Okay, please tell me if I should post this in another forum but this looks like the most appropriate...
I am a dedicated variable star observer. A decade ago, I gave a go at CCD photometry. I had a 8" f/4 newt mounted on a Takahashi EM-200 Temma mount that I would drag out into the driveway each night to capture images. Some nights it would be 2-3am in the morning before I got everything working...polar aligned, tracking, focus, etc. About six years ago we moved out from the suburbs of Detroit to mid-Michigan. One of the objectives for me was darker skies and a place where I could setup an automated observatory (we have 15 acres so plenty of room).
With my previous CCD setup, I was using TheSky, TPoint, ACP, FocusMax, etc. for my setup. But that was ten years ago. Now I'm not sure what is best for my needs for planning and automating a night's run. I suspect that mostly I'll be looking to take darks, flats, and image multiple objects in a night. I see a lot of options for software like SharpCap, NINA, etc. in addition to the software I used before, but I suspect a lot of them are tailored more to astrophotography than photometry.
What are other AAVSO members using to plan and automate their runs these days? I have an EdgeHD 11 fork-mount on a wedge (if that helps frame the question) and am doing my analysis using VPhot so really most interested in observation planning and automated execution of the run.
Thanks,
Brian (PRV)
I use NINA to automate my observations. It is a fantastic program. To automate the entire night, you need to use the advanced sequencer. It looks very intimidating at first but once you start using it then it is very intuitive. I have a template called BHarris Variables. The template consists of a startup procedure (connect switch, turn on equipment, open dome, unpack scope), then a section that includes instructions for all of my variable targets: go to target, autofocus, #of exposures, exposure length, filter.After the targets section there is an observatory shut down section. I can put in start time then “play” script. It will await the designated time then play the entire sequencer. I have a safety monitor that will shut the dome shutter if rain is detected from my cloud watcher.It can be very detailed but that is the strength of the software.
Barbara
Hello, Barbara and Brian,
I was starting on N.I.N.A. and became a little intimidated. Then I tried the MaxImDL & TheSkyX combo, which I found even more intimidating. Their manuals add up to 1,500 pages and I went through most of it on MaxImDL. So, I am back on N.I.N.A., unless TheSkyX proves more friendly than MaxImDL and N.I.N.A.. + Stellarium (or Ciel) + PHD2 + ASTAP (or Astrometry.net) + ASCOM... :-(
My shed-on-wheels DIY observatory is 4.4 miles from my home, from where I run it. It is operational with a SkyWatcher HEQ5 Pro mount, Meade SCT OTA, ASI533MM & ASI120MM cameras, ATIK filter wheel, and a DIY focuser (ASCOM compatible). I connect everything with no problem using either MaxIm DL, TheSkyX, N.I.N.A., SharpCap, etc. The issue now is to tame the software assembly.
I need to point to a target, correct any pointing errors, and lock on the target while taking frames of up to 20 sec, but usually shorter. The goal is to perform variable star photometry mags 5 to 14, BVR, bias-dark-flats calibrated, in an automated fashion. There will be several targets per night in various fields. Would you share your N.I.N.A. sequence template? (if it is a script that can be saved as a .txt file and shared)
Any tips and comments will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Ari
Hi Ari,
I have used NINA for a while and the advanced sequencer for my remote observatory in Chile. But since a couple of months CCDCommander has become public domain and a friend of mine Sjoerd Dufour from Belgium has added advanced functionality to it. It can now use ASTAP for plate solving among other plate solvers. Also moon distance avoidance is included amongst other possibilities. CCDC is much easier to program than NINA for a nights observing run. In my case I have been using CCDC since the very begin more than 10 yeas ago, bt with PinPoint full version as the only plate solver it was getting less reliable in putting the correct position in the sky. Now with ASTAP it is much faster and more reliable. I went back to CCDC after the improvements as it runs faster than NINA in case of e.g. lots of plate solvings.
If you have MAXIM you should give it a try.
Regards,
Josch Hambsch (HMB)
Hi, Josch,
That sounds like music to my aged ears! I'll give CCDCommander a dedicated try.
Thank you so much.
Ari
Hi Ari,
you can send me an e-mail at m31 (at) telenet (dot) be so I can help you in getting started with CCDC V2.x if you are not familiar with this program.
If you are you need to put your move to and take image actions into a subaction to make the moon avoidance and low limit to point the scope to effectiv.
You can run the subaction once or a number of times before you do another plate solve etc.
Josch
Thanks all for your input, great discussion! I have an e-mail in to Bisque to see what it will cost to upgrade to their latest version. I suspect it is not going to be cheap so will likely give NINA or CCDCommander a try and keep everyone posted.
Brian (PRV)
Hi All,
I've decided to go with NINA and CPWI, so far everything is working well. I've connected the mount, autoguider, etc. and this seems to be a very nice setup. But I still have tons to learn!
Best,
Brian (PRV)
Dr. Harris be advised that the N.I.N.A. Exoplanet/Variable star plugin now accepts the CSV files from the AAVSO variable star search tool as of a few days ago when I asked the plugin programmer on the Discord channel to make that happen..and he did! ...in addition the automatic exposure calculator normally used on the exoplanet portion of the plugin now also works with variables meaning that now you can have NINA automatically calculate and apply an exposure that will give you maximum SNR without saturating....
Pablo (LPAC)
This is interesting news about NINA. I'm in the process of upgrading my OTA and mount and looking at either adding NINA to work with TSX or perhaps moving over to NINA in total.
Question about the automatic exposure calculator: Does this take into account the changes in atmospheric extinction over a 7-8 hour series for EP's and variables?
John (DJCA)
Hi John
The answer is no..and yes..inasmuch as you can set the percentage ADU..I normally set it to anywhere from 66% (low elevations to 75% for high Elevations) allowing a little headroom. It is worth noting that the ADU settings are based on the TARGET star ONLY meaning that the plugin, automatically plate solves and detects the target and only the target...it also identifies non variable comps (for exoplanets only for now) and reports them to you visually on a separate jpeg..I guess we could ask the plugin makers on Discord (just like I did) to allow a rudimentary extinction type control for the plugin, and that's why I posted on the general forum here asking the AAVSO powers that be, who are way sharper than me, to communicate our needs to those guys about possible features, additions and improvements....if you want to get involved (Arne, George,Ken?)
Pablo Lewin LPAC
Thanks Pablo. I will have to check out that plugin.
Barbara
Charles Miller's PD Capture ( https://groups.io/g/pdcaptureapp ) Is coupled with ASTAP to provide a really good and totally ASCOM-complient program for the acquisition of science images. It is specifically written for that task and does it well. Charlie is a retired software engineer.
I have been using PDC for a couple of years on both my former C11/AP900 and my current CDY14/L350 set up. Not only is the the best program I have used for image acquisition, it is free.
Ed
Got the manual downloaded, but Acrobat won't let me save it to read it.
Does he have it in anything but PDF?
Ray
Got the manual downloaded, but Acrobat won't let me save it to read it.
Does he have it in anything but PDF?
Ray
I am using all of the software you have in my robotic observatory. TheSkyX, ACP, Focusmax, MaximDL. Except for TSX, all of the software is old (10+ years), but it still works. The only issue that has come up recently is TSX crashes intermittently and the Bisque team cannot figure out why.
I could not figure out how to get NINA to take a pre-subscibed series of flats and darks automatically at dawn, otherwise I might have switched to it.