216 replies to this topic

[Rasfahan]

NINA has a function (three-point polar align) that relies on platesolving and needs no view of the pole at all. I know you‘ve been hesitant to add platesolving because of the overhead - but there‘s other RPi-based appliances that can do a blind solve. This is just a feature request, nothing urgent, of course. Currently, the astrowl box does what it does well.

[Astrowl]

I am not hesitant to add plate solving, this is a great feature that I would be glad to provide but it is not quite simple.

 

I have already thought about it and how to limit the plate solving to a region near a known star or known object to avoid scanning the whole sky and take too much time to solve.

Because the Astrowl Box has a limited calculation capacity compared to a computer, you have to make some choices or optimize.

 

I guess that's what eVscope or Seestar, that make plate solving, are doing. They approximatly know where they are looking to the sky so they can limit the region to recongize.

[StevieDvd]

I am not hesitant to add plate solving, this is a great feature that I would be glad to provide but it is not quite simple.

 

I have already thought about it and how to limit the plate solving to a region near a known star or known object to avoid scanning the whole sky and take too much time to solve.

Because the Astrowl Box has a limited calculation capacity compared to a computer, you have to make some choices or optimize.

 

I guess that's what eVscope or Seestar, that make plate solving, are doing. They approximatly know where they are looking to the sky so they can limit the region to recongize.

The precursor to the SharpCap PA was PhotoPolarAlign (on GitHUb) which can use a local solver or web based Astrometry.net and has the code to use a limited image region for faster solve.

[Astrowl]

Thanks Stevie, that's what I see on the SharpCap page. I will have a look how it works.

[artik]

I am not hesitant to add plate solving, this is a great feature that I would be glad to provide but it is not quite simple.

 

I have already thought about it and how to limit the plate solving to a region near a known star or known object to avoid scanning the whole sky and take too much time to solve.

 

 

This is exactly what I do in my project on Android. I use ASTAP and given decent image quality I have quite reliable plate solving. I usually limit search are to ~5 degrees and I require to specify fov size (fical length and pixel size) and it is very fast

 

Of course you need to be near the target but it helps to compensate for mount errors. 

 

Not sure what how permissive is astap license for you

Edited by artik, 05 April 2024 - 04:31 AM.

[rommor]

I recently purchased Asiair Plus. There, the Polar star alignment and plate solving function is very well implemented. Maybe take their experience?

Edited by rommor, 17 April 2024 - 01:44 AM.

[StevieDvd]

Thanks Stevie, that's what I see on the SharpCap page. I will have a look how it works.

I have modified a local copy of PhotoPolarAlign to use my Linux installed Astrometry.net solver. I removed the need to use the web Astrometry or AstroTortilla so I could use it on a Linux system or WSL (Windows Linux) by changing the command in a config file.

 

I'm nowhere good enough at Python coding to create a Github version of this from the master PhotoPolarAlign but can happily send a copy of the my new code if you wish.

[Astrowl]

I have modified a local copy of PhotoPolarAlign to use my Linux installed Astrometry.net solver. I removed the need to use the web Astrometry or AstroTortilla so I could use it on a Linux system or WSL (Windows Linux) by changing the command in a config file.

 

I'm nowhere good enough at Python coding to create a Github version of this from the master PhotoPolarAlign but can happily send a copy of the my new code if you wish.

Hi StevieDvd, thanks for your offer and yes it does interest me to see how it works and read your code.

You can contact me by pm to discuss about it.

[Astrowl]

I made very few posts and pictures this last months, because of the awful weather that prohibits me to make serious tests, but the project is still growing.

I am working on a new AstrowlBox with Raspberry pi 5 and maybe a new sensor (not sure yet because IMX462 is a great performer).

 

Also each new Astrowl Box is sold with a ST4 hardware ready. So it will be able to activate the ST4 guiding when tests will be successful on this functionality and a new release of the software will be available.

 

I also made a promotion price on the Astrowl Box for a limited time, you can see on the following page : https://www.astrowlbox.com/shop

[Astrowl]

New AstrowlBox V2 is now available with the new Raspberry Pi5 (3x faster than previous Pi4).

I also add a new filter (urban filter) to efficiently cancel light pollution and increase faint objects. It sound quite promising and will post some pictures here to show you the effects (if weather helps).

 

More details on https://www.astrowlbox.com

Edited by Astrowl, 14 May 2024 - 04:53 AM.

[Astrowl]

I took advantage of the terrible weather in recent months to continue to develop the internal program of the Astrowl Box by adding the possibility of making timelapses (very useful for producing video sequences of dynamic scenes such as solar activities) and by developing an in-house algorithm to reduce light pollution or more broadly reinforce dimly lit objects. I was finally able to test this algorithm last night between two cloud gaps in the Paris suburbs (therefore heavily subject to light pollution) and the result is really promising.

 

I am attaching a photo of M13 without activation of this algorithm and with activation, we do not lose the luminous objects, but the background of the sky becomes really black.

 

The 3rd image still uses this filter, but also a Wiener deconvolution.

The 4th image pushes the exposure to 4 seconds, compared to 3 in the first 3, while retaining the anti-light pollution filter

 

And finally the last image shows the filter whose power can be adjusted.

 

I would like to point out that all these filters can be activated live on the astrowl box as desired and that the images below are exactly those that appear on the astrowl box screen, without any processing other than those applied live.

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[Astrowl]

image2

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[Astrowl]

image3

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[Astrowl]

image4

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[Astrowl]

image5

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[Astrowl]

I did a short session the day before yesterday with the AstrowlBox to test some corrections and the light pollution filter which is really effective. Attached the Ring Nebula and M5

 

Some hot or defective pixels appear in streaks with the automatic image alignment...

The images below are exactly those displayed on the AstrowlBox screen, they have not been subject to any post-processing

 

Images were done with a 120mm apo refractor with f/d 7.5 (no corrector, reducer or anything else used), under the wonderful sky of Paris suburbs.

For the purpose if this forum, I have compressed and converted original pictures to jpef format. Original format is PNG with no compression, picture size is around 7Mo.

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Edited by Astrowl, 27 June 2024 - 07:58 AM.

[Astrowl]

Dear friends, a little teaser regarding the Astrowlbox. I present to you on the right the new sensor still in the testing phase which will (if all goes well) replace the current IMX462 (on the left in the photo).

It's a monster compared to the IMX462, I can't wait to see what it will do in terms of fields. For technical characteristics it has 20M pixels, with a diagonal of 16mm (6.5mm for IMX462) and photosites of 2.40µm.

If it keeps all its promises it should be a hit.

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Edited by Astrowl, 28 July 2024 - 02:59 PM.

[Astrowl]

Hi,

 

I am very pleased to announce you that the new ultra portable EAA system Astrowl Box V3 with fast Rpi5, new big sensor Sony IMX283 and ST4 autoguiding port is available for orders on https://www.astrowlbox.com.

 

You can still also build your own Astrowl Box based on Sony IMX477 sensor : https://www.cloudyni...em-astrowl-box/

 

Clear skies

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[Robot00]

Hi,

 

I am very pleased to announce you that the new ultra portable EAA system Astrowl Box V3 with fast Rpi5, new big sensor Sony IMX283 and ST4 autoguiding port is available for orders on https://www.astrowlbox.com.

 

You can still also build your own Astrowl Box based on Sony IMX477 sensor : https://www.cloudyni...em-astrowl-box/

 

Clear skies

That looks awesome. Do you have any samples of how the new version works? Video, photos etc? Also what are the display specs? 

[Astrowl]

That looks awesome. Do you have any samples of how the new version works? Video, photos etc? Also what are the display specs? 

Thanks Robot00, I will soonly come back with pictures of the night sky. It is still really hard to get a clear night, the weather is awful here for several months. Terrible !!

[ihf]

Nice! I didn't see it in the guide, what is the location of the field stop F?

[easybob95]

How did you manage the light pollution ?

 

You results look like the results I get with my gradient remove filter from JetsonSky.

 

Alain

[Astrowl]

Hi @ihf, not sure how this can be calculated ?

[RobertJ]

Hi, I get an error when I try to get to www.astrowlbox.com:

 

 

Website not found

404 error: www.astrowlbox.com. not found
Webador logo

 

 

 

-- Robert

[Robot00]

Hi, I get an error when I try to get to www.astrowlbox.com:

 

 

Website not found

404 error: www.astrowlbox.com. not found
Webador logo

 

Screenshot 2024-10-09 at 22.19.54.png

 

 

-- Robert

Remove the last dot from the url.