"Center here" without platesolving every time

Hi! It would be great if SGP could remember the orientation and the scale of the images based on a platesolve, so using the “Center here” feature wouldn’t have to run a platesolve every time. On MaximDL the similar centering feature can be calibrated using PinPoint, so the centering commands immediately know how much to move and in which direction.

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This sounds reasonable. Thanks for your feedback.

Tentatively marking for 2.4.X (maybe). That said, while the math is easy enough (given a good solve), we would need to figure out how to negate the “fast move” if the mount is moved to another location (slew or nudge) without a solve (I think this is easy, but I am not sure yet…).

Adding this as a note / reference: If scope does not allow sync, just go straight to this mode:

So… thinking about this tonight also.

Does it seem reasonable to leave the “Center Here” functionality as is and add a new option below it called “Slew Here”? The slew here would calculate the RA / DEC value of the pixel you clicked on and move there. This way, we would not alter the workflow of those without super-precise pointing models (most SGPro users).

That sounds reasonable. The feature just needs the pixel scale and image orientation information from somewhere, e.g. from a previous platesolve.

OK. This feature has been implemented in 2.4.3.

Some thoughts and implementation details (you can weigh in on these… my thoughts are my thoughts)

Thoughts:

  • I am hopeful that this is not a commonly used feature… It does not fit in well with our perceived workflow (everyone has their own though). There are better ways to center your target. It was implemented by popular demand. Higher end mounts will have a better time with this feature.
  • Another night’s image
  • An astrobin image
  • This will get you through in a pinch (without a lot of overhead). You can quickly tweak image center assuming your mount has enough precision to do this. It might require a couple times for very small movements (in order to get the backlash out).
  • It is a feature that requires an assumption on the user’s part (which is why part of me dreads supporting it). You must have performed at least one solve and those things can’t have changed when you attempt to use this feature.

Implementation

  • Note the assumption above
  • There is no dialog that pops up for this action… the entire purpose is that it is low profile and fast. There is a status in the lower left corner of the main window and that’s it.

Here it is:

If you choose center here… the behavior remains unchanged… it will conduct a very precise (but more time consuming centering).