AstroTortilla
=============
Copyright 2012-2014 AstroTortilla Team <astrotortilla-devel@lists.sourceforge.net>
Copyright 2010-2011 Antti Kuntsi
The AstroTortilla project aims to automate repetitive tasks during a modern day
astrophotography session using plate-solving software to speed up the mount
alignment and GoTo error corrections.
This project is licensed under GPL, see the file LICENSE for details. This
software is delivered as-is, with no expressed or implied guarantees of being
fit for any purpose.
Version history
---------------
v0.7 Error corrections for re-centering and config values
v0.6 Backyard EOS v3 support, Nebulosity 3.1 support, working_dir fixes
v0.5.2 Window handling fixes
v0.5.1 APT compatibility issues, window position corrections
v0.5 Bookmark editing window added (edit, delete, new), polar alignment
wizard epoch corrections
v0.4.3 APT 2.1 fixed capture protocol with CCD cameras, workaround removed
v0.4.2 APT 2.0.1 binning and ASCOM support, cosmetic tweaks, screen capture
fixes
v0.4.1 UI responsiveness, log window position, scope driver quirks setup
v0.4 Window resizing, position and size persistence added
v0.3.5 Error fixes for ASCOM mount access, exposure time corrections,
documentation updates, installer update, index installation added
v0.3 Error fixes for APT, bookmark support,
LX200 non-conformance fixes, new config settings enabled,
Nebulosity 3 support, solver error handling improvements
v0.2.10 Astro Photography Tool support, JNow epoch support
v0.2.9 Initial bookmark support, 64 bit build support, WCS info bugfixes
v0.2.8 Bugfixes for ASCOM Camera, Help About, config file locations.
v0.2.7 Sync error checking corrections, WCS parser error handling added,
Cygwin installer updates for SourceForge changes
v0.2.6 Sync failure check added, fixed error in re-slewing to target
v0.2.5 Added initial support for APT, ASCOM telescope status caching,
support for logging into file and a log viewer.
v0.2.4 Renamed library to astrotortilla, improved Nebulosity integration,
Support for explicit filter selection added to MaximDL and Nebulosity,
Added Cygwin setup step as an option to installer.
v0.2.3 Updates for Python 2.7 compatibility, documentation updates
v0.2.2 Minor bugfixes in localisation, updates in manuals
v0.2.1 Major bugfixes in goto correction, localisation added for Finnish,
documentation added
v0.2.0 Refactored the main functionality into separate module
v0.1.3 MaximDL support, Astrometry.net web-interface solver, bug-fixes,
Nebulosity 2.4 support
v0.1.2 Nebulosity2 scripting support improved, bugfixes for image capture
Support for drift-shot added, moves mount in RA during exposure (>=30s)
v0.1.1 Binning setting comparison fix in camera implementations
v0.1.0 First test release packaged as an executable
Using AstroTortilla
-------------------
For details read the User's Guide.
Intent of AstroTortilla is to enable using the imaging camera for determining
the need for slew corrections. Using the imaging camera ensures that the GoTo
is slewed dead-on on the camera view. Before imaging thru AstroTortilla, take
at least one exposure with your imaging software and ensure the field is in
reasonable focus.
The images obtained from a camera are evaluated by a plate solving application,
and initially a wrapper for astrometry.net is implemented. The code for
astrometry.net is freely available. You need a set of astrometric index files
from http://broiler.astrometry.net/~dstn/4000/ in order to solve your images.
You most likely do not need all the files there-in, see the AstroTortilla
documentation for assistance and details. The AstroTortilla installer can
download these indexes for you.
If you wish to obtain the 'old' index files, see the GETTING-INDICES file in
the astrometry.net source package or on the http://astrometry.net/ website. You
can also generate the index files from various star catalogues, such as Tycho2.
All copyrights and trademarks are recognized and respected.
Python
------
The application AstroTortilla and the associated library are written in Python
2.6, using WxPython [5] , Python win32all extension [6] and Python Imaging
Library 1.1.7 [7], pywinauto 0.4.0 [9]. Python 2.7 is also supported.
Source includes Appdirs 1.2.0 [10] (c) 2010 ActiveState Software Inc.
Running astrometry.net
----------------------
The astrometry.net is not originally inteded to run on Windows, but it can be
compiled and run under Cygwin [8]. Before compiling the astrometry.net code,
make sure you have the required packages installed and at least with version
0.34 the utils/Makefile updated to compile correctly. See the file
AstrometryNetPackages.txt for list of known packages. To ensure speedy
execution, make sure to disable the bash autocomplete package in Cygwin.
The AstroTortilla installer contains a shortcut for starting Cygwin setup for
installing a pre-packaged astrometry.net solver. See documentation for more
details.
ASCOM
-----
The AstroTortilla is tested on the latest available ASCOM platform available on
the release date. ASCOM support requires the Python win32all extensions [5].
Nebulosity 2 and 3
------------------
If you are using Nebulosity 2.4+, you might want to use it with AstroTortilla
to make sure your imaging camera is pointing to the correct location.
AstroTortilla depends on Python win32 extensions and pywinauto package for
automating the interactions.
AstroTortilla supports setting binning and filters for capturing. Using 2x
binning is recommended over plate-solver downscaling for quicker solving. Do
not select a more detailed camera in AstroTortilla Camera Setup dialog unless
you encounter problems with auto-detect after an in-focus exposure in
Nebulosity.
Do set the Nebulosity reset path in the Camera Setup dialog, and use the date
or night macros for automatic daily directories. AstroTortilla uses a
temporary directory for capturing and cannot reset the Nebulosity target
directory automatically to current (this data is not available in Nebulosity).
Note: Nebulosity 2.3 is no longer supported.
Astro Photography Tool
----------------------
Astro Photography tool is supported by AstroTortilla, just make sure APT is
running and you have successfully taken a well-focused image with it.
MaxIm DL
--------
AstroTortilla has been tested with MaxIm DL 5.23, and supports setting the
image binning and forced imaging filter. It is recommended to use 2x binning
instead of downscaling for quicker solving.
References
----------
[1] http://www.python.org/
[2] http://ascom-standards.org/
[3] http://astrometry.net
[4] http://www.stark-labs.com/nebulosity.html
[5] http://wxpython.org/
[6] http://python.net/crew/skippy/win32/Downloads.html
[7] http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/
[8] http://www.cygwin.com/
[9] https://sourceforge.net/projects/pywinauto/
[10] http://pypi.python.org/pypi/appdirs/
