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- Pingpong:Posted for Brad.... Pingpong: Upon upgrade to latest GSS 1.2 from 1.1, I noticed regular episodes of "ping-pong" R.A. oscillations during guiding. Mount is Wave 150i. Guiding will be going fine and stable and suddenly RA will start swinging up and down about 6 seconds with each guide frame. This will last 20-30 seconds and then eventually dampen. Reducing RA movements in PHD2 helps dampen it a big more quickly but does not eliminate it. I had encountered this once before after the mount had a power flicker that made it loses its memory, but it was fixed by phd2 recalibration and more full mount reset. The only thing that seemed to work was downgrade back go GSS 1.1, combined with reducing buffer size in serial port driver. However, it did occur last night after about 4 hours of solid guiding on GSS 1.1 so cause still not diagnosed, this was, however, the night after a strike by the dovetail plate on the wedge described below.
- Seek failure/crash and failure of limits leading to strike!Posted for Brad... Seek failure/crash and failure of limits leading to strike! Was imaging the California Nebula. At my latitude, it transits at 89 degrees altitude at 3:30am. Woke up to find the meridian flip had not taken place, NINA had frozen, and the mount continued tracking until I came to it at 7:30 am, with the OTA almost upside-down, having tracked for 4 hours past the meridian. On the script NINA was showing the meridian flip in progress, 4 hours after meridian. GSS set to turn off tracking 1 degree after meridian failed. Mount was still on the west side of the pier, it had not flipped. NINA logs suggest it gave commands to GSS, but GSS never responded and NINA just hung waiting for response. LLM wonders if GSS had an issue with a seek within 1 degree of the Zenith. Notably, this happened twice, on the same target. First time, however, Windows also initiated an unexpected Windows Update during shooting, which killed all programs, and that led me to believe that this was the cause of the tracking continuing past meridian. And it was, in a sense, but I now see that NINA had hung before the windows update, right at meridian flip. So the problem repeated but this was masked by Evil Windows Update. (I have since adjusted when updates happen on this computer to block them at night, which I had forgotten to do on new computer.)
- Sidereal Tracking FailEvening Robert and Team, I hoping someone can help with an issue I've come upon with my new Sky-Watcher HEQ5-R Pro mount. If I slew to a target in CdC it tracks just fine for about 8 minutes, then slowly starts to fall behind. I've never encountered this with my old EQ3 Pro, so I'm at a loss. This new mount supports PPEC, which I recorded. Frank
- unexpected error "GS.Shared Languages"After my setup has been gathering dust for two years, I’d like to get back into astrophotography. Naturally, the NUC had to undergo a Windows 11 upgrade. All device drivers, Microsoft Framework, the ASCOM platform, NINA, PHD2 and GSS have been updated. Even when I try to launch GSS manually, an error message appears and the app closes. Repeatedly installing and uninstalling various versions didn’t help. I’ve followed tips from Google without success. Now I’m at my wits’ end – and my nerves are shot. Does anyone recognise this behaviour? Or does anyone perhaps have an idea, or even a solution? Thanks in advance. Peter
- Alpha testingAll, Anyone interested in alpha testing a website? I'd like to get some initial feedback on this website https://greenswamptools.com/. I'm not going to say how it works or what it does but you probably want to use a desktop browser. Other than that it wouldn't be a fair evaluation if told you more but there should be enough content so you can figure out what to do. All I ask it that you don't mention or post links to the website. Please post here any comments, questions, or recommendations.
- Shutting down GSS from NINAHi all, After a few years away, I'm getting back into Astrophotography. I've decided to try NINA and I'm looking for some help with end of night actions. I want to disconnect all equipment from NINA, close the GSS connection to the mount and then power down the equipment (including the mount) within the end of night advanced sequencer actions. Using the manual disconnect all button in NINA, I'm finding the software connections to GSS successfully close so the counter goes to zero connected applications however GSS remains connected to the mount. Is there a way to tell GSS to disconnect from the mount when there are no longer any applications connected to GSS? Thanks, Peter
- initialising my skywatcher mount with GSSHello all, I'm new to GSS and love the UI - really nice. :) :) I am using the mount with a canon camera and 200mm lens. When I try to initialise (sync) in the starting position cwd and lens pointing N, I get an error which states something like sync coordinates out of limits. the process I adopt is as follows: power on and connect mount to computer (USB connection for me) mount CWS and lens/ camera pointing N turn tracking on Take an image and platesolve with PS3 this is when the error occurs. Have I missed a setup step? I appreciate cwd and looking N is not an ideal initialisation point, just concerned about the error and whether I'm setting up the mount and GSS properly. thanks Paul
- New feature request Mount Home.GSS Should be bale to move mount to home position when mount has mechanical home position avalable. Currently trying to automate process and found that GSS crashed in mid session so mount was not in home position. On reconnection GSS, it assumes mount is in park and home position which is not true after crash. So work around is i have to connect mount to Skywatcher app, use its option to home mount and then dissconnect from it and re connect nount to GSS. Which does not help in my automation. So i am requesting a new fearure that help in automation to to move mount in home position. Auto Home Exposed to ASCOM Thanks, Nik
- Dec pulse guiding ping-pongs across the pole at home position (EQ6-R / EQ8) – and a proposal: guiding should not change the mount's logical positionHello Rob and all, I'd like to report a behaviour I reproduced on two Sky-Watcher mounts, an EQ6-R and an EQ8, both running the latest GS Server release (1.2.2.8) through EQDir, with PHD2 pulse guiding via ASCOM. Symptom When PHD2 calibration starts with the mount at its home position (counterweights down, pointing at the pole), the Dec axis never moves the star. PHD2 loops on dozens of backlash clearing steps and the calibration never completes. With the same mounts, cable and PHD2 profile, the SynScan App ASCOM driver guides correctly. What I found in the source code SkyServer.PulseGuide() chooses the Dec motor direction from SideOfPier, which is re-evaluated on every pulse (SkyServer.cs L5749-5757). SideOfPier is derived from the Dec axis position: up to 90° it is pierEast, beyond 90° it is pierWest (SkyServer.cs L1283-1285). At the home position the axis sits exactly on that boundary. The first North pulse moves it just past 90°, which flips SideOfPier to West, so the next North pulse is sent the other way, back below 90°, and so on. The axis ping-pongs across the pole and the star never leaves its starting point. The pulse itself is never rejected: AxisPulse() has no declination limit (SkyWatcher.cs L421-559). It is reversed. Proposal: guiding should not change the mount's logical position While guiding, the mount stays locked on the same star, whose RA and Dec do not change. Guide corrections only compensate for polar misalignment, flexure and periodic error. Calibration ends with the star back at its starting point, so its net effect on pointing is zero, and dithering moves are a few arcseconds that average out. So I believe pulse guiding should move the axes without changing the mount's logical position: the reported RA/Dec and the pier side should stay those of the target, while GSS tracks the accumulated mechanical offset separately for limits, meridian flip and pier collision. With EQDir, the motor controller only counts axis steps and everything else is computed inside GSS, so this would be a purely software change with no need to resync the mount. The ASCOM specification does not say whether PulseGuide must update RightAscension/Declination, so it seems compatible with the standard. This would also fix the issue above by design: since the pier side would no longer change during guiding, the direction of a North pulse would stay consistent. A minimal alternative would be to latch the pier side at the start of guiding, or at the last GoTo, when choosing the pulse direction. A further benefit: at the end of each guided session, the accumulated mechanical offset is an exact measurement of the model error at that point of the sky, in effect a free sync point on every target. Feeding these offsets into the alignment model would steadily improve pointing through the night without plate solving, and could eventually allow model-based tracking rates that reduce drift itself. Many thanks for GS Server and for your work. Pierre Pierro-Astro, Béziers, France
- PPec training on eq8rHi I tried to do some ppec traing on my mount (eq8r). I started up training and waited.. for about an hour, according to manual or information that i found should be done in 10 min? Have ppec been tested on gss recently, that it actually is working as it should? Rune
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- Pingpong:Posted for Brad.... Pingpong: Upon upgrade to latest GSS 1.2 from 1.1, I noticed regular episodes of "ping-pong" R.A. oscillations during guiding. Mount is Wave 150i. Guiding will be going fine and stable and suddenly RA will start swinging up and down about 6 seconds with each guide frame. This will last 20-30 seconds and then eventually dampen. Reducing RA movements in PHD2 helps dampen it a big more quickly but does not eliminate it. I had encountered this once before after the mount had a power flicker that made it loses its memory, but it was fixed by phd2 recalibration and more full mount reset. The only thing that seemed to work was downgrade back go GSS 1.1, combined with reducing buffer size in serial port driver. However, it did occur last night after about 4 hours of solid guiding on GSS 1.1 so cause still not diagnosed, this was, however, the night after a strike by the dovetail plate on the wedge described below.
- Using GSS with SharpCap for spectroheliograph imaging.I need to be able to control the slew rate to compensate for the camera frame rate while imaging with the SHG. The required slew rate can vary from x3 sidereal to say a fraction of sidereal rates i.e. x9.5 GSS seems to quote slew rates is degrees/ min, Sidereal would be 1.5 deg/min. I'm therefore looking at (3 x1.5) =4.5 deg/min or up to 14.25 deg/min. Is it possible to accurately set the slew rate to these sort of numbers? Thanks.
- RoBA Session Time PlannerUsing the math of Dr. Robin Glover, creator of SharpCap. I have created a sub-exposure length calculator, along with one that can give the quantity of expected sub in a session. You can find it here. Frank Red over Blue Astronomy
- Alpha testingAll, Anyone interested in alpha testing a website? I'd like to get some initial feedback on this website https://greenswamptools.com/. I'm not going to say how it works or what it does but you probably want to use a desktop browser. Other than that it wouldn't be a fair evaluation if told you more but there should be enough content so you can figure out what to do. All I ask it that you don't mention or post links to the website. Please post here any comments, questions, or recommendations.
- initialising my skywatcher mount with GSSHello all, I'm new to GSS and love the UI - really nice. :) :) I am using the mount with a canon camera and 200mm lens. When I try to initialise (sync) in the starting position cwd and lens pointing N, I get an error which states something like sync coordinates out of limits. the process I adopt is as follows: power on and connect mount to computer (USB connection for me) mount CWS and lens/ camera pointing N turn tracking on Take an image and platesolve with PS3 this is when the error occurs. Have I missed a setup step? I appreciate cwd and looking N is not an ideal initialisation point, just concerned about the error and whether I'm setting up the mount and GSS properly. thanks Paul
- New feature request Mount Home.GSS Should be bale to move mount to home position when mount has mechanical home position avalable. Currently trying to automate process and found that GSS crashed in mid session so mount was not in home position. On reconnection GSS, it assumes mount is in park and home position which is not true after crash. So work around is i have to connect mount to Skywatcher app, use its option to home mount and then dissconnect from it and re connect nount to GSS. Which does not help in my automation. So i am requesting a new fearure that help in automation to to move mount in home position. Auto Home Exposed to ASCOM Thanks, Nik
- unexpected error "GS.Shared Languages"After my setup has been gathering dust for two years, I’d like to get back into astrophotography. Naturally, the NUC had to undergo a Windows 11 upgrade. All device drivers, Microsoft Framework, the ASCOM platform, NINA, PHD2 and GSS have been updated. Even when I try to launch GSS manually, an error message appears and the app closes. Repeatedly installing and uninstalling various versions didn’t help. I’ve followed tips from Google without success. Now I’m at my wits’ end – and my nerves are shot. Does anyone recognise this behaviour? Or does anyone perhaps have an idea, or even a solution? Thanks in advance. Peter
- Shutting down GSS from NINAHi all, After a few years away, I'm getting back into Astrophotography. I've decided to try NINA and I'm looking for some help with end of night actions. I want to disconnect all equipment from NINA, close the GSS connection to the mount and then power down the equipment (including the mount) within the end of night advanced sequencer actions. Using the manual disconnect all button in NINA, I'm finding the software connections to GSS successfully close so the counter goes to zero connected applications however GSS remains connected to the mount. Is there a way to tell GSS to disconnect from the mount when there are no longer any applications connected to GSS? Thanks, Peter
- Hibernation issuePosted for Brad... Hibernation: GSS does not appear to handle recovery of the mount connection after hibernation. Typical scenario is after a shooting session with NINA, NINA disconnects GSS and then commands Windows hibernation. PHD2 does not disconnect from GSS so it remains active. After restore from hibernation, GSS believes it is connected to the mount but is not communicating with it, no commands work, no data flows. You need to do a "disconnect" (and then wait 20-30 seconds for it to time out) and reconnect and things are operating again. Sometimes you must just kill GSS. GSS should disconnect from mount on shutdown, and reconnect (possibly after short delay) on restore.
- Seek failure/crash and failure of limits leading to strike!Posted for Brad... Seek failure/crash and failure of limits leading to strike! Was imaging the California Nebula. At my latitude, it transits at 89 degrees altitude at 3:30am. Woke up to find the meridian flip had not taken place, NINA had frozen, and the mount continued tracking until I came to it at 7:30 am, with the OTA almost upside-down, having tracked for 4 hours past the meridian. On the script NINA was showing the meridian flip in progress, 4 hours after meridian. GSS set to turn off tracking 1 degree after meridian failed. Mount was still on the west side of the pier, it had not flipped. NINA logs suggest it gave commands to GSS, but GSS never responded and NINA just hung waiting for response. LLM wonders if GSS had an issue with a seek within 1 degree of the Zenith. Notably, this happened twice, on the same target. First time, however, Windows also initiated an unexpected Windows Update during shooting, which killed all programs, and that led me to believe that this was the cause of the tracking continuing past meridian. And it was, in a sense, but I now see that NINA had hung before the windows update, right at meridian flip. So the problem repeated but this was masked by Evil Windows Update. (I have since adjusted when updates happen on this computer to block them at night, which I had forgotten to do on new computer.)
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