How-to setup BYE/BYN and AstroTortilla for plate solving

[admin]

Using AstroTortilla for plate solving is a Premium Edition feature.

Follow these steps to configure both BackyardEOS/BackyardNIKON and AstroTortilla for plate solving.

In BackyardEOS or BackyardNIKON...

1. Start BackyardEOS/BackyardNIKON Premium Edition.
2. Go to Settings.
3. In the "3rd party integration" section check 'Enable TCP Server'.
4. Restart BackyardEOS/BackyardNIKON.
5. Accept all Windows firewall warnings.

In AstroTortilla...

1. Start AstroTortilla.
2. Select "BackyardEOS" as your camera control.  Even if you are using BackyardNIKON you need to select BackyardEOS in AstroTortilla.
3. Set the exposure duration (in seconds).
4. Click on camera set up, set the ISO desired. 
5. Click "Capture and Solve" to start the plate solving process.
6. Refer to AstroTortilla documentation for proper AT settings.

You are now plate solving!

Thank you
 

[admin]

Does AT work with BYN beta ?

 

Yep it does, the title of this thread does say BYE/BYN

 

Regards,

[g__day]

 

Just a quick check as I run two instances of BYE (one to control a 40D on a SCT and the second to control a side by side mounted Williams Optics FLT 110mm APO with a 400D).

 

If I only want the 40D controlled version to talk to Astro Tortilla then I only set its instance's flag to use 3rd party integration flag and use the default port number 1499.

 

Many thanks,

 

   Matthew

[admin]

Just a quick check as I run two instances of BYE (one to control a 40D on a SCT and the second to control a side by side mounted Williams Optics FLT 110mm APO with a 400D).

 

If I only want the 40D controlled version to talk to Astro Tortilla then I only set its instance's flag to use 3rd party integration flag and use the default port number 1499.

 

Many thanks,

 

   Matthew

 

Yes, this is correct.

 

...and if you ever wanted a second instance of AT to control the second instance of BYE you would assign a different port number to the second instance of BYE and then configure the second instance of AT to use that same newly assigned port in BYE #2.

 

DO NOT set 2 instances of BYE with the same port number and both with enable 3rd party integration because then both instances of BYE would react to same single instance of AT and that may/should/will cause you grief.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Guylain

[Xplode]

The key to quick plate solving is correct settings for your setup, i found an excellent tutorial on how to setup Astrotortilla for plate solving here

Hope this helps people getting Astrotortilla to work 

[admin]

The key to quick plate solving is correct settings for your setup, i found an excellent tutorial on how to setup Astrotortilla for plate solving here

Hope this helps people getting Astrotortilla to work 

 

Thanks for pointing it out.  I was searching for that link a few days ago to add here but did not find it.  Thank you for the link.

 

Guylain

[Xplode]

No problem

 

There is also a little known function in Astrotortilla where it saves annotated images.

 

 

It takes extra time so you might not want to use it while in the field solving images.

 

Here's how to enable it.

First you need to edit custom options, remove "--no-plots -N none"

 

You also need to set a directory where the annoted files will be saved, to do this go to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\astrotortilla.sf.net\AstroTortilla

Open astrotortilla.cfg in Notepad, on the top you will find [AstroTortilla], you will have to add "work_directory = C:\AT" (choose any folder you want) to the 2nd line

 

If you succesfully solve an image 3 images will be created by AstroTortilla, they will have the following endings -objs, -ngc and -indx.

 

An explanation of the different images copied from astrometry.net

Click the links to see how the images will look. The image used is from Wikipedia and uploaded by Mouser

-ngc = an annotation of the image.

-objs = a plot of the sources (stars) we extracted from the image.

-indx = sources (red), plus stars from the index (green), plus the skymark (“quad”) used to solve the image.

 

[fmhill]

The key to quick plate solving is correct settings for your setup, i found an excellent tutorial on how to setup Astrotortilla for plate solving here

Hope this helps people getting Astrotortilla to work 

 

 

 

I would suggest adding a step to the "In Astrotortilla"instruction:

 

         [ In camera set up, set the ISO desired ]

 

In AstroTortilla...

1. Start AstroTortilla.
2. Select "BackyardEOS" as your camera control.
3. Set the exposure duration (in seconds).
4. click on camera set up, set the ISO desired.      <*************************>
5. Click "Capture and Solve" to start the plate solving process.
6. Refer to AstroTortilla documentation for proper AT settings.

The reason I suggest this is I find many people that I work with setting up Astrotortilla find that the default ISO value of 800 is inadequate and most people need to set this to 3200-6400 to get a bright enough image for Astrotortilla to resolve.

[admin]

I would suggest adding a step to the "In Astrotortilla"instruction:

 

[ In camera set up, set the ISO desired ]

 

 

Done, thank you for the suggestion.

 

Guylain

[sail440]

The key to quick plate solving is correct settings for your setup, i found an excellent tutorial on how to setup Astrotortilla for plate solving hereHope this helps people getting Astrotortilla to work 

Is this link still active? It appears to have been removed, any idea if the contents are still out there somewhere.

[admin]

Is this link still active? It appears to have been removed, any idea if the contents are still out there somewhere.

 

Hi just did a quick search on their website and here is the new link.

http://www.lightvortexastronomy.com/tutorial-setting-up-and-using-astrotortilla-for-plate-solving.html

[astroman133]

If you have a question about using AstroTortilla with BYE/BYN, you could post it in the Application Support/General forum.

[Gordb]

I was wondering if it might be possible during an imaging run, after a user defined number of exposures, to trigger a plate solve and recentre in AT and then resume the imaging run? For example plate solve and recentre every X number of exposures to the end of the imaging run.

[astroman133]

The communication between BYE and AT is one-way with AT making requests and BYE responding.  AT asks for an image to plate solve and BYE provides it.  This is only possible if BYE is connected to a camera, but not currently imaging.

 

Keeping the field-of-view constant while imaging is the reason for autoguiding, so if you are guiding what you are asking is unnecessary.

[dts350z]

I wanted to point out a couple of things I found, to speed up AT:

1) If you don't need the plots, disable them and save that setup for routine use. You could have another set of settings for recall when you want plots (and if anybody knows how to increase the font size/change the font color let me know). Were talking about the custom options, remove "--no-plots -N none" here.

2) AT will change the min max settings to be optimal for your current FOV after a successful solve so you should save your settings for typical use after a successful solve. Just remember that you will need a different min max range if you change your setup, such that your FOV changes (add/remove focal reducer, switch scopes, or cameras, etc.) Also if you want to solve from someone else's pictures.

Speaking of solving from pictures, I like to use this free tool: 

 

http://www.newastro.com/book_new/camera_app.html

 

with this optional set of images:

http://www.flemingastrophotography.com/astrotools.html

to see the different FOVs I can achieve with my setups and how different DSOs will be framed for each case, as part of planning for a night's imaging.

With AT I can also "goto" one of those images. E.G. if I want to frame M81 and M82 in one image I can just goto the M81 and M82 image from the above and I will get the same framing (you can also use this feature of AT to return to a previous night's image location for more integration time). You do this with the AT Camera --> Open File Dialog option.

I have saved AT settings for the FOV of the "astro tools" images above, as well as for each of my FOV setups.

Cheers,
Z 

[AstroJeff]

I use a Closed Loop Slew in (The Sky X)

I use Elbrus in Sequence generator pro

 

With Plate solving in BYE does it auto center the object? does it need internet? Can it be downloaded locally if you cannot use the internet if required?

[astroman133]

Jeff,

 

BYE does not plate solve.  Astro Tortilla manages the plate solving.  When BYE is chosen as AT's camera application, it will ask for an image when appropriate.

 

AT is made up of 4 basic parts: the AT application, astrometry.net (the plate solving engine), the astrometry.net data files, and cygwin (a Unix environment for Windows).  the AT installer installs everything you need, except for the data files.  As you might expect the data files are large (> 20GB), so it does take a while to get it all set up.

 

Finally, it is totally local to your laptop and is very happy to work when you don't have an internet connection.

[AstroJeff]

Thanks for the reply.  Does AT auto center objects?

[AstroJeff]

Looking at the settings, answered my question

 

Its using Astronometry.net Local but it was only 300mb, is there another database I can download?

 

I assume 2-2.8 Deg is fine with a F3.9 system.

[astroman133]

I have read the recommendation that you should have index files that cover a range of 0.1 - 2.0 times your FOV. 

 

The installer for AT has been improved, since I first set it up so that it only installs those portions of cygwin that are needed by astrometry.net.

 

Because I initially did not know which index files I would need, I downloaded all of them.  Then I move the files that I don't need for my current setup into a separate directory so AT won't try to solve using them.

[rstant]

Hi,

I am using BYN with my D7000 and all features seem to be working perfectly. I tried to interface with AT for plate solving but AT cannot get control of the camera from BYN and I get an error. I am running Windows 7 and I have checked my firewall settings (even tried turning it off) but without success. I tried a different port No. in case there was (an unlikely) clash but still no joy. I can communicate between PHD and BYN for dithering and AT can see my mount without problems. I feel sure it's a computer setting somewhere but I can't seem to find it. Any suggestions would be very welcome.

 

Cheers,

Ray

[admin]

Did you restart BYN after you changed the port settings in BYN? 

 

If AT does not communicate with BYN it is a 100% communication/port/firewall issue. 

 

Please post images of your settings in both BYN and AT.

[whatablanker]

Start BackyardEOS/BackyardNIKON Premium Edition.In the "3rd party integration" section check 'Enable 3rd party integration'.

 

I hope someone can help me. I have tried the above but there's no check box. I am using

BYE 3,1 the latest version.

 

Thanks

[admin]

Start BackyardEOS/BackyardNIKON Premium Edition.In the "3rd party integration" section check 'Enable 3rd party integration'.

 

I hope someone can help me. I have tried the above but there's no check box. I am using

BYE 3,1 the latest version.

 

Thanks

 

If you do not see the "3rd party integration" section in the Setting dialog it is most likely because you have the classic edition.

 

Regards,

[Gordb]

Thanks Rick. I image unguided at the moment so re-centering would be valuable. MaximDL has a similar feature with Pinpoint but I prefer BYEOS. I was just thinking it might be nice to have but didn't realize that it was a one way communication between AT and BYEOS.

[rstant]

Thanks Guylain,

After coming back to look again yesterday (PC had been turned off) it worked straight away. I guess something in the firewall settings needed a PC reboot. AT had control over the camera as expected. I couldn't actually plate solve from a pre captured image though but that is a different matter. Really happy with BYN for my D7000 will be buying a license for sure once released.

Thanks,

Ray

[whatablanker]

I shouldn't have the classic version I paid for and downloaded the premium version 3.1

[astroman133]

This topic is for how to use AstroTortilla with BYE or BYN.  If you have a licensing issue you should contact Guylain directly or post a topic in the General Support area.

 

Have you copied your license code from the "my client area" of this site into your copy of BYE?  That should give you what you paid for.  If an error was made, you should probably contact Guylain directly.

[admin]

Yes, I just verified and you have a Premium key.

 

Please start a new thread in the BYE/BYN forum and please provide a print screen of your settings dialog for us to compare. 

 

Don't you get the 3rd party integration in your setting dialog as per the print screen I have included above?

 

Thank you

[BigDob17.5]

 

Does AT work with BYN beta ?