frames i will need to take to cover an area - does that make sense ?

John B

[mark7331]

John I'm just about to do some mosaics and I'm planning on using EQMosaic. I have an EQDIR for my EQ6 and EQASCOM/EQMosaic are free. The EQDIR will set you back about £45 from FLO but it gives you complete control. You tell the software the size of your chip and it allows you to plan how you'll pan around then actually moves the mount accordingly when you tell it. I use it in conjunction with Cartes Du Ciel star maps program.

Just an idea.

Mark

[johnb]

Thanks for that I did download the EQ stuff this moring but it does not do much unless I connect it. my kit is at the observing site and not at home, can I fool the EQ stuff ?

[Cornelius Varley]

You can run EQMosaic without the need to use EQMod. The software will run on any goto mount with pc control and Ascom drivers.

Peter

[johnb]

sorry maybe its me, im looking for a tool \ method that allows me to plan from home before I go out, ideally a method of overlaying a box that represents the area I can cover, that way I can detrmine how many panes I need etc

John B

[Psychobilly]

Do you know the FOV from your setup and the FOV of the planned mosaic ? Also do you know how much overlap you want between frames - soem mosaic software will work "reliably" with smaller ovelaps that others...?

Peter...

[johnb]

Peter

I dont know these things and thats what Im looking for I guess, apparently software called Skyx Professional will do the trick but its so expensive - looking for a cheaper method

John B

[Psychobilly]

ok lets see if we can help.....

What scope/camera/reducer/barlow combo's do you have

You can use something like CCDCalc to calculate FOV of all your setups...

The New CCD Astronomy Home Page

Peter...

[johnb]

ok im using my skywatcher 250 and my cannon 450d so CCD Calc says my FOv with that setup is 22.5 x 33.7 arc mins

John B

[Psychobilly]

What's your pointing accuracy like? I would go for about 20-30% ovelap to start with

[johnb]

Accuracy is not bad, a 20% overlap sounds good, I suppose What im trying to do is create a rectangle based based on my FOV (wich i now have thanks to you) then find a decent star map as an image of the region in interested in say NGC7000 and some how place my rectangle on it and then another and another which will give me an idea of how many panels i need and were to start etc, does this make sense ?

John B

[Psychobilly]

Have a look at Cartes Du Ceil (Skycharts)

start [skychart]

It will help you work out the FOV that you want/need to cover...

You can download additional "catalogs" for DSO's etc

Peter...

[johnb]

thanks for all your help realy appreciated - busy afternoon ahead

John B