Anyone else ever see this? While trying to reacquire the guide star I am only getting a correction on every other try. Please see log snippet below.

Also I seem to be getting a lot of GuideX error not reported by CCDSoft messages. I do have only one FOVI specified in TheSky.

All help is greatly appreciated,
Bob Franke
http://bf-astro.com

00:39:46 Guider stopped.
00:39:46 Dither: -6.0, +0.0,
00:39:53 Guider running
00:40:00 Guide Error X: 10.9, Y: 0.2
00:40:03 Guide Error X: 10.9, Y: 0.2
00:40:07 Guide Error X: 9.0, Y: 2.5
00:40:10 Guide Error X: 9.0, Y: 2.5
00:40:14 Guide Error X: 6.8, Y: 3.1
00:40:17 Guide Error X: 6.8, Y: 3.1
00:40:21 Guide Error X: 5.4, Y: 3.6
00:40:24 Guide Error X: 5.4, Y: 3.6
00:40:28 Guide Error X: 4.0, Y: 2.3
00:40:31 Guide Error X: 4.0, Y: 2.3
00:40:35 Guide Error X: 1.5, Y: 1.7
00:40:38 Guide Error X: 1.5, Y: 1.7
00:40:42 Guide Error X: 0.5, Y: 1.2
00:40:43 Guider stopped.
00:40:43 Try 1 to reacquire guide star...
00:40:43 Slewing scope...
00:40:52 Slewed to RA: 12 42 27.4, Dec: +32 30 01
00:40:52 Mount settling for 5 sec. after slew.
00:40:57 Plate solving...
00:40:57 Telescope RA: 12 42 27.3, Dec: +32 30 03
00:41:14 C:\Documents and Settings\Bob\My Documents\CCDWare\CCDAutoPilot3\Images\CCDAutoPilot_SyncImages\SyncImage_ngc4631_004114.fit
00:41:15 Solved RA: 12 41 58.9, Dec: +32 32 43 PA: 359.9
00:41:15 Slewing scope...

Hi Bob,

Haven't seen that one before, but can you post the entire log from that run? Also, what are your Min/Max move values and what guide exposure time are you using?

Hi Frank,

This is not the first time I have had this problem, but it was happening on every acquire guide star sequence last night. It looks likes CCDSoft is correcting just fine and CCDAP3 seem to be just getting the info for every other correction. Attached are the CCDAP and autoguider log files. The autoguider log has the data for the -6.0, +0.0 dither. You can see that CCDSoft is having no problem centering the star.
Autoguide using DirectGuide
Minimum Move = 0.45
Maximum Move = 3.50
ExposureTime = 1.00
Exposure Delay = 5.0

I restarted most of the programs and the “GuideX error not reported by CCDSoft” message pretty much went away. After the GuideX error happens, while acquiring the guide star, the exposure then starts. This results in the exposure starting before the star is centered while dithering.

Unless you come up with something, I will reboot the PC before tonight’s run. Windows seems to often have problems when running a long time without a reboot.

Thanks,
Bob

ccdap20080427_015823.log (12 KB, 93 downloads) CCDAP3 log

Frank, I couldn't see how to attach two files. Here's the CCDSoft autoguider.log

bob

Autoguider.log (11 KB, 123 downloads) ccdsoft log file

Hi Bob,

A couple of things I see that I will comment on. Just to stay current, I would download the latest hotfixes for both TheSky6 and CCDSoft. I'm curious why you use Pinpoint with CCDSoft rather than the astrometric engine in CCDSoft/TheSky6. CCDSoft/TheSky6 does an excellent job at plate solving. It doesn't look like you are focusing your RC during your imaging session? I see that there is no focuser setup. The truss tubes do change with temp. I refocus my 16" all night long here in SC as the temp drops from sundown until dawn. Also, I have found that even parfocal filters need to be focused to get the best out of them. You also don't appear to have a meridian flip setup to happen even though you have specified the rotator to move when it is crossed.

A 1 second guide exposure even with a delay is pretty short for a Paramount. That doesn't give the guider a chance to average out the seeing. It appears that the delay isn't used for the second log entry as they are always 4 sec apart. I might suggest experimenting with some longer guide exposures and remove the delay. I use 10 sec exposures with my Paramount with very good results.

Are you also running the latest version of Automadome? I see that the Dome is set to slave to the Telescope every 11 min, but it does it at each exposure or about every 6 min. Maybe something isn't setup exactly right there. I don't have a dome so I'm no help on that one

Good luck on getting it resolved. Let us know if rebooting the computer has any effect on the log file.

BTW, do all your log files show this or did it just start?

Hello Frank,

I am using Tpoint because CCDSoft/TheSky fails regularly for me. I get the message "CCDSoft.App: Undescribed error. Error code = 1600 (640)”. Matt Russell also was getting this error message. Software Bisque had no answer; they just blamed it on Windows. We have both switched to Tpoint. It is faster and almost never fails.

So far with median flips I don’t do them automatically.<g> With these settings CCDAP does rotate the camera 180 degrees when I flip the scope. So I am happy with that for now.

I agree, with a one-second exposure I am running the risk of chasing the seeing. After checking my older log files CCDAP seems to be having problems with very short guide exposures. Last week I was taking Ha data with longer exposures and no problems. So maybe that’s it.

With focusing, and the RC, I have been doing a manual Fmax run before starting CCDAP. I have run into several instances where CCDAP picks a double star for focus. Maybe version 4 can address this issue. We do get a pretty big temperature drop in Chino Valley, so I guess I will have to start focusing more often.

The dome is aligning every six minutes because CCDAP3 always aligns at the beginning of the exposure, and the exposures are only five minutes.

I check the change info for CCDSoft and theSky. Nothing appears to affect me, but I will update anyway.

I will let no know if the longer guide exposure, or the reboot, solves the problem,
Bob

Hello Everyone,

Problem Solved!

I rebooted the PC and tried one-second guide exposures. The problem remained. I moved to a dimmer star and tried a six-second exposure. Everything worked great. It looks like CCDAP3 simply doesn’t like very short guide exposures. I am guessing that it is a timing issue.

Bob

Hi Bob,

Glad you were able to resolve the issue. You are correct in that it is a timing issue. I need a faster interface to CCDSoft that Bisque has been unable to operationalize yet. Still working on it (and hoping...)