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Plate Solving in NINA

Plate Solving Beginner
N.I.N.A. Users •8 replies•245 views
Alien_Enthusiast avatar
Alien_Enthusiast avatar
Hi,

Im a fresh NINA user,

Got a question regarding ASTAP plate-solving 

I downloaded all the stuff, and it even works. So I go to the "imaging" section, press plate solve, and it gives me coordinates.

However, it's a bit non-intuitive when you are only given coordinates. 

Is there some sort of a sky map that would show you exactly where you are? 

In case that is not present, does NINA realize that the plate-solved coordinates are the ones where Im at? Could I therefore tell it to slew to the coordinates I need? How do I do so?

Thanks!
Timothy Martin avatar
Timothy Martin avatar
I may be wrong about this, but this is how it has always worked for me: You first need to slew somewhere. You can do that by:

(1) selecting a star in the "Manual Focus Targets" tab and then clicking on "Slew to target;"
(2) entering coordinates manually in the "Framing" tab and clicking "Slew and Center" then either "Slew," or "Slew, Center, and Rotate" in the dropdown ("Slew, Center, and Rotate" will invoke plate solving, thus eliminating any need to do it again);
(3) using the "Sky Atlas" tab to look up a target and send the coordinates to the "Framing" tab by clicking "Set for framing assistant" (Framing tab). Then repeat step 2 without manually entering coordinates. The Sky Atlas will populate that for you;
(4) pausing or stopping a running sequence that has already slewed to the target.

The idea is that you somehow have to tell NINA where you want to be and then try to go there. After that, you can use the "Plate Solving" tab. There may be other ways to do this like using some of the manual slew controls in NINA or some feature of one of the plugins. But once NINA knows where it is you want to be, then any time you invoke plate solving, it will make the mount go to the designated coordinates as exactly as possible (within the tolerances you set in the "Options->Plate Solving" tab).
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Georg G Albrecht avatar
Georg G Albrecht avatar
If you select a target in NINA's framing assistant and scroll out in the sky map to the right, then click on slew and center or slew, center and rotate, you will see the telescope marker come across the sky map towards the point you want the scope to point. The next happening, is your scope taking an image and ASTAP solving. If you're now close in on the map, you will see the marker moving out from the target's  center to the solved position. Then the mount slews to the center again for the next image to be taken and solved and so on untill the result is below set margins. If you have a rotator or use the manual rotator, the first will be a rotation to the image or the window asking you to manually rotate clock- or counterclockwise to the position of the image. So, yes. NINA gives you a visual of the solved position in the framing assistant.
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Christian Großmann avatar
Christian Großmann avatar
If you use the methods mentioned above, (selecting a target and slew to it from the framing assistant), Nina synchronizes the coordinates it got from the solution with the mount. (Maybe you have to enable this in the settings/equipment/mount area of Nina). So with every solution, the error between the coordinates of the location you are really pointing to and the mounts ccordinates, where it thinks it points to is updated and becomes smaller at least in the region you are trying to work in. So changing position usually gets faster after some attempts.

The way I use the framing assistant is to find my target in Stellarium first. You can set up Nina to then get the coordinates from Stellarium. It basically just takes the coordinates and rotation and then loads a picture of the sky region in its framing assistant. Then you can fine tune your image frame and send the data either to the sequencer or slew the scope from there to your target. This works really well for me. Nina is not restricted to Stellarium, you can use other tools like SkyChart or similar as well.

Sadly, Nina is only able to get the coordinates from Stellarium. Sending the coordinates to it is not possible as far as I know. This is the only feature I am missing in NINA compared to my former days with APT. APT synchronized Stellarium after plate solving an image and shows the location in Stellarium instead. This is a thing I'd much prefer. But I got used to the Nina framing assistant and with experience, there is no need to use two programs. It's just a matter of personal taste.

If you try to use Nina the way suggested above, I am sure your learning curve is more efficient, even if it's a bit harder to understand the sky this way. But it's not black magic, either.

So I wish you many beautiful images on your way…

CS

Christian
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Rob Johnson avatar
Rob Johnson avatar
I work as described above but also use Cartes du Ciel and in NINA there is a button to the right hand side of the sequence tab which imports the target position from CDC, I would have thought Stellarium could do the same?
Christian Großmann avatar
Christian Großmann avatar
Rob Johnson:
I work as described above but also use Cartes du Ciel and in NINA there is a button to the right hand side of the sequence tab which imports the target position from CDC, I would have thought Stellarium could do the same?

This is what I tried to say. But you are just able to import the coordinates from your planetarium software. APT also exported the solution and you were able to see the solved position in Stellarium as well. This was helpful in case of blind solving.
Timothy Martin avatar
Timothy Martin avatar
The bottom line here for the OP is that somehow, some way, you need to have chosen some kind of target and attempted a slew to it before you can use the Plate Solving tab on its own to any effect. 

As for personal tastes, I don't really use any planetarium software except on very rare occasions–and usually then only to see how far the moon is from my target. By the time I get to NINA, I've already put several hours into researching a target for scientific value, aesthetic value, framing, and capture technique. So I typically just plug the coordinates into Framing Assistant by hand, bring up the area on screen using the HIPS2FITS Sky Survey, set my rotation, and add it to a sequence. The first time it gets plate solved is when I start shooting it with the aforementioned sequence.
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SonnyE avatar
SonnyE avatar

I’m about the opposite of Timothy Martin, because I like my easiest ways.

I use Stellarium as my Planetarium in NINA. It interfaces with the Framing Wizard flawlessly for me. So, I open most of my usual suspects before I open NINA just to make sure, they are all present. (My mount, Focuser/rotator, PHD2, and Stellarium. Just works for me. Then open NINA and connect)

Then pick a victim for my night’s gatherings (Sometimes two, but I’m not greedy 😉 ) and use the drop-pin Icon in the NINA Framing Wizard to bring up the victim. Since I have my rotator I have the option of setting my frame the way I’d like my subs to appear before stacking. (That is the honey of a rotator. And why I finally broke the piggy bank for one. For years I told myself I could turn the stacked image. But the rotator and NINA let’s my gather the subs in the orientation I want to begin with.)

I have NINA load the Framing Wizard result into the Legacy Sequencer, set a few selections and things, save the file, and let-er-rip. It’s all Automagical from there.

NINA took me from being a struggling imager, to a very happy set-it and forget-it until morning Astrophotographer. (With the right equipment of course.)

I found Cuiv’s tutorials highly valuable when getting NINA working and fine-tuned for me. It’s a good thing to Bookmark as you wonder the ways of NINA.

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Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

I have never had a need to click on the plate solve button as a needed action so I’m wondering what it is you are trying to accomplish? Normally you would just enter into NINA’s Sky Atlas the object you are interested in going to, click on “set for framing assistant”, adjust framing and rotation if needed, click on slew and center and your there.