[AZ-Observing] All-sky plate solve
- From: Howard Anderson <handy13@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, EVAC ONLINE <EVAC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 14 May 2011 07:35:21 -0700
Hi,
I have been puzzling out how to get a remote LX-200 classic scope
resynced with
the night sky should it ever get out of sync so I don't know where it is
pointing.
Think I have an answer so thought I would share it briefly here:
1. There is a Flickr site that accepts astrophotos:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/387956@N23/
2. When a photo is posted the site automatically
attempts an all-sky plate solve, i.e., it searches
the entire night sky to try to find a match for
the photo.
3. If it finds a match, it will, in a few minutes, post
the Right Ascension and Declination below the
photo.
4. I posted a photo and you can see the
image and the plate-solve result here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/astroshow/5717308165/in/pool-astrometry#/photos/astroshow/5717308165/in/pool-387956@N23/
5. All you need to do to use this service is sign up
for Flickr and then join the "astrometry" group.
<>Then you can post an astrophoto to YOUR Flickr
page and then transfer it to the group and
the all-sky plate solve system will eventually, if
possible, provide you with the Right Ascension
and Declination of the center of your photo.
So:
1. If my remote telescope loses sync somehow and I
don't know where it is pointing, I will have remote webcams
pointed at the scope that will show me the general scope
position so I can be sure to get it pointed up toward the
sky using remote slew commands.
2. Then I will take a picture of whatever it is pointed at.
3. Then I will submit the picture to the Astrometry
group on Flickr.
4. Assuming that I can eventually get a plate-solve
result, I will then know where the scope is pointing.
5. I will then need to carefully slew it to a nearby
star of Magnitude 5 or so (the Meade telescope
contains SAO data for stars of at least Magnitude
5. (I will find that star using Megastar and the
RA and Dec provided by the plate solve routine.)
6. I will then take another image which contains the
SAO star I located and submit it to the Astrometry group.
7. Then use HandyAvi (which I wrote) to "sync" to the
coordinates provided by Astrometry of this new SAO
star plate.
8. Then center the star using HandyAvi slew controls.
9. Then resync so that the system is matched as well as
possible to the sky.
At least that's the plan at the moment Will save a 400
mile round-trip drive if this situation ever occurs. Will
be doing all sorts of stuff to try to ensure that the problem
never occurs (Uninterruptable power supply, "Park" routines
in ACP, etc., etc...) But the above is the backup plan
if somehow everything else fails...
Thanks,
Howard Anderson
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