Hello,
I started a discussion (see "First considerations about CCDAP3") in wich I explained a problem getting rotated targets with TheSKY. I will be gratefuul if someone will take a look in that discussion and help me.

Thanks

Massimo

Hi Massimo,

I've had exactly the same problem. . .my pointing is always off, but I think I've discovered why and at least a temporary work around. When you click on an object in "The Sky" I've noticed that it "snaps" to the closest object. Even when I force The Sky to point to a location a little bit "off" from a target, to accommodate my rotation to a guide star, I've found that CCDAP always points exactly at the object, NOT to the actual location I've specified. That's a huge problem!

That said, I've found that if I do a <ctrl> <mouse click> on the specific spot I want to point, and then rotate around, it creates a "user defined object" in The Sky, and then everything works perfectly. . .

I have no idea why, and it definitely shouldn't work that way. . .but this work around fixes the problem for me.

-Jeff

Jeff,

You can translate and rotate the FOVI indicator to frame exactly what you want. Then hit the Get button on the CCDAP target page. There is no "snapping to a target" using this technique. See the CCDAutoPilot help topic: "Entering Targets with TheSky6".

Jeff,

This is how Sky6 works and has nothing to do with CCDAP. In Sky6, when you left click on a location, Sky6 will "snap" (as you say) the cursor to the nearest object itself. This is not the best way to translate and rotate the FOVI.

To do that, click on any of the lines that make up the FOVI and it will highlight them with one orange "block" at the center of the FOVI and another orange "block" at the top of the FOVI. To translate, just click on the block in the center and drag it to wherever you want. To rotate, click on the block at the top of the FOVI and spin the FOVI around.

After doing this, the FOVI will be at whatever position you have chosen. This will be imported by CCDAP3 when you use "Get".

i have seen the same problem, when you rotate and translate the fovi to the exact position what you want, and use "get " in ccda, the coordinate is the coordinate of the closest objects.
we must edit the coordinate of the center of the fovi (cursor position) to get the correct position.
you can see it with small fovi(st8/2000), but with largest fovi (stl 11000, for example) it 's not easy to this.
michael

Steve/John,

I will try it out again, but this is not how it worked for me. I can get the correct coordinates into CCAP, but for some reason, that's *not* where it points the telescope. For example I was imaging M51 the other night and was completely unable to get it to offset the pointing slightly to accomodate my guide star. I'd have my FOV dead center where I wanted it, I'd use the "get" function, and off CCAP would go. . .and it would center directly on M51! Thus I had no guide star. When I used the <ctrl> click solution it worked perfectly. I'm a new user though, so I'm probably just missing something obvious

I'm also trying to figure out how to have CCAP automatically determine my guider exposures. I can only seem to configure guiding exposures per light frame set, not per object, and the exposure times I'd want are totally different. Any suggestion on that one? Sorry for what I'm sure are "newbie" issues

-Jeff

Michael and Jeff,

I am unable to duplicate what you are seeing, even using a very small FOVI for an ST10 on a 3400 mm FL scope. No matter how close I drag the center of the FOVI to M51, it always defines the target properly without "snapping" to M51. I can come exteremely close to the center of M51 without snapping. Knowing how the code works, this is as expected. So, let's review some things:

1. Make sure you are using the latest hot fix to TheSky6 and are using the Professional edition. Do not connect any other software to TheSky while you are doing this - just CCDAP and TheSky. You can even use CCDAP's Plan only option. The current version is 6.00.58 and is available from the Bisque support forum. Also, make sure you are using the current version of CCDAP, currently at 3.41.2. Use Help/Update now to check.

2. Make sure one and only one FOVI is turned on in TheSky. Check View/Field of View Indicators.

3. Make sure TheSky is in polar mode - menu, orientation/pole up.

4. When you align the FOVI to the target, make sure you drag the FOVI and not the sky. Click on the FOVI, drag the center red square to translate the FOVI and use the outer red square to rotate.

5. Once you have a FOV Center entry in CCDAP, right click on the target line and select Center TheSky. FOVI should properly replicate the target you selected in step 4.

Since this feature has worked for many, many customers, there is clearly something different in what you are doing. Try the above steps and see what happens.

I have just tried severals times,it works if the "mirror image" option in the sky6 is unchecked
(view/mirror image)
if is checked, the coordinates are false.
i have an ao7, so this option is automatically active for plate solving...
may be is the same problem for massimo and jeff?

Michael,

Yes! That is exactly the issue. To use the Get function to obtain the coordinates of the FOV center correctly, View|Mirror Image in TheSky must be unchecked.

Since there is no way for CCDAP to change that setting inn TheSky, the user must verify that it is unchecked.

hi john,

yes, but if you translate and rotate the fovi when you're in mirror image , and unchecked it, the fovi is not the same...try it, you'll see this.

if i unchecked it, translate ,rotate the fovi to get exactly the fovi what i want, use the get button, check the mirror option, the fovi is out.
i have tried differents ways to use the get button , nothing works, so,the only issue that i found, is to translate and rotate the fovi in mirror image mode, get the coordinates of the "cursor position" near the square center of the fovi by clicking near it, and edit the coordinate in ccda.after this, the pointing is perfect.
not easy... in fact, when you use an aO7, you can't use the get button in ccda.;-) (joke)
i'am sure you'll find a solution ;-)
thank you
regards
michael

Michael,

Once you have the FOV Center entry into CCDAP without Mirror Image checked, the position is correct. Then use CCDAP's "Center TheSky" feature (right click on the target to bring up the context menu) and you will see the target is correct. Then check and uncheck Mirror Image and you will see the mirror image change but the target framing will remain correct. Try it.

john,
yes it works, but it don't help me.
i want to get the coordinate with mirror image checked,because if i translate the fovi, there is an offset between the mirror or no mirror image.
it's difficult to explain, if i want to get the coordinate with mirror unchecked, i can't see where i am on the sky if i translate the fovi ( only if i checked/unchecked mirror image).
please try it,( with st8+st4 at 1600mm FL for exemple), the guide chip is very small, and between mirror/unmirror,with a translate fovi,the guide star can be out of it.
thank you

Michael,

Yes it does help you. Your goal should be to get a set of target coordinates accurately defined in TheSky. This is done with the Mirror View unchecked for technical reasons. Once you have that target defined and entered into CCDAP, you can check or uncheck the mirror view as you wish but the target will remain accurately defined.

To put it another way, you absolutely can not get an accurate set of target coordinates with the mirror view checked.

I followed John's direction tonight exactly, and I'm seeing no problems at all. . .my pointing is precise and as a result my guide starts are spot on my remote guider head chip.

John, I'm also shooting in CCDSoft and seeing no AO issues, clean tracking and performance. . .

-Jeff

hello,
i have tried the "user defined object" tip, and it works with the mirror image option in thesky6, good thing!
thank you for this tip!
regards
michael