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Macster18

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  1. Thanks Mark, My settings are consistent with those in the manual. The point here is that all the settings worked fine until this particular night. I’ve had ASA look at the setup and they could not find anything wrong. Even more perplexing is that with no changes it started working again and we cannot figure out why. I did try messing with the plate solve settings but it made no difference though I did notice that the results were variable so no sweet spot as it were. What was perhaps most interesting was that on the night it started working again I had done the following: 1. Re-installed sequence with previous good settings 2. Used autoslew to go to a patch of sky with a 3.8 mag star centred 3. Tried synch - no good. Failed 4. Took an image of the same area with maxim 5. Asked sequence to solve it - which it did 6. With the successful solve still fresh I then pressed synch and now all is well again. I asked ASA what had changed and they had no idea either. When this problem manifested itself I happened to be at the computer and can confirm that the sky was clear and the synch image looked perfect. What perhaps was interesting is that sequence never got as far as saving it in the pointingpics directory. I did some tests to make sure that this directory was ok for writing to and it was so that wasn’t the issue so I’m assuming it needs a successful synch to save the image. That would mean that the steps are: 1. Slew to target 2. Take synch exposure 3. Solve 4. On success save. This makes no sense to me and I would have thought it would be: 1. Slew to target 2. Take synch exposure 3. Save 4. Solve Either way my system was failing at step 3 - my instincts tell me that it was more likely to be a save issue rather then a solve issue. Normally the solve step takes about 2 seconds max and on this failure it was taking ages - I assume it was using the plate solve timeout setting if 25 seconds before reporting failure. What I do know is that sequence was capable of successfully solving any image we gave it manually but if it was a save issue then I couldn’t find any problem with the directory or disk space or permissions etc. ASA consider it to be one of those things which is very frustrating because I like to know that if it happens again I can fix it. I’m filing away the manual image solve step just in case this happens again. Mac
  2. Given that sequence and autoslew are both free with the mount (or were when I got mine) I didn’t mind buying pinpoint and I already had maxim. The beauty of sequence is that it is simple to use and when it works which is about 99% of the time it’s brilliant. The downsides are the odd untraceable bugs and the limitations such as with the autofocus filter. The ASA plan to upgrade sequence is still going ahead as I understand it and I will be very content when it is finally released.
  3. What I was told to do was move the scope to a park position opposite to the previous one. So my previous one was CW pointing East and front of scope pointing north. I changed it to CW pointing west and front of scope pointing south then set this as the park position. That was it. Problem solved. Mac
  4. Yes the sky was clear. The image star numbers and plate stars were within normal bounds. I only used Deneb really to check the pointing accuracy though I knew it was fine. I did get help from ASA on this but we couldn’t track down the fault. Everything we looked at seemed fine. If you loaded any image into sequence it would solve it. The target files were all previously successful. All sequence settings were unchanged and correct. The weather in Spain has been pretty poor for a couple of weeks but it cleared enough for me to try this fix: I reinstalled sequence (no real need to do so but I couldn’t think of anything else to try) I used autoslew to image an area of sky around a 3.8 mag star Then I loaded the resulting image and got sequence to solve it which it did Then with the successful solve still registered on the sequence info line I pressed the synch button and it worked. I have no idea why and neither does ASA. My theory was that if there was a successful solve in the memory it would be starting from a positive rather then a negative. Anyway I’ve done a couple of short sessions since then and all seems to be well. Go figure Thanks for the assistance but it seems it was a glitch known only to sequence. Mac
  5. My system has been working well for months now then a few nights ago the imaging run ended in failures. Looking at the log Sequence was failing on Synch for every target which had all worked 2 nights previously. DDM85, autoslew,sequence,maximDL. The settings are all correct including image scale and plate solving catalogue paths. Nothing has changed yet the Synch fails. I tried autoslewing to Deneb, pointing was bang on and did a synch in sequence but it also failed. What should I try now? I have emailed ASA for assistance but of course it’s the weekend. Mac
  6. I was in touch with them about a year ago and was assured that ASA had given the priority green light to P. Keller to update Sequence to specifically address a number of known and accepted issues with it. This would include resolution of my main issue regarding the need to specify the filter to be used for autofocus rather than the software defaulting to using the filter selected for imaging the target. Periodically I have chased them on this but have not had the courtesy of a response. Mac
  7. Attached is the log from my attempted imaging session last night. Here is an extract: 23:55:47.823: Error in LoadXML (load Target data) 23:55:47.853: Error in LoadXML (load Target data) 00:02:18.676: ************************************************************************ 00:02:18.677: Starting Sequence on Target C:\ProgramData\ASA\Sequence\Target Files\Dolphin Nebula Sh 2-188.trg with Exposure settings C:\ProgramData\ASA\Sequence\ExposureSettings\Ha 600s x 2.exp 00:02:18.719: Running now Nr. 1 of this Sequence 00:02:19.006: Starting Sequence C:\ProgramData\ASA\Sequence\Target Files\Dolphin Nebula Sh 2-188.trg 00:02:19.007: Target RA: 01h31m43s DE: 58d30m58s 00:02:19.007: Focus RA: 01h35m14.6s DE: +59d19m41s 00:02:19.007: Checking now for Pier side for object 00:02:19.009: Could finish Object on Eastside 00:02:19.010: Can only be made on East side 00:02:19.010: Not same Target, check if we have to Autofocus or Synch 00:02:19.011: Need new focus star because cannot reach focus star on East side 00:02:20.202: Found FocusStar at RA= 1h 21m21.8s DE=+ 58d 20m 7s and 4.8mag 00:02:20.203: Autoselected Focus Position at 01h21m21.8s +58d20m07s 00:02:20.902: Moving Scope to Autofocus Positon 00:02:20.955: Slewing to 1h21m21.8 +58°20m7 Pierside East 00:03:16.287: Selecting Filter 0 00:03:16.990: Trying Synch with Filter Luminance and Readout 0 00:03:41.023: 3560 image stars and 2860 plate stars found, now solving 00:04:26.045: Synch failed, returned false 00:04:26.049: All further synch tries also failed ! 00:04:26.556: Errorcode = Synch Failed Is this LoadXML error responsible for the Synch failures on all the targets or are they separate issues. I have checked back over my logs for the past 12 months and whilst many do not start with this error - some considerable numbers do and most of them have resulted in successful runs. I was monitoring this session and the images downloading to maxim were pretty sharp I thought with a lot of clear stars visible. The platesolving numbers seem consistent and the targets are a set I have been imaging for the past 6 weeks and all have succeded apart from 1 previous session when a couple of the target lines were missed. I have checked my personal setting file - I keep a backup handy just in case of issues such as exception errors etc and the file looks perfect but just to be sure I have swapped them out and checked key settings. The only unusual entries relate to the search for a replacement autofocus star - which it did on all the lines last night. The autofocus star is autoselected by sequence and it's never really been this much of an issue before. I did wonder whether there had been a cloud problem in this area of the sky but the maxim images showed no signs of being fuzzy or clouded out. I would be grateful for any thoughts, advice or suggestions on how to overcome this. Mac
  8. I have had this issue as well. Apparently this is a known bug in ASCOM software but it affects sequence in this way particularly if your socpe is parked horizontally and clsoe to any limits. When ASA got back to me the advice was to change the park position so that the telescope was pointing in the opposite direction and since then this annoying problem has gone away. It's a relatively simple and long lasting fix so far. Mac
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