Mexican Space Food.... No Wait......Astro Tortilla

[Mav359]

Ermmmmmm what is it, ive the impression its just anothe Polar alignment method

am i wrong

[Bizibilder]

Its a plate solver that can also be used for PA.  Plate solving means it can examine an image and, given the field of view it can calculate exactly which stars appear in the picture.  it can then, for example, slew your scope to that exact position.  Very useful for precise targeting on different nights etc.

[Mav359]

So if i get this right you take an image on night one but when you get to night 2 it compares the two images and lines the scope to match.

Forgive the ignorance but why is that better then lining up the next night and then stacking all your data?

Just curious

[perfrej]

It is "wrapper" around the Astrometry.NET astrometric engine, an open-source project that can plate-solve (analyse and locate) any astro image. It adds features, all utilizing the Astrometry.NET engine.

/p

[Vostok]

So if i get this right you take an image on night one but when you get to night 2 it compares the two images and lines the scope to match.

Forgive the ignorance but why is that better then lining up the next night and then stacking all your data?

Because

1) if your images don't line up perfectly you lose the corners of your image when stacking

2) it's slow and/or difficult to get perfect lineup (or occasionnally, to even find the object) unless you own a $20k tracking mount with perfect GoTo calibration and

3) AstroTortilla automatically lines up your mount according to last night's image with the press of a button, no matter how bad your initial GoTo calibration is.

Lauri

[Mav359]

Cool beans

Cheers Lauri