My tutorial for installing, setting up and using AstroTortilla

[daz]

Just to add to this thread that I have been using the settings proposed in the tutorial for several nights now and using 2x2 binning and a 10 second exposure (with a Luminance filter), I get very fast plate solving times of under one minute. This is on my netbook, too! It has a slow CPU, 2GB RAM and a 64GB SSD. 

Jealous....

I will persevering though!

[jimao22]

 On ASCOM drivers for camera on the pop-up-menu is only "Camera V2 simulator" and "Simulator". Nothing else.

Anyway, I decided to re-install the Windows on this computer because I found some issues on EQMOD too, so I suppose some  registries are stunned.

I hope I will have a functional system until this morning   .

[Gina]

I don't use direct camera capture from AT but use the File Open dialog instead.  I capture an image with Atremis Capture (Atik camera) using binning 8x8 and 5 or 10 seconds exposure on DSOs then go to AT and open the folder containing the image and select the latest capture file.

[daz]

I actually got a plate solve using that very method Gina, worked a treat!

I did a re-install of AT, as I think I had got the wrong reference files before....

[Gina]

Glad you've got it working Daz

[jimao22]

What about me?

Is anyone having any idea about what is happening in my computer, or between the computer and camera? Because, otherwise, the camera is working fine with MaximDL and I did make pictures...

[daz]

Well, your last post said you were reloading Windows....

We are not mind-readers. We don't know if you have finished installing everything unless you tell us!

[jimao22]

Sorry, yes, you're right Daz   .

But I said this because I suppose someone did know what is about. Maybe the developers, or some soft genius hidden here between us.

I will keep you informed, I finished re-install W7 and I am about to finish installing everything else. I will make a try again wit AT and we'll see... 

[jimao22]

Now I can answer all of you about my "progress".

Re-install everything, working fine, polar alignment done very accurate (EQMOD procedure followed by Align-Master twice), AT and Cygwin re-installed -> same result:

"No solution in 0.0s".

I am very disappointed  because I am using Pin Point now and after meridian-flip I used to have errors big enough to be unsolved by Pin Point. So my hope was AT. 

If I will not find a solution on this, I will find another way to plate-solve properly my shots.

With hope, thank you... 

[themos]

Try a value 2 for Downscaling option  (2nd line in the long list) 

[Gina]

Mostly I find AT really superb but last night I was trying to PA my new EQ8 mount (with MN190) and couldn't get repeatable results - eitther in altitude or azimuth.  I can't remember which scope I used for the last PA with the NEQ6 but it may have been an ED80 so I'm wondering if I would be better off using the latter.  The plate solving was fine - it was that the errors displayed kept changing.  I'm very puzzled.

This was using AT's PA tool, of course   Same as I used successfully a couple of time with the NEQ6.

Edited October 30, 2013 by Gina

[daz]

@jimao22

What does the log file tell you?

[Demonperformer]

I ... couldn't get repeatable results - eitther in altitude or azimuth.  The plate solving was fine - it was that the errors displayed kept changing.  I'm very puzzled.

This was using AT's PA tool, of course   Same as I used successfully a couple of time with the NEQ6.

I have tried using AT for PA (using a SLT102) and also keep getting weird results - http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/192819-polar-alignment-with-astrotortilla-seriously-screwy/

[themos]

I'm not impressed by the AstroTortilla Polar Alignment tool either, I think it moves a tiny amount before taking the second picture and that just doesn't allow it to measure the PA error accurately enough.

[Gina]

It seemed to work very well last time I used it - in fact I think it was twice I used it with the NEQ6 and got within 2 arc mins.

[jimao22]

@jimao22

What does the log file tell you?

Sorry Daz, I uninstalled AT again and I want to re-install it from the scratch one more time on the fresh W7 os. After that, I will tell you what the log said.

Thank you!

[jiberjaber]

I am hoping to use this on my finder scope rather than the main scope, the trouble is I cant find any details for the 50x9 finder scope with my QHY5L-II attached in terms of the resolution.

I've had a bit of a mooch around the net and found somewhere which stated the 50x9 was aperture of 60mm and a focal length of 240mm using this with the 3.75um 1280x1024 QHY5L-II I get 1.15degx0.92deg... 

Does that sound right?

[themos]

yes!

[jimao22]

Hi,

I succeed to install  AT one more time, on my fresh system. I downloaded the very last version from  http://sourceforge.net/projects/astrotortilla/files/AstroTortilla-0.6/. The process was a bit different but the biggest difference was downloading Cygwin files. First time it took about 1.5 hours and it was a 3Gb size file. Now it took me 14 hours for 9.6Gb (and the range of the FOV sizes was smaller this time - strange). When I came back from my office, an error message on the screen advised me to start downloading again Cygwin (  ) or to step forward on my risc (  ).

Of course, I pushed "next" button and than  trying to solve my first plate. Because it is daytime, I "solved" a dark frame - but most important, the program started to work, doing efforts to find out from which part of the sky are my hot pixels.

So far so good...

I will try to find how the program works with some pictures from my computer. This evening will rain (of course) but the forecast for the next one sounds good, so see you than.

[jimao22]

I made a test "on blind" with the mount connected and a picture of Dumbell nebula. I slew my mount on Dumbell (according with TheSky6) and than start plate-solving my picture. Everything solved in 84 sec.

I am glad about that, I look forward to see how it work on real sky, with pier flips.

Is anyone know if the syncs from AT are recorded in EQMOD "Apend on sync" procedure? 

Could be use FocusMax with AT for plate solving or FocusMax is just working with PinPoint only?

[themos]

A good start, you should be able to bring the solve time down by giving hints about the image scale. The syncs are recorded by EQMOD according to whatever you have set in EQMOD, there's no way for AT to "get inside" EQMOD. I don't think FocusMax can be persuaded to play with AT instead of Pinpoint.

[Singlin]

How does this software compare to the plate solving in Maxim dl?

Apart from the price.

[themos]

Basically, it rocks!

[Gib007]

I must say I'm less than keen on using AstroTortilla for polar alignment purposes. I polar align using EQMod and then I may correct the polar alignment by using Alignmaster (which is dirt cheap at €19). I use AstroTortilla strictly for plate-solving and it's absolutely fantastic - no complaints whatsoever. 

[Demonperformer]

I must say I'm less than keen on using AstroTortilla for polar alignment purposes. I polar align using EQMod and then I may correct the polar alignment by using Alignmaster (which is dirt cheap at €19). I use AstroTortilla strictly for plate-solving and it's absolutely fantastic - no complaints whatsoever. 

Totally agree about AT's PA performance.