ASIAIR v2.5.2 has been released!: Page 13

ASIAIR v2.5.2 has been released!

Luxo

Ah well... last observing week this month clouded out again... probably no chances until 7 July.

Moontanner

Tell me about it. We've had clear nights up this way that suddenly change and dump large amounts of rain. Seeing has also been terrible with the jetstreams shifting around wildly.
What happened to Winter proper?

A nice gold plated RCA plug would definitely work as a stable main power input on the ASIAIR. If I look in my spares box at all my DIY focusers and dew heaters/controllers from back in the day, they were my go to for a cheap and reliable connector (albeit, a little easier to short out than the other types).
+1 on the double sided Velcro straps. That stuff is worth its weight in gold for more than astro. I've got boxes of the stuff all over the place and have used it successfully on multiple scopes for years without any issues. I also use it for cable/hose management at work and can confirm it takes abuse for years without issue.
It's much more gentle than cable ties or other more permanent options.

johnpd

I just happened to notice that if you have the temperature in the name of the image, it shows a weird two or three digit number followed by "deg". It used to have something like "-10.0C" if you had the temp set at -10C. Is this a bug?

JohnD

Moontanner

johnpd
Is this in the current release, or the Beta?

Is it possible you're looking at the shot framing angle? That got moved further along in the filename recently as it was messing up the file order when located earlier in the filename.

johnpd

Moontanner

Yes, I am on v2.5.2 (13.41). Thanks. I checked the settings and see a camera angle was added and was automatically enabled but the temperature was not enabled. So I set that on as well as the gain.

JohnD

Moontanner

johnpd
Can you post a screen grab of what your seeing?

johnpd

I had changed the names of most of them. Here are some still with the old names.

JohnD

Moontanner

johnpd
You've lost me there, John. That looks totally normal to me. I don't remember having the temperature showing in the filename.
I've always opened my saved FITS files with ASTAP if I want all the details.
Looking back at some test shots from the other night, the RA and DEC look fine. They match what I get when I go to the same target in Stellarium.

johnpd

Well we can add another blooper. In looking at the RA and Dec values in the FITS header, it shows an RA of 315 and a proper Dec value. The RA value is somewhat close to the AZ value (around 261). Where are they digging up the RA from. This is for the Rosette (NGC2244)

JohnD

Luxo

Interesting, I've never looked - will do now.
RA is in decimal degrees, not HHMMSS

The Rosette is at RA 06h 34m = 98.3 degrees.
Could you open the FITS with a text editor and show a screenshot.

Mine look OK... .

Moontanner

Luxo
I had a look at some data from an evening when I decided it was time for a mount service. Unfortunately, the really bad lights form that period have all been deleted already.
If I open things up in ASTAP and hit "solve" it'll spit out slightly different figures to those saved in the original FITS header. (It's a handy tool if you want to revisit a target from previous years and get the framing set up correctly).
It shows that the RA listed in the FITS header can shift around, but 315deg vs 98deg is seriously whack.

Could it be a mount syncing issue, JohnD? RA 98deg for the Rosette compared to 315deg in the FITS header seems extreme.

Luxo

Ah there is a way for what John describes to occur - I've done it myself.

Using ASIAir, suppose you pick a target from the catalog, execute a GOTO with plate-solve to some target at 315 degrees. It picks up the target name, RA and Dec from that.
Now in PREVIEW, open the star atlas zoom out, and drag the map - don't use the object catalog - to position some other random piece of sky (in this case the Rosette) in the field of the scope. Press GOTO. Do NOT press SYNC. This time - because you didn't select the object from the catalog ASIAir will execute the slew - without doing a plate solve. It also has no idea what the target was, since none was selected.
You can commence guiding and imaging with an AUTORUN and PLAN - but ASAIR retains target name, the RA and Dec from the step 1 - it doesn't obtain the actual RA and Dec from the mount - which it really should do. The result is a FITS file with the target name, RA and Dec from step 1, but the image is of something else entirely different.

Moontanner

Luxo
That makes sense (even though it shouldn't).
It sounds similar to my issue when my CAA was first introduced and I was getting weird results. The ASIAIR was getting totally lost and I had to keep manually syncing the mount.
Sounds like a bug that should be fixed up by ZWO forcing a plate solve.

Going from 98 to 315 is one hell of a slew. practically whale watching angles from my place.

Luxo

Passing through 0h it’s possible - (360-315) + 98 =143 …

Moontanner

Luxo
I did the maths. Maybe I'll only get the water spouts from the blowholes.

It's a pretty extreme set of angles to be shooting targets if it caused by your example. I'd love to try out a few variations to see if I can produce something similar but the sky Gods have granted a clear night. Albeit, with an annoying moon for the first half.

johnpd

This is what my FITS header shows:

JohnD

SIMPLE = T / file does conform to FITS standard
BITPIX = 16 / number of bits per data pixel
NAXIS = 2 / number of data axes
NAXIS1 = 3008 / length of data axis 1
NAXIS2 = 3008 / length of data axis 2
EXTEND = T / FITS dataset may contain extensions
COMMENT FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) format is defined in 'Astronomy
COMMENT and Astrophysics', volume 376, page 359; bibcode: 2001A&A...376..359H
BZERO = 32768 / offset data range to that of unsigned short
BSCALE = 1 / default scaling factor
CREATOR = 'ZWO ASIAIR Plus' / Capture software
OFFSET = 70 / camera offset
XORGSUBF= 0 / Subframe X position in binned pixels
YORGSUBF= 0 / Subframe Y position in binned pixels
FOCALLEN= 248 / Focal length of telescope in mm
SET-TEMP= -5 / CCD temperature setpoint in degrees C
EGAIN = 1.00560426712036 / Electronic gain in e-/ADU
XBINNING= 1 / Camera X Bin
YBINNING= 1 / Camera Y Bin
CCDXBIN = 1 / Camera X Bin
CCDYBIN = 1 / Camera Y Bin
XPIXSZ = 3.75999999046326 / pixel size in microns (with binning)
YPIXSZ = 3.75999999046326 / pixel size in microns (with binning)
IMAGETYP= 'Light ' / Type of image
EXPOSURE= 180. / Exposure time in seconds
EXPTIME = 180. / Exposure time in seconds
CCD-TEMP= -5. / sensor temperature in C
RA = 98.42916 / Object Right Ascension in degrees
DEC = 4.832778 / Object Declination in degrees
DATE-OBS= '2026-04-16T05:07:43.586446' / Image exposure start time
INSTRUME= 'ZWO ASI533MC Pro' / Camera model
GUIDECAM= 'ZWO ASI220MM Mini' / Guide camera model
BAYERPAT= 'RGGB ' / Bayer pattern
GAIN = 100 / Gain Value
TELESCOP= 'OnStep Electronics' / Telescope name
OBJECT = 'NGC 2244' / name or catalog number of object being imaged
SITELONG= -110.939 / longitude of the imaging site in degrees
SITELAT = 31.8852 / latitude of the imaging site in degrees
ROTATOR = 268 / Camera Angle
CTYPE1 = 'RA---TAN-SIP' / TAN (gnomic) projection + SIP distortions
CTYPE2 = 'DEC--TAN-SIP' / TAN (gnomic) projection + SIP distortions
CRVAL1 = 98.0022435886 / RA of reference point
CRVAL2 = 5.40104392782 / DEC of reference point
CRPIX1 = 2136.479278564 / X reference pixel
CRPIX2 = 1607.489593504 / Y reference pixel
CD1_1 = 2.5981547387E-05 / Transformation matrix
CD1_2 = -0.000866028919465 / no comment
CD2_1 = 0.0008652959794975 / no comment
CD2_2 = 2.4236597809325E-05 / no comment
A_ORDER = 2 / Polynomial order, axis 1
B_ORDER = 2 / Polynomial order, axis 2
AP_ORDER= 2 / Inv polynomial order, axis 1
BP_ORDER= 2 / Inv polynomial order, axis 2
A_0_0 = 0 / no comment
A_0_1 = 0 / no comment
A_0_2 = -1.25119946419E-07 / no comment
A_1_0 = 0 / no comment
A_1_1 = -7.109059518325E-08 / no comment
A_2_0 = -5.664969202375E-08 / no comment
B_0_0 = 0 / no comment
B_0_1 = 0 / no comment
B_0_2 = 2.730156508725E-07 / no comment
B_1_0 = 0 / no comment
B_1_1 = -3.0131215838E-07 / no comment
B_2_0 = 2.6609035515E-08 / no comment
AP_0_0 = 3.314819778096E-05 / no comment
AP_0_1 = -8.32872802933E-08 / no comment
AP_0_2 = 1.250909221545E-07 / no comment
AP_1_0 = 5.72947766071E-08 / no comment
AP_1_1 = 7.104079932275E-08 / no comment
AP_2_0 = 5.663824046375E-08 / no comment
BP_0_0 = -9.12092793276E-05 / no comment
BP_0_1 = 3.43090393643E-07 / no comment
BP_0_2 = -2.729272557825E-07 / no comment
BP_1_0 = -2.02819114407E-07 / no comment
BP_1_1 = 3.01210458845E-07 / no comment
BP_2_0 = -2.66004694235E-08 / no comment
IMAGEW = 3008 / Image width, in pixels.
IMAGEH = 3008 / Image height, in pixels.

Moontanner

johnpd
Hi JohnD.
Just a heads up that you might want to drop the location coordinates from your post above for privacy reasons.

Clear skies.
Ross.

Luxo

OK so in that lot, you have...

RA = 98.42916 / Object Right Ascension in degrees
DEC = 4.832778 / Object Declination in degrees
...
OBJECT = 'NGC 2244' / name or catalog number of object being imaged

... RA 98.42916 = 6h 33' is fine for NGC2244, ASIAir GOTO with plate-solving has residual errors of a couple of arc minutes.

I don't see where you get 315 from.

Luxo

Location is not an issue if for example its a park or public place 🙂

Moontanner

Luxo
It was just a simple courtesy "heads up" in case JD didn't realise how accurate those coordinates can be. I've always loved exploring places and haven't been to that part of the US yet. The coordinates piqued my interest.

I know exactly where your shots were taken, Luxo. I'm pretty keen to see how the M 83 shots turned out with your rig as I'm familiar with the skies around that part of the world.
If I was still local, I'd happily loan you the 2600MM to grab a luminance stack to combine with your colour data from the 2600MC.

It sounds like JohnD got his weird RA readings sorted. Win, win.
Clear skies, JohnD. Or maybe I should wish you cool evenings and stable seeing at this time of year.
All the best.

johnpd

OK, the correct AZ of the Rosette at the time of that image was about 264 degrees. I think the 315 was from a dark I took later.

JohnD

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