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New North & East Arrow Script in PI

Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight Processing Plate Solving
Dale PenkalaMau_BardJay Hovnanian
•31 replies•1.2k views
Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala avatar
Hello everyone,

I thought I'd share with you a new script that just come out about 3-4 weeks ago that allows you to add a North and or East arrow to your image in PixInsight. I had posted over on the PI's forum about whether PI had anything like that and a gentleman wrote one to do exactly that. I think its a very cool script. 
I know many of you use other means to add them but I thought it would be a handy thing to have in PI.

I've uploaded a sample image with the arrows added AFTER IMAGE SOLVING!

Here is the Repository URL for PI to use: https://www.cosmicphotons.com/pi-scripts/drawannotation/

Once you installed the script you will find it under Script>Render>DrawAnnotaion. Once you start it there are many parameters that you can customize your arrows.

For those of you that would like to see the actual thread on PI with more info on the script and its author, you can find it here. https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?threads/is-it-possible-to-add-north-in-annotation.23352/

Full Disclosure, I'm not the author of the script or do I get anything from it. Its just a cool script that I thought others may like to know about. I hope some of you can find it useful.

Thanks for reading!

Dale

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andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
Thanks Dale, much appreciated.
Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala avatar
andrea tasselli:
Thanks Dale, much appreciated.

Your welcome Andrea, I hope you find it useful.

Dale
Jan Erik Vallestad avatar
Jan Erik Vallestad avatar
This is pretty cool, added to my bookmarks till later!
Mau_Bard avatar
Mau_Bard avatar
Thank you @Dale Penkala for sharing!
Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala avatar
Thank you @Dale Penkala for sharing!

Your welcome @Mau_Bard 

Dale
Jay Hovnanian avatar
Jay Hovnanian avatar
Call me a dope ~ I will not be offended, but isn't the "east" arrow (in the above image) pointing west?
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Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala avatar
Jay Hovnanian:
Call me a dope ~ I will not be offended, but isn't the "east" arrow (in the above image) pointing west?

Not really sure Jay I just ran the scrip after image solve and thats what come up. If thats the case then I’d want to bring that to the attention of the author of the script.
And no I’d not call you a dope if that ends up being the case.

Dale
Miguel G. avatar
Miguel G. avatar
that's quite useful for framing; thanks!
Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala avatar
Jay Hovnanian:
Call me a dope ~ I will not be offended, but isn't the "east" arrow (in the above image) pointing west?

I’m going to check on this in a bit. Need to make sure I did’t do something wrong on my end in the script.

Dale
Tom Boyd avatar
Tom Boyd avatar
Jay Hovnanian:
Call me a dope ~ I will not be offended, but isn't the "east" arrow (in the above image) pointing west?

I think if you imagine looking up at the sky and seeing this image, the east arrow in the image is pointing east.
Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala avatar
Tom Boyd:
Jay Hovnanian:
Call me a dope ~ I will not be offended, but isn't the "east" arrow (in the above image) pointing west?

I think if you imagine looking up at the sky and seeing this image, the east arrow in the image is pointing east.

Yes I think your right on this Tom. I just run it back through and it comes out the same. I think your correct you have to orientate North at zenith and its correct.

Dale
Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala:
Tom Boyd:
Jay Hovnanian:
Call me a dope ~ I will not be offended, but isn't the "east" arrow (in the above image) pointing west?

I think if you imagine looking up at the sky and seeing this image, the east arrow in the image is pointing east.

Yes I think you’re right on this Tom. I just run it back through and it comes out the same. I think your correct you have to orientate North at zenith and its correct.

Dale

Here is a screenshot from Sky Safari Pro of the field with the compass in the upper right corner.

nico1038 avatar
nico1038 avatar
Tom Boyd:
Jay Hovnanian:
Call me a dope ~ I will not be offended, but isn't the "east" arrow (in the above image) pointing west?

I think if you imagine looking up at the sky and seeing this image, the east arrow in the image is pointing east.

Tom is right: on the sky  if North is up then East is Left.
Paul Lloyd avatar
Paul Lloyd avatar
A nice tool, Dale. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. I usually finish off my images in PSE(lements) and have a number of arrows with different orientations that I can add to my photo. I'll investigate this one, as it seems to have more flexibility than my method.

And, yes, the E arrow is pointing correctly. We're used to looking at maps where we are looking down on the Earth. But to look into the sky, we have to turn our gaze through 180-deg., so that what was left, now becomes right! It's almost as non-intuitive as thinking 3-D spherical orientations.

Paul.
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Hamza Ilyas @Muslimastronomer avatar
Hamza Ilyas @Muslimastronomer avatar
Thanks for this Dale - much appreciated!

I do wonder if it's possible for the author of the script to compose something for solar images - that would be really handy!

Clear skies,

Hamza
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Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala avatar
Paul Lloyd:
A nice tool, Dale. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. I usually finish off my images in PSE(lements) and have a number of arrows with different orientations that I can add to my photo. I'll investigate this one, as it seems to have more flexibility than my method.

And, yes, the E arrow is pointing correctly. We're used to looking at maps where we are looking down on the Earth. But to look into the sky, we have to turn our gaze through 180-deg., so that what was left, now becomes right! It's almost as non-intuitive as thinking 3-D spherical orientations.

Paul.

Great! I hope you find it useful. Mike Cransfield was the Author of it so I hope others find it useful as well.

CS,
Dale
Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala avatar
Hamza Ilyas @Muslimastronomer:
Thanks for this Dale - much appreciated!

I do wonder if it's possible for the author of the script to compose something for solar images - that would be really handy!

Clear skies,

Hamza

Funny you should mention this Hamza, I just posted another thread on PI’s website about the possibility of annotating lunar images and there was some buzz over there about that one as well. My suggestion is to ask that question or bring it up and see what kind of interest comes of it. When I asked about this 4-5 weeks ago I’d never have thought that I’d be posting this on AB!

Dale
Habib Sekha avatar
Habib Sekha avatar
Jay Hovnanian:
Call me a dope ~ I will not be offended, but isn't the "east" arrow (in the above image) pointing west?

Unless the image is mirrored.
Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala avatar
An update that JUST HAPPENED TONIGHT! For those of you who would like a transparent overlay it was just released this evening. It is Version 1.1.

FWIW, the author of this script is Mike Cransfield. Many are familiar with him I’m sure!

Here is the thread link on PI’s website:  https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?threads/is-it-possible-to-add-north-in-annotation.23352/page-3#post-152215

Dale
Mau_Bard avatar
Mau_Bard avatar
Jay Hovnanian:
Call me a dope ~ I will not be offended, but isn't the "east" arrow (in the above image) pointing west?

Hi Jay, the arrows are in fact correct.
The source of confusion is that we are dealing with two systems of coordinates: 1. the celestial equatorial for the sky, and 2. the local horizon (geographical, terrestrial) for earth orientation.

When you are talking about directions in the sky, you use celestial equatorial coordinates, not the terrestrial geographical.
In the sky you have  by definition the north arrow pointing to the North Celestial Pole (not the Zenith!) and the east arrow points 90° left of north, wherever you are in the sky.

If you happen look in direction of the geographical north, you have the celestial east arrow pointing to the terrestrial west, but you are talking two different things.

Hope this helps.
Ciao, Mau
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Mau_Bard avatar
Mau_Bard avatar
Dale Penkala:
FWIW, the author of this script is Mike Cransfield. Many are familiar with him I’m sure!


Dale, you were right and fair to point out that the author is @Mike Cranfield .
By the way, Mike is the brilliant author of several other breakthrough PI scripts, like GHS (with David Payne), the enhanced ColorMask, to say just two of them.
Ruediger avatar
Ruediger avatar
Thanks a lot for this smart little helper. Much appreciated!

CS
Rüdiger
Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala:
FWIW, the author of this script is Mike Cransfield. Many are familiar with him I’m sure!


Dale, you were right and fair to point out that the author is @Mike Cranfield .
By the way, Mike is the brilliant author of several other breakthrough PI scripts, like GHS (with David Payne), the enhanced ColorMask, to say just two of them.

Yes, Mike is a great guy & software developer! Doing many different things for us all in PI. He’s a regular over on the PI forum.

Dale
Dale Penkala avatar
Dale Penkala avatar
Ruediger:
Thanks a lot for this smart little helper. Much appreciated!

CS
Rüdiger

I’m glad you find it useful Rudiger.

Dale