PlateSolve2 with large images

Sequence Generator Plate Solving
1

I’m trying to use an Altair GP-CAM mono with a 16mm lens as an electronic fnder. This works well visually, lots of stars visible, but PlateSolve 2 won’t solve, I get a Run Time Error 6 - overflow error.
Astrometry.Net and Ansvr are fine, I use them to provide the hint data to PS2.

This is a log fragment, it doesn’t show much except the command line to PS2, that seems fine.

[08/25/17 09:47:56.159][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] ************* SOLVE HINTS ****************
[08/25/17 09:47:56.159][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SOLVER: PlateSolve2
[08/25/17 09:47:56.159][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] BLIND: False
[08/25/17 09:47:56.159][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] METHOD: Max Regions
[08/25/17 09:47:56.159][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] RA: 20.157
[08/25/17 09:47:56.159][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] DEC: 43.8593194444444
[08/25/17 09:47:56.159][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SCALE: 48
[08/25/17 09:47:56.159][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] ******************************************
[08/25/17 09:47:56.261][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] FitsFileHeaderData: Angle - 0
[08/25/17 09:47:56.261][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] FitsFileHeaderData: Scale - 0
[08/25/17 09:47:56.262][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] FitsFileHeaderData: RA - 20.157
[08/25/17 09:47:56.262][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] FitsFileHeaderData: DEC - 43.8593205236
[08/25/17 09:47:56.277][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] PlateSove2 Param: RA (RAD) - 5.27709025986746
[08/25/17 09:47:56.277][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] PlateSove2 Param: DEC (RAD) - 0.765489531989526
[08/25/17 09:47:56.277][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] PlateSove2 Param: Width - 1280
[08/25/17 09:47:56.277][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] PlateSove2 Param: Height - 960
[08/25/17 09:47:56.277][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] PlateSolve2 Command Line:
[08/25/17 09:47:56.277][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\SequenceGenerator\PlateSolve2.exe 5.27709025986746,0.76548953198953,0.29786952567370,0.22340214425527,3000,C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\SequenceGenerator\Temp\psXSolve_2.fit
[08/25/17 09:48:29.387][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] *********** SUCCESSFUL SOLVE *************
[08/25/17 09:48:29.387][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SOLVER: False
[08/25/17 09:48:29.387][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SUCCESS: False
[08/25/17 09:48:29.387][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] CONF: 0
[08/25/17 09:48:29.387][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] BLIND: False
[08/25/17 09:48:29.387][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] RA: 0
[08/25/17 09:48:29.387][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] DEC: 0
[08/25/17 09:48:29.387][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SCALE: 0
[08/25/17 09:48:29.387][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] FLIPPED: False
[08/25/17 09:48:29.388][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] ANGLE (EON): -500
[08/25/17 09:48:29.388][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] MSG: Invalid solve!
[08/25/17 09:48:29.388][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] ******************************************
[08/25/17 09:48:29.388][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Image Plate Solve: Failed to solve image…
[08/25/17 09:48:29.389][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Invoking blind failover…

The Astrometry solve gives:

[08/25/17 09:48:56.991][DEBUG] [Unknown] Astrometry.NET returned: {“status”:“success”}
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] Astrometry.NET request: /api/jobs/25/calibration
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] Astrometry.NET returned: {“radius”:0,“parity”:1,“dec”:44.9959015935,“epoch”:“J2000”,“orientation”:-42.055750294913,“pixscale”:51.1739617818866,“ra”:302.380210121}
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] ------------ Begin CalibrationResponse -------------
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] dec 44.9959015935
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] ra 302.380210121
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] radius 0
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] orientation -42.055750294913
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] pixscale 51.1739617818866
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] epoch J2000
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] time NULL
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] parity 51.1739617818866
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] ------------ End CalibrationResponse ---------------
[08/25/17 09:48:56.994][DEBUG] [Unknown] Astrometry.NET - Job successfully solved
[08/25/17 09:48:56.995][DEBUG] [Unknown] Astrometry.NET solve done in 26 seconds.
[08/25/17 09:48:57.729][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Astrometry.NET - Solve Completed
[08/25/17 09:48:57.729][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] *********** SUCCESSFUL SOLVE *************
[08/25/17 09:48:57.729][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SOLVER: True
[08/25/17 09:48:57.730][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SUCCESS: True
[08/25/17 09:48:57.730][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] CONF: 100
[08/25/17 09:48:57.730][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] BLIND: True
[08/25/17 09:48:57.730][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] RA: 20.1586806747333
[08/25/17 09:48:57.730][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] DEC: 44.9959015935
[08/25/17 09:48:57.730][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SCALE: 47.9755891705187
[08/25/17 09:48:57.730][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] FLIPPED: False
[08/25/17 09:48:57.730][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] ANGLE (EON): 137.944249705087
[08/25/17 09:48:57.730][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] MSG:

Solve took 26.924 seconds
[08/25/17 09:48:57.730][DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] ******************************************

Here’s a link to the file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gduilfw26xiz79h/psXSolve_2.fit?dl=0
the bright star is Deneb.
The only time that RTE 6 was mentioned was if the scale was set to 0, I’m setting the scale.
I realise this is pushing the envelope a bit, not many scopes have a 16mm focal length, but if someone knows what the limit is it will help. Maybe I’ll get a longer lens. I happened to have a 16mm lens.

Thanks,

Chris

2

The answer seems to be to uncheck the “Highest accuracy plate solution” option. Once I did that the images all solved.

Found this with a search for plate solve wide field images and of course people using DSLRs with lenses had solved it (and their images). The only other thing they had done was set the max star size to 12 sigma.

1 Like
3

Interesting - I guess that works as the distortion from the wide angle lens prevents an accurate platesolve completing to a small enough residual error. Before you found your own solution I was going to suggest limiting the magnitude too. I found that has helped in crowded star fields.

4

I’d expect a distortion to prevent a solve, not give a RTE. The star field doesn’t look that crowded, it’s only a 2 second exposure.

Still I’m glad I have a fix. Two in fact, I’ve got Ansvr to work as well and could have Astrometry.NET for a change in URL.
I find that PS2 with good hints is only a second or two faster than Ansvr running blind, both a little under 30 seconds. Adding hints to Ansvr didn’t speed it up, but I may have set the hints incorrectly.

5

Posting for posterity…

I had SGP and Plate Solve working perfectly on my old camera (QHY10). I upgraded to a QHY367c and Plate Solve would fail 95% of the time with run time error ‘6’ overflow. The log files showed that SGP was passing the correct parameters to Plate Solve. Unchecking “Highest accuracy plate solution” seems to have solved the problem.

Gary

1 Like
6

Thanks!!!
I got 100% success on telescope & 200mm DSLR lens but overflow fail 50% of time with 100mm DSLR lens. Uncheck this box helps to get 100% success on my 100mm so far.