Lost plate solving with update

harpo

Hi. Has anyone else lost the plate solving function with the last firmware update?

I have used it for a year with perfect results. After the newest update, I can't get any plate solving. I've tried multiple exposure times, getting as few as 20 stars and as many as 2000+ stars, always with a message 'failed. Solve took 62 seconds. 373 stars detected (or different number) Maybe too few stars or clouds…"

No clouds, plenty of stars, nothing different than I have done a thousand times in the last year except the new firmware update. It worked perfectly the night before the update, now nothing.

Any ideas?

Thank you!

Chris

w7ay

Hi Chris,

I am currently running v1.2 Beta 6 (firmware 2.60) on an iPad.

I just tried using an image of the polar region that is displayed on a laptop which is placed about 25 feet away from a 71mm Borg telescope with a ASI178MM camera. (It is daytime here in Oregon, and it is fully overcast, anyway; necessitating a synthetic testing setup.)

The Beta ASIAIR successfully plate solved in 3 seconds with 16 detected stars, starting with a main camera focal length initially set to zero.

Perhaps you can try setting the focal length parameter in the Main Camera Settings window to 0mm, and give it another try. That will force ASIAIR to search through a range of focal lengths, not just one specific focal length. It takes longer than when the focal length is known, and once it successfully solves, ASIAIR will change that number to the true focal length which it derives from the plate.

If that is not successful, you can also submit your plate image to astrometry.net and let it find the FOV, and from there, solve for the true focal length of your system -- see if that focal length is substantially different from the one that you have currently set in ASIAIR.

For what its worth, ASIAIR successfully plate solved when the focal length number in my Main Camera setup window is 10% off, but failed when the focal length is 15% off from the true value.

Clear skies,

Chen

harpo

Thank you.

Yes, I actually tried setting focal length to zero. No different.

I tried 3 different cameras- ASI 224, ASI 290, ASI 1600mmPro. I tried with guide scope and main scope. Multiple exposure settings, nothing.

I connected to SharpCap on my laptop to polar align- plate solved in 3 seconds. Unfortunately, I have never used the laptop with my scope for anything other than polar aligning, so I don't have it set up to help me with star alignment, goto, etc.

The focal length (711) has always worked in the past, never taking more than 8 seconds to plate solve, syncing with SkySafari perfectly until this update.

Chris

w7ay

Bizarre, Chris. That focal length should give FOV that is well within the limits of ASIAIR (0.4º to 33º, according to the manual) with *any* of your cameras.

Have you tried removing the Beta app completely and then download 1.1 again from the Apple App Store to see if it still works? You may also need to revert the Firmware back to 2.28.

This is why I keep two SD cards, and use two different iPads (only one of which uses the TestFlight version of ASIAIR) when I try out a beta version. That way, I can quickly check the previously released version in case something does not work.

Good luck, but I am as puzzled as you are.

Chen

harpo

Thanks, Chen.

I don’t have a Beta version, only the normal 1.1 app. The firmware updates automatically on opening the app, I don’t know any way to revert to prior firmware. It is clearly the firmware update that messed up my plate solving.

w7ay

Sorry Chris, I mistook your original "update" statement to mean you have updated from v1.1 to v1.2 Beta. I didn't realize that you are updating from v1.04 (I *think* that was the one before 1.1) to v1.1.

Problem is that, from reading the web forums, except for people with FOVs smaller than 0.4º (mostly SCT without reducers), I don't remember coming across anyone with actual problem with the v1.1 Plate Solve.

I wonder if the plate solve database is somehow missing or corrupted?

Perhaps you need to bite the bullet and resort to a "clean install" by downloading the firmware image that ZWO had placed on the Google Drive, burning that into an SD card and then copy your ASIAIR license file into the SD card. Then completely remove the ASIAIR app from your tablet and reinstall the v1.1 ASIAIR from the App Store again. Let this new ASIAIR v1.1 update the newly created SD card image.

Good luck,

Chen

harpo

It seems to be fixed. I was preparing to do the complete reset, when the 1.2 update of the app came available. I updated the iPad app, then it also did another firmware update, and now plate solving works again!

My best guess is that the previous firmware update was out of sync with the app — maybe it needed the 1.2 version but installed itself too soon, causing failure. I don’t know, just making a guess. At least it works again.

Thanks for the help!