How to 'fake' an auto guider in Ekos sequencer

My expectation is that after the 1x1s 'interim frame' which should yield a plate-solve, the main target has to be plate-solved - and thus centered - again.

The time (10 minutes) doesn't count too much. Could be every minute, also. I'm just asking about this approach should / will work in principle.

Alternatively, I would even prefer to plate-solve the same target (without that fake 1x1s interim frame) every 5 images (any suitable value), but I couldn't find a way to tell the sequencer to re-plate-solve every couple of minutes.

NB: I am using an iOptron CEM26EC mount and F=500mm max. focal length with an ZWO ASI533MC Pro. Never had serious field drift within an hour of capturing. But for longer exposures, I used to manually stop and re-plate-solve my target. That works, but I would be happy to sleep for 3-4 hours without interaction.

Miguel G.:
there is an option within kstarts to re-center the object after a certain amount of drift. I don't remember where is that option. Have a look to kstars config. It may be useful for you

Yes, I read about this months ago but couldn'd find it. I also asked in some other forums but all I receiveed were rumours and assumptions. No one could tell me how to get it done or seemed to know it, actually. Even some YouTube videos about Ekos' sequencer didn't shed light on this issue.

Thus my exotic 'interim 1x1s frame' approach.

Miguel G.:
go to settings -> ekos (on the left pane) -> scheduler tab -> alignment. You will see two options: "verify captured image position every" and "reset pipeline if verified image delta exceeds"

Wow ... that is very well hidden! I expected something like this in the scheduler itself. I had started KStars and Ekos many times in the past but could not find any hint from the main window with all its tabs we need to control the equipment, capturing settings and sequence setup.

In my case - connected from a Linux desktop (or tablet, in the field) via VNC Client to Astroberry's VNC server, there is no 'left pane'. I had to start KStars which opens the main (map, star field) window and then open the general settings (of KStars), find the Ekos submenu and there finally the 'Planer' (sequencer) dialog. Not very intuitive ...

Great thanks, anyway, this seems very helpful for my intentions!

Miguel G.:
yes, I meant opening kstars and so on. Hope it suits your needs!

m

Thank you very much for your advice - it helped a lot!

I couldn't test it in real life but hope for and expect some good nights in the next days when the moon becomes smaller and the (unusual) dry and clear weather continues.

Two more questions concerning the option "reset pipeline if verified image delta exceeds" came to my mind:

1. What effect has "reset pipeline"? Will the current sequence be cancelled and started over? Will it just stop and sesume after another plate solve?
2. What would be a good (small) value for "verified image delta exceeds"? The default of "30.00 arcminutes" sounds way to high for me ... half a degree!?

Ah .... and one more: I couldn't find a description of the 4 more options that can be checkmarked below, like: "Reset mount ...", "Force re-alignment ...". Sounds to me as if I had(!) to select one of these but don't know which and why ... consequences?!


As I said, I did not find explanations in the PDF docs or elsewhere. If you (or somebody) would prefer to send here a link (docs, forum thread, ....) instead of writing down anything, I will be very grateful, too.

Any help / enlightenment is appreciated!

CS Frank


Kind reminder:: I have no (auto)guider thus want to "fake" one by automatic target re-centering via PlateSolving every ~10 images.