Probably another dumb question, but that wouldn’t be a first for me, so here goes. Is there a way to use two different equipment profiles and sequences during an evenings imaging and do it automatically with SGP or other software in combination with SGP?
I ask this because I’m currently using two scopes on the same mount. I start with the longer f/l profile early in the evening, then switch to the shorter f/l scope about 2AM. I shut down the 1st sequence and profile then go to the 2nd sequence/profile. Would there be a way to automate the process whereby 1st is shut down and then move on to 2nd and not lose sleep? Galaxy season doesn’t offer a real lot for me when there is a full moon and I want to go to the nebulous stuff of the wee hours of the morning.
I know I can currently move from one object to another by setting times on an individual profile/sequence, but going to entirely different profile and sequence may just be a pipe dream…Gunny
Just thinking aloud here with a work around, not elegant but it may work or at least move you on towards a solution.
You can launch two instances of SGP, one for each equipment profile.
If the target settings are set appropriately with start and finish times for each instance (and therefore each equipment profile), you could have the first instance and longer FL scope image, then stop, disconnect equipment with End of Sequence options, then the second instance of SGP will start when the time is reached with an automatic connection of equipment, dome slaving, slew and centre and off you go with the second sequence.
Good to hear from you again and thanks for the work that you and Michel have done on MountWizzard. I’m still using 2.1.23 and am very happy with it. Wouldn’t you know that last night, I got the dreaded deltaT on the HC. If I had been smart, I should have gone to 2.1.25 for the UTC updates. Michel and Pogo have done a great job for the 10u crowd.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my guess is you could take your approach or stay within the same instance of SGP and do the whole thing via a script. All of the end of sequence operations with regard to shut down, then a feature to launch the next profile and sequence. I’m not an expert on any of the scripting that would be required, so maybe your approach is something for me to experiment with. Having the two scopes work one after the other would be a neat trick, if SGP allows two separate instances to operate in tandem.
You can certainly run 2 instances of SGP. The issue would be if the devices allow 2 processes to be connected at once. Most mounts allow this but the same generally cannot be said for cameras, filterwheels, etc. So you’d need to disconnect everything from one instance of SGP and then connect with the other.
I wonder if this will work!
Run two instances of sgp on one computer. The first instances are for capturing and controlling the mount (PHD and dithering) and nothing else for now. The second instances are only for capturing - nothing else.
If I set capture to start at the same time in both instances and with the same exposure length. Set delay between frames to 30 sec in both instances, or whatever it takes to finish dithering. Will this prevent that the images in the second instances is being destroyed by dithering?
best regards
John
It’s about 7 PM here in the Midwest so I started connecting all the equipment on two separate SGP windows. So Far I was able to get both cameras cooling and able to connect to the mount. FWs and focusers all connected successfully.
I will be using guiding with the longer f/l scope, but not the shorter f/l scope. Where the rub may come in is with the two separate models for the scopes and the 10 Micron mount. What I hope is that the model for the shorter f/l scope will work with the longer f/l scope. The shorter scope will run unguided and definitely needs the model for 30 min nb subs. Supposedly, with guiding, the model for my bigger scope is not as important. Where I can see a potential problem, is the pointing accuracy and auto centering using the shorter f/l model. Cameras will both have to be cooled at the same time, unless I want to cool at the sequence start and waste a 30 minute exposure once the tandem scope begins its sequence.
I’ve also set the two sequences such that the first camera has time to warm up and then shuts down the sequence with a 15 minute time delay before starting the 2nd camera run of SGP.
All a big experiment for now, so stay tuned and see what happens with this adventure…Gunny
Everything worked except when it came to the mount and models. With the 10u mount, each optical train needs its own unique model. That requires clearing the previous model and loading a second model from the hand controller. SGP doesn’t have that capability, so it is a no go for me.
When using just one model for both optical trains, my stars showed enough elongation to bother me. Easily taken care of with deconvolution, but still not what I would consider acceptable. I tried two different models and the results were the same. Bad news for me, but it should work for those having mounts that don’t rely on modelling.