Thank-you, a great video to demystify APT Plate Solving. I use virtually the same setup, Stellarium +APT connected to a CEM60 mount through ASCOM. Can I just check that I have correctly understood the method of using APT plate solving as below: 1. Accurately Polar Align first, I use an iPolar Scope. 2. Do a quick 1-star align on the mount to roughly sky align the mount. 3. Select an object in Stellarium and centre the object by hitting spacebar or Find the target which will centre it in Stellarium. 4. Shift-click the objects button in APT to transfer the coords into APT 5. Do a GOTO in APT. 6. Take an image to resolve some stars 7. Use Point Craft to determine what part of the sky the scope is looking at. 8. Then use GOTO++ to accurately align the scope to the object 9. Hit Synch to tell APT to align its model of the sky to the mount. 10. Start taking images! Many Thanks
Thank you. I am a TOTAL novice at plate solving but watching your presentation has inspired me and given me confidence!! I've subscribed. Keep up the great work. I'll check your channel now to see if you have a polar alignment tutorial.
Brilliant tutorial. I have taken the next step of connecting both mount and camera to a laptop, but have been controlling them separately. I am excited about setting this up and trying it now!!
I am new to the hobby and just came across your video. I used it to set up platesolving in APT and it worked great. I had been using Sequence Generator Pro, but switched to APT because I had difficulty platesolving with SGP. Thanks for the tutorial.
Thanks so much for this lesson. I have the same setup, Z73 etc. Finally decided on APT, so I can't wait to try this. The star align with my Sirius/HEQ5 is very difficult since I have giant trees surrounding my house. The stars that synscan gives me are always behind trees. Can't wait for your video doing this in the field. Nice job!
Thanks for your video. Nice that you explain clearly. APT has teased me a lot, so I hope with your, video that I have come further with the use of this program
Thank you for this video! I am upgrading to a dedicated astro camera from my DSLR. Do you have instructions on how to update the All Sky Plate Solver index to add the new camera?
When setting up all sky plate solver would you put the focal length of the scope as is. Or the focal length taking into account the effect of a reducer/flattner?
When connecting the USB cable to your laptop do you just plug it into the hand controller? also, I had an issue with location and time being correct when I did my 1st attempt at using the USB from the laptop to mount. It seems to have put in funny values instead of the correct location and time etc..... IE with the hand controller the lat and long are entered using the hand controller straightforward. Could you point me to an explanation about doing this operation when the hand controller is not used? I love Stellarium but haven't been able to get it to work with my mount really. I so want to start doing the plate solving because I too have has the issue of having to re-align a second time and the stars the hand controller chooses are always behind a tree when I wait into the morning. it is rather frustrating ha ha .......thanks for this video as I feel I am one step closer to taking the plunge into plate-solving!
I wanted to do some image based platesolving without having to queue up at astrometry.net and tried a good image of the lagoon area. Platesolve2 did not come up with a solution. Also, it crashed to desktop when I changed the arcminutes parameter to degrees, without errormessage or anything. Also, it does not retain changed parameters for the next run. For instance, you have to re-enter the min/max starsizes to 12 and 6 respectevely. So, what am I doing wrong ?
Thanks for this informative video. Wondering if having 'solved' for this first object, that that will then work for a second and third object/subject - or if one has to run through the plate solving process each time the mount/telescope is slewed to a new subject/object?
It's advisable to platesolve on each new target. If you are imaging over several nights on the same targets, you want the objects to be centred perfectly each time you slew to them, other wise you might be doing a lot of cropping on your images.
I can highly recommend using ASTAP solver in Apt far faster than the other two options , once you have the mount synced just use go to++ ,select object and off it goes , the aim can be used to identify an area to use as centre , you can the save that image coordinates as a custom object for next time your at that target.
If your scope is connected to APT you shouldn't need to select the target in the list. I assume APT can get the coordinates from the image centre after the plate solve if done and compare it to where the scope thinks it is.
Followed instructions however, when following the ASPS installation process I added the pixel dimensions and sensor size but then nothing happened. No highlight of required files occurred. Hit a road block. Any advice most welcome.
The download link for All Sky Plate Solver doesn't work. I emailed them but haven't got a response yet. Any idea how I can get a hold of it elsewhere? Thanks :)
Great video Master. For me, first time somebody explain with details the configuration for plate solve in APT. THANKS YOU VERY MUCH, dear My Lord 👏👏👏
Thank-you, a great video to demystify APT Plate Solving. I use virtually the same setup, Stellarium +APT connected to a CEM60 mount through ASCOM.
Can I just check that I have correctly understood the method of using APT plate solving as below:
1. Accurately Polar Align first, I use an iPolar Scope.
2. Do a quick 1-star align on the mount to roughly sky align the mount.
3. Select an object in Stellarium and centre the object by hitting spacebar or Find the target which will centre it in Stellarium.
4. Shift-click the objects button in APT to transfer the coords into APT
5. Do a GOTO in APT.
6. Take an image to resolve some stars
7. Use Point Craft to determine what part of the sky the scope is looking at.
8. Then use GOTO++ to accurately align the scope to the object
9. Hit Synch to tell APT to align its model of the sky to the mount.
10. Start taking images!
Many Thanks
This video helped enormously, can't thank you enough!!
Thank you so much, I recently found this video and wow how simple was it to follow your guidance. If only all tutorials were this good.
Thank you. I am a TOTAL novice at plate solving but watching your presentation has inspired me and given me confidence!! I've subscribed. Keep up the great work. I'll check your channel now to see if you have a polar alignment tutorial.
Thanks for this and the previous video, I’m completely lost when it comes to setting new software up so this helped me tremendously.
You're welcome!
Well done! Just getting started in APT and you nailed the plate solving for me.
Thanks👍👍
I really appreciate your video tutorial on this subject, it was so easy to understand. Thank you!
Brilliant tutorial. I have taken the next step of connecting both mount and camera to a laptop, but have been controlling them separately. I am excited about setting this up and trying it now!!
Thanks! Yesterday in the feelt I was more time bussy finding what I wanted, then taking photo's. Your video was verry helpfull!
Excellent Video very easy to follow unlike many on here keep them coming
many thanks
Thank you very much for this video, as a newbie in the astro photography world this is exactly what I needed.
Subscribed and notifications are set 👍
Man you explain it so easily to follow. Thanks! 👍
Thanks! Glad it helped.
I am new to the hobby and just came across your video. I used it to set up platesolving in APT and it worked great. I had been using Sequence Generator Pro, but switched to APT because I had difficulty platesolving with SGP. Thanks for the tutorial.
Hey, thank you. Glad the video helped, and enjoy your new hobby!
Thanks mate, this video saved me a lot of time and frustration. Excellent tutorial!!
I wish I could click thumbs-up 500x what a perfect video. Straight to the point. I can't wait to get this going with my rig.
Thanks so much for this lesson. I have the same setup, Z73 etc. Finally decided on APT, so I can't wait to try this. The star align with my Sirius/HEQ5 is very difficult since I have giant trees surrounding my house. The stars that synscan gives me are always behind trees. Can't wait for your video doing this in the field. Nice job!
Glad it was helpful!
After long time trying I did now that I watch ur video and followed u
Amazing video and very clear
Thank you
Certainly is a great tool. My goto way of aligning now.
Thanks for your video.
Nice that you explain clearly.
APT has teased me a lot, so I hope with your, video that I have come further with the use of this program
Hey Esben, thanks, I hope you found the video useful.
Very good tutorial, thank you so much !
Thanks a lot! A detailed video for all the installation part and the use of plate-solver with APT.
Very well explained, thank you
Thanks for the step-by-step.
Thank you for this video! I am upgrading to a dedicated astro camera from my DSLR. Do you have instructions on how to update the All Sky Plate Solver index to add the new camera?
Great video ! Thank you 😊
Thanks! Glad it helped!
When setting up all sky plate solver would you put the focal length of the scope as is. Or the focal length taking into account the effect of a reducer/flattner?
Awesome video but just a heads up you nee to run the All Sky Plate Solver Wizard for each camera and telescope combination you have.
Nice video
18.70 Euro's is definitely good value for APT...hope you've purchased a copy now! :P
Great video, I'll be using it to install it onto my laptop. Do you have a video on how to set your telescope up in Sterallium?
Thanks Mark, yes I do... ua-cam.com/video/mYTD7RuF3x8/v-deo.html
When connecting the USB cable to your laptop do you just plug it into the hand controller? also, I had an issue with location and time being correct when I did my 1st attempt at using the USB from the laptop to mount. It seems to have put in funny values instead of the correct location and time etc..... IE with the hand controller the lat and long are entered using the hand controller straightforward. Could you point me to an explanation about doing this operation when the hand controller is not used? I love Stellarium but haven't been able to get it to work with my mount really. I so want to start doing the plate solving because I too have has the issue of having to re-align a second time and the stars the hand controller chooses are always behind a tree when I wait into the morning. it is rather frustrating ha ha .......thanks for this video as I feel I am one step closer to taking the plunge into plate-solving!
Can you use plate solving for a rough alignment before polar aligning?
I wanted to do some image based platesolving without having to queue up at astrometry.net and tried a good image of the lagoon area. Platesolve2 did not come up with a solution.
Also, it crashed to desktop when I changed the arcminutes parameter to degrees, without errormessage or anything.
Also, it does not retain changed parameters for the next run. For instance, you have to re-enter the min/max starsizes to 12 and 6 respectevely.
So, what am I doing wrong ?
Followed this to 4:30 but I haven't got an APT Images directory.
Thanks for this informative video. Wondering if having 'solved' for this first object, that that will then work for a second and third object/subject - or if one has to run through the plate solving process each time the mount/telescope is slewed to a new subject/object?
I've yet to try that but it's a good point.
It's advisable to platesolve on each new target. If you are imaging over several nights on the same targets, you want the objects to be centred perfectly each time you slew to them, other wise you might be doing a lot of cropping on your images.
I can highly recommend using ASTAP solver in Apt far faster than the other two options , once you have the mount synced just use go to++ ,select object and off it goes , the aim can be used to identify an area to use as centre , you can the save that image coordinates as a custom object for next time your at that target.
If your scope is connected to APT you shouldn't need to select the target in the list. I assume APT can get the coordinates from the image centre after the plate solve if done and compare it to where the scope thinks it is.
Followed instructions however, when following the ASPS installation process I added the pixel dimensions and sensor size but then nothing happened. No highlight of required files occurred. Hit a road block. Any advice most welcome.
Great video, did you modify your own camera or did you send it off to be modified, if do, is there a website I can go to to send mine off, thanks.
Thanks, i bought my 600D second hand, it was already modified by juan at cheapastrophotography.com
@@AstroPhotos Thank you very much, that has really helped.
I load my image in apt or take an exposure then click point craft>solve or blind solve, i get an error "no image loaded".
I don't understand, is platesolving done through the main camera and telescope? I thought the guidescope was used for that.
Yes main scope. Guide-scope tracks a star for extremely precise guiding as it corrects for mount imperfections.
The download link for All Sky Plate Solver doesn't work.
I emailed them but haven't got a response yet.
Any idea how I can get a hold of it elsewhere?
Thanks :)
When I downloaded ASPS my McAfee scanner detected a possible virus or spyware in the Install.exe. Has anyone else experienced this?
Followed your instructions but still failing to solve.... directories are where they are meant to be... cant understand.