Yesterday when the 32 bit version of Astro Tortilla V0.6 plate solved an image of M20 it sent an ASCOM sync request to a "The Sky6 controlled telescope" that was pointing 1.7 degrees away from the target. The solve itself took 21 secs, however the sync wasn't accepted by the Sky6 (see below log error message) as the Sky viewed the sync exceeded limits.
Debug advice from the folks at Software Bisque on the log is "the ASCOM SyncToCoordinates method expects a Ra in hours and what AT seems to be generating is a Ra in degrees."
Is this easy to verify and therefore fix guys?
Many thanks,
Matthew
2014-04-16 10:17:16,145 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request position
2014-04-16 10:17:16,160 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request target
2014-04-16 10:17:16,374 - astrotortilla - INFO - Field 1 did not solve (index index-4206-07.fits, field objects 41-50).
2014-04-16 10:17:16,808 - astrotortilla - INFO - log-odds ratio 86.1349 (2.558e+37), 15 match, 0 conflict, 28 distractors, 38 index.
2014-04-16 10:17:17,664 - astrotortilla - INFO - Field 1 solved: writing to file /cygdrive/c/users/matthe~1/appdata/local/temp/solver93iql2/3/M20 40D C925_LIGHT_180s_400iso_+25c_00537stdev_20130805-18h26m28s236ms.solved to indicate this.
2014-04-16 10:17:17,678 - astrotortilla - INFO - Field 1: solved with index index-4205-07.fits.
2014-04-16 10:17:17,688 - astrotortilla.AstrometryNetSolver - DEBUG - Pid 8988 exit code 0
2014-04-16 10:17:17,701 - astrotortilla - INFO - Parsing results...
2014-04-16 10:17:17,714 - astrotortilla.AstrometryNetSolver - DEBUG - Executing: wcsinfo \"cygpath -a \"c:/users/matthe~1/appdata/local/temp/solver93iql2/3\"/M20 40D C925_LIGHT_180s_400iso_+25c_00537stdev_20130805-18h26m28s236ms.wcs\"
2014-04-16 10:17:18,539 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request tracking status
2014-04-16 10:17:18,553 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request slewing attribute
2014-04-16 10:17:18,568 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request position
2014-04-16 10:17:18,586 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request target
2014-04-16 10:17:18,612 - astrotortilla - INFO - Solved in 21.0s
2014-04-16 10:17:18,622 - astrotortilla - INFO - Re-centering...
2014-04-16 10:17:18,634 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - INFO - Syncing to Coordinate(270.810294, -23.023478)
2014-04-16 10:17:18,645 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - INFO - Sync separation is 1.17°
2014-04-16 10:17:18,667 - astrotortilla.Main - ERROR - Sync failed: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "astrotortilla\gui\MainFrame.pyo", line 804, in OnBtnGOButton
File "astrotortilla\engine.pyo", line 614, in gotoCurrentTarget
File "astrotortilla\telescope\ASCOMTelescope.pyo", line 222, in position
File "", line 3, in SyncToCoordinates
com_error: (-2147352567, 'Exception occurred.', (0, u'TheSky6.Document', u'Limits exceeded.\n\nError code = 218 (0xda).', u'C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\SOFTWARE BISQUE\THESKY6\Help\TheSkyV6.hlp', 98419, -2147220286), None)
2014-04-16 10:17:19,835 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request tracking status
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
So the Sky6 reject both the ASCOM SS2K-PC driver and the ASCOM telescope simulators formatting of RA?
Are you telling me both drivers are therefore incorrectly coded? I have fired a question to the current developer of the SS2K-PC driver developer (Laurie Yates) to confirm - not sure who maintains the ASCOM Telecom Simulator driver - is that something you could help me with please - a name or a contact?
Stands to reason fixing this bug would give you another major telescope control package for AT to integrate to properly. It's rather prolonged me trying to get three groups of developers together to solve what looks like a very simple paramater format error when everyone is saying we've done the right thing!
Many thanks,
Matthew
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Astrotortilla (or at least astrometry.net which does the work) is reporting the dec as -23.03. The RA in degrees is 270.6
The numbers are pretty close for what appears to be the target M20. That is 18:02:42 -22:58:18 (270.675, 22.97)
Andrew
Showmessagehistory
Matthew,
Antti is correct. Here is a code fragment from AT's ASCOMTelescope.py module
# convert degrees to hours
logger.info("Syncing to %s"%(str(coord)))
RA = coord.RA*24./360.
dec = coord.dec
separation = self.position - coord
logger.info("Sync separation is %s"%deg2str(separation.degrees))
self.__scope.SyncToCoordinates(RA, dec)
Looking at the log output in your post below I can see where astrometry.net is reporting the RA of the image center as -23.0266 degrees. It seems that this should be normalized to the range of 0-360 degrees, expecially before converting it to hours. I wonder if this is a bug in the index file that is being used for the solve, e.g. 4206-07.
2014-04-16 10:17:17,622 - astrotortilla - INFO - Field center: (RA H:M:S, Dec D:M:S) = (18:02:21.290, -23:01:35.709).
2014-04-16 10:17:17,632 - astrotortilla - INFO - Field center: (RA,Dec) = (270.6, -23.03) deg.
So Antti - is AT doing all the right things and the ASCOM "A Sky 6 controlled Telescope" driver confusing things in your views?
Many thanks,
Matthew
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Yesterday when the 32 bit version of Astro Tortilla V0.6 plate solved an image of M20 it sent an ASCOM sync request to a "The Sky6 controlled telescope" that was pointing 1.7 degrees away from the target. The solve itself took 21 secs, however the sync wasn't accepted by the Sky6 (see below log error message) as the Sky viewed the sync exceeded limits.
Debug advice from the folks at Software Bisque on the log is "the ASCOM SyncToCoordinates method expects a Ra in hours and what AT seems to be generating is a Ra in degrees."
Is this easy to verify and therefore fix guys?
Many thanks,
Matthew
2014-04-16 10:17:16,145 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request position
2014-04-16 10:17:16,160 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request target
2014-04-16 10:17:16,374 - astrotortilla - INFO - Field 1 did not solve (index index-4206-07.fits, field objects 41-50).
2014-04-16 10:17:16,808 - astrotortilla - INFO - log-odds ratio 86.1349 (2.558e+37), 15 match, 0 conflict, 28 distractors, 38 index.
2014-04-16 10:17:16,921 - astrotortilla - INFO - RA,Dec = (270.589,-23.0266), pixel scale 0.438869 arcsec/pix.
2014-04-16 10:17:17,046 - astrotortilla - INFO - Hit/miss: -+++++--++---+-+--+---------+--+-+-----+--+(best)-----------++++
2014-04-16 10:17:17,339 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request tracking status
2014-04-16 10:17:17,354 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request slewing attribute
2014-04-16 10:17:17,368 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request position
2014-04-16 10:17:17,388 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request target
2014-04-16 10:17:17,612 - astrotortilla - INFO - Field size: 28.4523 x 18.9644 arcminutes
2014-04-16 10:17:17,622 - astrotortilla - INFO - Field center: (RA H:M:S, Dec D:M:S) = (18:02:21.290, -23:01:35.709).
2014-04-16 10:17:17,632 - astrotortilla - INFO - Field center: (RA,Dec) = (270.6, -23.03) deg.
2014-04-16 10:17:17,642 - astrotortilla - INFO - Field: /cygdrive/g/Canon 40D/M20 40D C925_LIGHT_180s_400iso_+25c_00537stdev_20130805-18h26m28s236ms.jpg
2014-04-16 10:17:17,664 - astrotortilla - INFO - Field 1 solved: writing to file /cygdrive/c/users/matthe~1/appdata/local/temp/solver93iql2/3/M20 40D C925_LIGHT_180s_400iso_+25c_00537stdev_20130805-18h26m28s236ms.solved to indicate this.
2014-04-16 10:17:17,678 - astrotortilla - INFO - Field 1: solved with index index-4205-07.fits.
2014-04-16 10:17:17,688 - astrotortilla.AstrometryNetSolver - DEBUG - Pid 8988 exit code 0
2014-04-16 10:17:17,701 - astrotortilla - INFO - Parsing results...
2014-04-16 10:17:17,714 - astrotortilla.AstrometryNetSolver - DEBUG - Executing: wcsinfo \"cygpath -a \"c:/users/matthe~1/appdata/local/temp/solver93iql2/3\"/M20 40D C925_LIGHT_180s_400iso_+25c_00537stdev_20130805-18h26m28s236ms.wcs\"
2014-04-16 10:17:18,539 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request tracking status
2014-04-16 10:17:18,553 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request slewing attribute
2014-04-16 10:17:18,568 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request position
2014-04-16 10:17:18,586 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request target
2014-04-16 10:17:18,612 - astrotortilla - INFO - Solved in 21.0s
2014-04-16 10:17:18,622 - astrotortilla - INFO - Re-centering...
2014-04-16 10:17:18,634 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - INFO - Syncing to Coordinate(270.810294, -23.023478)
2014-04-16 10:17:18,645 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - INFO - Sync separation is 1.17°
2014-04-16 10:17:18,667 - astrotortilla.Main - ERROR - Sync failed: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "astrotortilla\gui\MainFrame.pyo", line 804, in OnBtnGOButton
File "astrotortilla\engine.pyo", line 614, in gotoCurrentTarget
File "astrotortilla\telescope\ASCOMTelescope.pyo", line 222, in position
File "", line 3, in SyncToCoordinates
com_error: (-2147352567, 'Exception occurred.', (0, u'TheSky6.Document', u'Limits exceeded.\n\nError code = 218 (0xda).', u'C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\SOFTWARE BISQUE\THESKY6\Help\TheSkyV6.hlp', 98419, -2147220286), None)
2014-04-16 10:17:19,835 - astrotortilla.ASCOMTelescope - DEBUG - request tracking status
Bump,
Hey folks at AT - is this a simple fix or easy to confirm - its been out there for quite awhile now.
Thanks, Matthew
AT converts RA degrees to hours for all ASCOM interface calls, so the issue is likely with mount driver limits as the error from mount suggests.
-Antti
So the Sky6 reject both the ASCOM SS2K-PC driver and the ASCOM telescope simulators formatting of RA?
Are you telling me both drivers are therefore incorrectly coded? I have fired a question to the current developer of the SS2K-PC driver developer (Laurie Yates) to confirm - not sure who maintains the ASCOM Telecom Simulator driver - is that something you could help me with please - a name or a contact?
Stands to reason fixing this bug would give you another major telescope control package for AT to integrate to properly. It's rather prolonged me trying to get three groups of developers together to solve what looks like a very simple paramater format error when everyone is saying we've done the right thing!
Many thanks,
Matthew
Since the simulator is not related to any particular product, I would suspect that the ASCOM site is a place to start.
http://www.ascom-standards.org
Bryan
Posting this information to the ASCOM forums has generated some insights!
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ASCOM-Talk/conversations/topics/31838
Rick,
Astrotortilla (or at least astrometry.net which does the work) is reporting the dec as -23.03. The RA in degrees is 270.6
The numbers are pretty close for what appears to be the target M20. That is 18:02:42 -22:58:18 (270.675, 22.97)
Andrew
So Antti - is AT doing all the right things and the ASCOM "A Sky 6 controlled Telescope" driver confusing things in your views?
Many thanks,
Matthew