Very strange problems with autostrech during autofocus or plate solving

Sequence Generator
1

I have an Atik383L with has worked very nice for a long time. The plate solving feature wich I configured in february has also worked always perfectly.

Yesterday I installed a robofocus and configured it. Then i realised that I have a problem with autostrech on the SGP that makes the autofocus procedure imposible to work, also it has affected the plate solving feature and now it’s not working at all.

The problem is that when the camera makes the photo for plate solving or focusing, when it autostreches it half of the photo gets completely white, here you can see an example of what i mean:

If i right clic on the photo and save it and open with another software, the photo looks right, so the autostrech problem only affects the SGP software.

I have checked my options and on autostrech level it says LOW

My version is 2.5.1.16 on Windows 10

Thank you to all of you.

2

Here is the log when I try to blind solve:

[16/07/2016 19:41:58] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Astrometry.NET: Sequence endpoint data: Astrometry.NET (Remote)
[16/07/2016 19:41:58] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Astrometry.NET: Sequence endpoint data: Astrometry.NET (Remote)
[16/07/2016 19:41:58] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Astrometry.NET convertedAstrometry.fits path: C:\Users\NoRiCKaBe\AppData\Local\SequenceGenerator\Temp\convertedAstometry.fits
[16/07/2016 19:41:58] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Astrometry.NET - File is too large, resizing
[16/07/2016 19:41:58] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Astrometry.NET - Saving file
[16/07/2016 19:41:58] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SaveFileBmp16: Locking bitmap for disk write…
[16/07/2016 19:41:58] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SaveFileBmp16: Opening file stream…
[16/07/2016 19:41:58] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SaveFileBmp16: Writing FITS headers…
[16/07/2016 19:41:58] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SaveFileBmp16: Traversing and persisting bitmap data…
[16/07/2016 19:41:59] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SaveFileBmp16: FITS block fill…
[16/07/2016 19:41:59] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SaveFileBmp16: Unlocking bitmap…
[16/07/2016 19:41:59] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] SaveFileBmp16: Closing file stream
[16/07/2016 19:41:59] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Astrometry.NET using endpoint: Astrometry.net
[16/07/2016 19:41:59] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Astrometry.NET - Calling Async Solve
[16/07/2016 19:42:00] [DEBUG] [Unknown] Exception in Astrometry.NET Solver: Referencia a objeto no establecida como instancia de un objeto.
[16/07/2016 19:42:00] [DEBUG] [Unknown] Astrometry.NET solve done in 0 seconds.
[16/07/2016 19:42:01] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Astrometry.NET - Solve Completed
[16/07/2016 19:42:01] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Astrometry.NET - Failed to solve image.
[16/07/2016 19:42:01] [DEBUG] [Image Plate Solve Thread] Blind solve failed, quitting…
[16/07/2016 19:42:01] [DEBUG] [Ps Status Thread] Aborting solve…

3

I have done some test during last nights, and I can confirm that is a problem with the SGP software, because if I use in the Focus section “Take One” command, the image is stretched properly, but as soon as it trays to plate solve or autofocus, the image the SGP gets is stretched with half of the screen totally burned so the software can’t autofocus or plate solve.

If I save that totally burned image, and then open in any other software and autostrech it, the image looks perfectly.

As soon as I close SGP without disconnecting anything on my system, take a photo with another program and then I come back to SGP and download an image manually, It works correctly again, but as soon as I use plate solve or autofocus the autostrech process gets mad again.

The High Speed download option on my camera profile is unmarked, so I don’t know what is ruining my sessions.

I’m really disappointed with SGP, this looks clearly a SGP problem, I paid my license as it claims to give me support and I haven’t received any answer to my problem in more than 48 hours.

4

I’m not sure where you saw an SLA for support as one does not exist. 48 hours over a weekend is pretty demanding if you ask me. Sorry but we have families too and there’s really no such thing as a “astrophotography emergency”.

As far as your issue is concerned, auto stretch is only for display purposes. It, in no way, affects that results of auto focus or plate solving as both of those run on the raw images and not on the stretched data. If you could attach a full log as well a a FITs taken with auto focus or platesolve and one taken with the “take one” that would be helpful.

Thanks,
Jared

1 Like
5

I do have family too, and I plane my free days to do some astrophoto and the last thing I wanted was having problems with SGP, asking for support in the forum and not receiving any answer and ruining the only two days I’ve got in months to take some photos… Actually I didn’t realized if it was weekend or not, sorry about that. Please understand too my situation, I live in an area where the sky it’s always clouded and only have 3-4 nights on half a year.

In the picture I posted in the first post you can see how the program only can see the stars of one small part of the photo, the 80% of the photo looks burned. If I right click on that burned image and save it and open in pixinsight the image is perfectly showed.

Here is a image of Andromeda galaxy, I was sequencing M31, finished it and then the SGP must auto center another objet, it took this picture and must plate solve it, but on SGp it look totally burned (looks something like you may see on first post) so it was unable to detect any star right clicked on it and here is the file, if I open it on any other software it shows perfectly 2.fit.zip (522.4 KB)

6

Here is the part of the log where it tried to plate solve and failed, I also attach the complete session log.

[17/07/2016 4:2sg_logfile_20160717010700.txt.zip (83.5 KB)6:51]

[DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] PHD2 GetPhdStatus - Post-Wait: Stopped
[17/07/2016 4:26:51] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] PHD2: Successfully stopeed PHD2…
[17/07/2016 4:26:51] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] DoEventGroupChange: Centering on target
[17/07/2016 4:26:52] [DEBUG] [Telescope Thread] Center telescope message received…
[17/07/2016 4:26:52] [DEBUG] [Telescope Thread] Solving with Plate Solver PlateSolve2…
[17/07/2016 4:26:52] [DEBUG] [Telescope Thread] Performing auto center step 1…
[17/07/2016 4:26:52] [DEBUG] [Telescope Thread] Skipping step 1…
[17/07/2016 4:26:52] [DEBUG] [Telescope Thread] Auto center reference frame solved successfully…
[17/07/2016 4:26:52] [DEBUG] [Telescope Thread] Performing auto center step 2…
[17/07/2016 4:26:52] [DEBUG] [Telescope Thread] Created full file name: C:\Users\NoRiCKaBe\AppData\Local\SequenceGenerator\Temp\plate_solve_image-4.fit
[17/07/2016 4:26:52] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SGM_CAMERA_PLATE_SOLVER_CAPTURE message received…
[17/07/2016 4:26:52] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Collecting FITs headers for plate solve frame…
[17/07/2016 4:26:52] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Collecting FITs headers for plate solve frame…
[17/07/2016 4:26:52] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SetAscomHighSpeed…
[17/07/2016 4:26:52] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Readout speed set to HIGH…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Created full file name: C:\Users\NoRiCKaBe\AppData\Local\SequenceGenerator\Temp\plate_solve_image-4.fit
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileAscom: Start…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileAscom: Checking image data…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileAscom: Create normal preview bitmap…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileAscom: Locking preview bits…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileAscom: Validating file name…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileAscom: Starting byte traversal…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileAscom: Unlocking preview bits…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileAscom: Saving preview bitmap to disk…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileBmp16: Locking bitmap for disk write…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileBmp16: Opening file stream…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileBmp16: Writing FITS headers…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileBmp16: Traversing and persisting bitmap data…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileBmp16: FITS block fill…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileBmp16: Unlocking bitmap…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileBmp16: Closing file stream
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Internal Interface: Set Preview…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Display image preview using asynch task…
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SaveFileAscom: Done
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] =========== Save file took 86 ms
[17/07/2016 4:26:59] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SGM_CAMERA_PLATE_SOLVER_CAPTURE complete…
[17/07/2016 4:27:51] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] PHD2 - No messages received from PHD2 for 1 minute, checking socket with status…
[17/07/2016 4:27:51] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] Checking PHD2 state…
[17/07/2016 4:27:51] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] PHD2 GetPhdStatus - Pre-Wait : Stopped
[17/07/2016 4:27:51] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] Sending to PHD2:
{“method”: “get_app_state”, “id”: 1001}

[17/07/2016 4:27:51] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] PHD2 GetPhdStatus - Post-Wait: Stopped
[17/07/2016 4:28:03] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] PopulateDataModel: Transferring view to the data model…
[17/07/2016 4:28:03] [DEBUG] [MF Update Thread] Performing serialize…
[17/07/2016 4:28:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] PHD2 - No messages received from PHD2 for 1 minute, checking socket with status…
[17/07/2016 4:28:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] Checking PHD2 state…
[17/07/2016 4:28:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] PHD2 GetPhdStatus - Pre-Wait : Stopped
[17/07/2016 4:28:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] Sending to PHD2:
{“method”: “get_app_state”, “id”: 1001}

[17/07/2016 4:28:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] PHD2 GetPhdStatus - Post-Wait: Stopped
[17/07/2016 4:29:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] PHD2 - No messages received from PHD2 for 1 minute, checking socket with status…
[17/07/2016 4:29:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] Checking PHD2 state…
[17/07/2016 4:29:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] PHD2 GetPhdStatus - Pre-Wait : Stopped
[17/07/2016 4:29:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] Sending to PHD2:
{“method”: “get_app_state”, “id”: 1001}

[17/07/2016 4:29:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] PHD2 GetPhdStatus - Post-Wait: Stopped
[17/07/2016 4:30:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] PHD2 - No messages received from PHD2 for 1 minute, checking socket with status…
[17/07/2016 4:30:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] Checking PHD2 state…
[17/07/2016 4:30:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] PHD2 GetPhdStatus - Pre-Wait : Stopped
[17/07/2016 4:30:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] Sending to PHD2:
{“method”: “get_app_state”, “id”: 1001}

[17/07/2016 4:30:52] [DEBUG] [PHD2 Listener Thread] PHD2 GetPhdStatus - Post-Wait: Stopped
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Telescope Thread] Aborting solver frame. Time out!
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Telescope Thread] Aborting auto center…
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Telescope Thread] Auto center aborted, closing centering dialog…
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] DoEventGroupChange: Complete
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Attempting to find next event…
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Current event[0] frame count: 0/7…
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Current event event[0] has remaining frames. Returning current event.
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Running capture event…
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] ------------- Starting capture frame for event[0] -------------
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Sending commands…
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] SetFlatBox: Frame Type is Light
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] TEMP - Current Event2: 0
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] TEMP - Current Event10: 0
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Run event requested sequence abort…
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Clearing timed monitoring events…
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Checking RunEndOfSequenceEquipmentOptions, force = True
[17/07/2016 4:30:58] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] In RunEndOfSequenceEquipmentOptions
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Stopping auto guiding…
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Attempting to stop PHD2 guiding…
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Checking PHD2 state…
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] PHD2 GetPhdStatus - Pre-Wait : Stopped
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Sending to PHD2:
{“method”: “get_app_state”, “id”: 1001}

[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [TEC Thread] SGM_CHANGE_COOLER_TEMP message received…
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [TEC Thread] TEC Change: Starting…
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [TEC Thread] TEC Change: Changing temp from -0,19 to 20,00 in 300 seconds…
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] PHD2 GetPhdStatus - Post-Wait: Stopped
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] PHD2 Guider is already stopped.
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Autoguider (PHDv2) stopped Successfully
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Disconnecting auto guider equipment…
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Sending to PHD2:
{“method”:“set_connected”,“params”:[false],“id”:1007}

[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Parking telescope…
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] ASCOM Telescope: Park message received.
[17/07/2016 4:31:29] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] ASCOM Telescope: Sending park…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] ASCOM Telescope: Parked
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Aborting sequence timer thread…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Aborting recovery thread…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Sending sequence end notification…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Resetting UI elements…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Checking if sequence has work left…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Work left…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Recovery Killer Thread] Closing recovery dialog…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Updating big status…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Enabling menu items…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Set target icons…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Removing camera protection…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Monitoring system shutdown…
[17/07/2016 4:31:51] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] SequenceEnds complete…

7

On this thread seems that more people have the same problem with the same camera, and on Apr3 another one have the same problem again, always with the atik 383L…

http://forum.mainsequencesoftware.com/t/auto-stretch-gives-white-image-for-atik-383l-ccd/931/11

8

Hi-

Yes your problem sounded familiar but you didn’t mention switching to high speed download. I had problems with the Atik and high speed download and I reported them here - but I never tried it again and assumed it wasn’t fixed. I have been using the atik with 2.5.17 and the latest Atik drivers and it has worked ok - but at the normal download speed.

So if that is your problem - just turn off high speed download. And if you need high speed download - you need to figure out where the problem lies and make sure the right people know about it and have an interest in fixing it.

Frank

9

I have had a look at the fits image you posted using Fits Liberator.

It looks very similar to how SGP would show it, a pronounced gradient and only the brightest objects visible. The impression it gives me is that the cooler isn’t on. The gradient is an artefact of the readout process when it’s not cooled.

The SGP log confirms this:

[TEC Thread] TEC Change: Aborted…

There was a recent problem with the ATIK drivers that is now resolved. The image headers show that you may have the bad driver. I suggest that you try updating the Atik drivers. I think the new ones are on their download site.

10

freestar8n: I read the old thread and tried unchecking the High speed download, but it didn’t work.

I guess you’re right and it’s a camera cooling problem, yesterday I tried to get some darks and I realised the cooler was not working and the sequence didn’t start untill 15 minutes tiemout.

I think I’ve installed last drivers, as this is a new laptop and I configured it recently, but I’ll tray installing the camera drivers again.

Thank you so much to both of you freestar8n and Chris.

11

I have always had slightly odd behavior of sgp with atik and it is still a little odd with the latest drivers. The camera cooling doesn’t turn on right away like it should. I haven’t pinned anything down but I need to make sure it’s all working right when I start sgp and connect it.

But the thing with high speed back then was I’m pretty sure just specific to high speed and not cooling. I think it was working fine at normal speed but switching to high speed made the problem happen. I can’t test anything myself for a while.

But I assume things will work for you somehow. Just check that the camera really is cooling - and let me know if high speed actually works.

Frank

12

If you have it disabled in the ASCOM driver you may also want to disable it in SGP in case that is toggling it on and off:

I know there have been some recent issues with the Atik driver and they’ve been addressing them. If you haven’t already you may want to contact Atik about this as it sounds like a known issue with their driver and high speed download.

Thanks,
Jared

13

In my case I have that checkbox unmarked, but I guess I have the worng drivers…

14

I don’t know about “wrong”. Unfortunately I don’t have an Atik camera to test with. Perhaps @freestar8n can give you a suggestion as to which driver he is using.

Thanks,
Jared

15

I used recent atik drivers from this July. They were discussed in a thread here. Rebooting after installation. I didn’t set anything special in the driver itself. I will show my sgp settings here later.

Frank

16

I have changed the driver to the last one and now the cooler is running properly and the sgp is streching the image correctly, both autofocus and plate solving features are working perfectly.

Thank you very much to all of you!

17

You have no idea how fortunate you are to be using SGP with the support of Ken and Jared. These guys, without asking have turned around fixes or suggestions overnight in some cases. That is service - and all but burned out Ken. All I can say is that you don’t get that kind of service from other software vendors at considerably higher price-points.

We have all been there - we all have dodgy weather and other lives and, when finally we want to do something, it crashes. It is very frustrating at times. It is easy, however, to think we know the problem and be too quick to pass verdict.
clear skies

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