Getting back into imaging after a long break

[Gina]

Turning Index Files off didn't stop them from downloading!!  Just letting it do it.  I've moved 47GB of videos from main SSD to a 500GB HD so there's plenty of room on the system drive now.  Well enough anyway - I think.

[wimvb]

That's odd. You shouldn't need those large files. Even with my 1000 mm fl and small sensor, I only go from 4209 down to 4201, no more than 10GB tops.

[Gina]

Even more odd is they haven't been saved to the right directory.  They've gone somewhere because the remaining space has gone down.  I'll search for them.

[Gina]

Found them! /home/gina/.local/share/kstars/astrometry.  27.3GB of them

[Gina]

Can't tell if KStars will find them where it's put them until I get a clear night sky and can plate solve.  There are some breaks in the cloud now so whether tonight is anyone's guess.

I've shifted more files about and freed up more space on my system SSD ready for more images or for processing what I've got.  Brain sluggish ATM due to overheating!!  Also, just received another TB USB3 HD so should be better prepared for imaging.  The ASI1600MM-Cool camera with it's hundreds of short exposures uses up a lot of disk space.

[Gina]

I've been slowly working my way through the book "Inside PixInsight".  Applied Blink to reject some of my subs - not that there are many - about a dozen for each filter but I think what there are are pretty reasonable but we'll see when I've combined everything and produced a result.  I think if I take my time, I can probably get through the basics.  It seems ages since I used this software.  At least I've got a few images to play with.  In fact, there are a lot more images I could play with from two or three years ago but they are rather an unknown quantity - I can't remember now what I was doing with them.  Maybe it'll become clearer as I get to grips with the software again.

[wimvb]

Very odd. (About the index files.) If you post your problem on the INDI forum, you'll probably get a quick reply from one of the developers.

The simulator ccd allows you to test even with clouds. "If you can't make it, fake it." You will need to download the general star catalog (200 MB).

Edited July 6, 2019 by wimvb

[Gina]

Bound to be something I'm doing wrong.  I have sussed out one thing - at the start those index files are actually unticked and rather than marking them for rejection I was doing the opposite - a red cross was a "yes" I want it rather than a "no" I don't want it.  Furthermore, on very close inspection of those little shield icons, those files are actually marked as "Optional".  That window is not for selecting standard index files at all.  The authors of both KStars and PixInsight seem to use a different logic from me and also call things by different names.  One example in PI is "integration" meaning "stacking".

Edited July 6, 2019 by Gina

[Gina]

One thing I neglected to do in the other night's imaging was to tick the boxes for Filter, Duration and TimeStamp though I did put them in different folders for each filters.

[wimvb]

10 minutes ago, Gina said:

One thing I neglected to do in the other night's imaging was to tick the boxes for Filter, Duration and TimeStamp though I did put them in different folders for each filters.

Fortunately, PixInsight has a FitsFileManager. It can extract fits keywords to create a new filename. It's under the "scripts" menu. Kstars puts image files in different folders depending on filter. Handy, but it means that all files are named Light_001, etc. Unless you specify different.

[Gina]

I did remember to set the sub type (Light, Dark, Flat, Bias) when capturing.

[Gina]

That looks very useful   One thing it doesn't find though is temperature.  As I recall, the camera was running at -27°C.  Darks and Bias frames should be at the same temperature as the Lights, I've read.  It's warmer tonight and I'm only reaching -23.3°C.  The roof is closed though and inside will be cooler if I open it.

[Gina]

Opened the roof so it's cooler in the observatory.  Another time I'll have to set the temperature a bit higher than the coldest possible so that I've got some wiggle room for Bias & Dark frames or more Lights.

[Gina]

Opened the roof so it's cooler in the observatory.  Another time I'll have to set the temperature a bit higher than the coldest possible so that I've got some wiggle room for Bias & Dark frames or more Lights.

[Gina]

Trying again to post this!!!!!

RAINING!!  Saw it on CCTV.  Jupiter still shining brightly.  Dashed out to observatory, closed roof and switched dehumidifier on.  Wet on the floor and a bit on the mount but not enough to worry about.

[Gina]

Guess I'll have an early night then...

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Now about that auto roof closer......

[Gina]

Yes indeed!  I'll have to give it more thought now that I'm imaging again.  Any recommendation for a rain detector?  Anyone?  Of course, I need to get the motor drive working first but a rain detector could sound an alarm.

Edited July 7, 2019 by Gina

[Dr_Ju_ju]

I see there are different flavours of sensor types, from simple electrical resistance (https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/rain-detector/) up to using Infra Red beams (http://rainsensors.com/).

I suppose it'll depend on how deep the wallet \ complexity required....

[wimvb]

11 hours ago, Gina said:

That looks very useful   One thing it doesn't find though is temperature.  As I recall, the camera was running at -27°C.  Darks and Bias frames should be at the same temperature as the Lights, I've read.  It's warmer tonight and I'm only reaching -23.3°C.  The roof is closed though and inside will be cooler if I open it.

I used to image at the coldest possible (down to -30), but found no difference when imaging at -20, which I could keep all winter. So I've settled on that. It makes it much easier to reuse darks, and I never use bias, but dark flats in stead.

[wimvb]

On 06/07/2019 at 01:25, Gina said:

Turning Index Files off didn't stop them from downloading!!  Just letting it do it.  I've moved 47GB of videos from main SSD to a 500GB HD so there's plenty of room on the system drive now.  Well enough anyway - I think.

Btw, did you set the fl in the telescope section of the indi/kstars profile, and the pixel size + nr of pixels in the ccd section, and the save this? That should give you a number for the fov in the Index Files section of kstars configuration.

The device manager opens when you connect to indi from kstars. You van also get to it from the tools menu in kstars.

 

[Gina]

I think I probably did in the first run of KStars but maybe not after upgrading KStars.

[Gina]

I've added the details for the lens in the INDI Profile and set the Telescope to it.  The camera number of pixels and pixel size are in the CCD section.  But the "Current CCD FOV" for Index Files is still 0.00' x 0.00'.

[Gina]

A thought - my FOV with the 28mm FL lens and AS1600mm camera is 2172.3' x 1642.3' whereas the astrometry.net Index Files list shows the biggest as 1400' - 2000'  ie. smaller than my image.

Edited July 7, 2019 by Gina

[Gina]

Doesn't seem to be the problem.  Set up for a 55mm prime lens and still don't get the FOV in the Index Files panel.