plate solving

[nytecam]

Can anyone direct me to a simple on-line plate solving program?   Those found via Google seem unduly complicated - for me!   I know the general sky area,  fov and orientation for my jpg image.  Any advise?   TIA

[JB80]

Astrobin is the one likely to plate solve in a timely fashion, it's kind of like a flickr for astrophotos.

Speaking of flickr if you are a member you can upload a photo to the astrometry group but that can take between 10 minutes to a week to plate solve, probably because it's full of pics everyone already knows what the picture is of.

I mean why upload a pic of the Sun to be plate solved?

[jackrussell0232]

astrometry.net is a good start.  You don't need to sign up to anything.

There are slicker interfaces to many of the same on-line services, but beyond these you'll be looking at dedicated software. 

Hope this helps,

Jack

[Gonzo]

I use either nova.astrometry.net or the astrometry tool they provide on my laptop.

[SnakeyJ]

I use either nova.astrometry.net or the astrometry tool they provide on my laptop.

Works for me to.

typed on my mobile with Tapatalk

[gingergeek]

+1 for a local install of astrometery.net. On my overloaded linux virtualbox and running an image of Horsehead Nebula (SW ED80 0.85FR/Canon 1100D) against ALL the index files it took around 21mins.

mark@gpfs2:~$ time solve-field horsehead.png --overwrite

Reading input file 1 of 1: "horsehead.png"...

Read file stdin: 4167 x 2787 pixels x 1 color(s); maxval 255

Using 8-bit output

Extracting sources...

simplexy: found 2876 sources.

Solving...

Reading file "./horsehead.axy"...

Field 1 did not solve (index index-4219.fits, field objects 1-10).

...... LOTS OF OTHER INDEX OUTPUT ........

Field 1 did not solve (index index-4110.fits, field objects 11-20).

  log-odds ratio 50.3636 (7.45832e+21), 9 match, 0 conflict, 15 distractors, 70 index.

  RA,Dec = (85.2209,-2.43188), pixel scale 2.04161 arcsec/pix.

  Hit/miss:   Hit/miss: --+++--+++---++--------+(best)----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Field 1: solved with index index-4109.fits.

Field 1 solved: writing to file ./horsehead.solved to indicate this.

Field: horsehead.png

Field center: (RA,Dec) = (85.21, -2.398) deg.

Field center: (RA H:M:S, Dec D:M:S) = (05:40:51.449, -02:23:52.728).

Field size: 2.35775 x 1.62469 degrees

Field rotation angle: up is 87.6955 degrees E of N

Creating new FITS file "./horsehead.new"...

Creating index object overlay plot...

Creating annotation plot...

Your field contains:

  The star σOri

  The star Alnitak (ζOri)

  The star Alnitak (ζOri)

  IC 431

  IC 432

  IC 434 / Horsehead nebula

  NGC 2023

  NGC 2024

  IC 435

Changing this to the known image size from the imaging setup given on the command line is much quicker :

mark@gpfs2:~$ time solve-field --scale-units arcsecperpix --scale-low 1.90 --scale-high 2.25 horsehead.png --overwrite

Reading input file 1 of 1: "horsehead.png"...

Read file stdin: 4167 x 2787 pixels x 1 color(s); maxval 255

Using 8-bit output

Extracting sources...

simplexy: found 2876 sources.

Solving...

Reading file "./horsehead.axy"...

Field 1 did not solve (index index-4213.fits, field objects 1-10).

...... LOTS OF OTHER INDEX OUTPUT ........

Field 1 did not solve (index index-4110.fits, field objects 11-20).

  log-odds ratio 50.3636 (7.45832e+21), 9 match, 0 conflict, 15 distractors, 70 index.

  RA,Dec = (85.2209,-2.43188), pixel scale 2.04161 arcsec/pix.

  Hit/miss:   Hit/miss: --+++--+++---++--------+(best)----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Field 1: solved with index index-4109.fits.

Field 1 solved: writing to file ./horsehead.solved to indicate this.

Field: horsehead.png

Field center: (RA,Dec) = (85.21, -2.398) deg.

Field center: (RA H:M:S, Dec D:M:S) = (05:40:51.449, -02:23:52.728).

Field size: 2.35775 x 1.62469 degrees

Field rotation angle: up is 87.6955 degrees E of N

Creating new FITS file "./horsehead.new"...

Creating index object overlay plot...

Creating annotation plot...

Your field contains:

  The star σOri

  The star Alnitak (ζOri)

  The star Alnitak (ζOri)

  IC 431

  IC 432

  IC 434 / Horsehead nebula

  NGC 2023

  NGC 2024

  IC 435

real 1m0.330s

user 0m57.584s

sys 0m3.032s

Now wrap it in a nice automated submission (Python) and/or maybe to a backend batch scheduler and Bobs your uncle if your a geek !

[nytecam]

Thanks Guys - just what I wanted - I'll give it a go