Hey guys,
fairly new to KStars 3.0.0 on Mac, and Jasem has already been more than helpful.
But last night I decided I wanted to image IC2118 (Witch head nebula).
Equipment-wise, I'm only using the camera and filter modules. The camera is an Atik 383L+,the filter wheel is an SX-USB with 5 50mm unmounted-filter slots.
Guiding is done with PHD2 (ZWO ASI178MM on the guidescope) stand-alone, as I don't trust myself enough yet to use it via Ekos.
I've used the focus module (no electric focuser, just a human one) to accurately focus the CCD and then got on the job.
After aligning the mount (EQ8 whose RS232-RJ45 cable I've misplaced and am not able to find anymore...) with the camera attached by taking 4x4 binned previews with the camera module and then slowly working my way up the resolution to more accurately align the mount, I fired up PHD2 and calibrated the guiding process.
When everything was set and the CCD was at its correct temperature, I tried inputing the sequence as single L-R-G-B frames, to be repeated until dawn.
First thing I noticed: when deciding where to put the captures and the .esq file, the reaction time of the "finder" window was 12-15 seconds between the click and the result.
That puzzled me as rather strange (did not have this issue in 2.9.
and annoying, but just a minor hurdle to be overcome in order to get good images.
After painstakingly programming the sequence, I started it, and that's where things get interesting: KStars just crashed. And crashed. And crashed. Again and again. At various steps of the sequence set-up process, with no apparent pattern to be recognised.
Until it did not crash anymore and seemed to work perfectly.
Only to trick me into leaving the telescope for a few minutes. When I came back KStars had taken an L frame and then crashed.
Stubborn like a goat, I tried again for something like 20 times, always unable to even get the sequence loaded.
Then again it took one L frame, just to crash once more.
Fed up, I dedicated myself to other things.
Then it dawned on me I could try comet 46P.
I worked my way through another series of random crashes, but then managed to have the CCD start taking exposures.
Left the laptop working. Came back after about one hour, to find out KStars/Ekos had crashed after about 25 minutes of capture time.
Tonight I tried to start KStars (no Ekos) once more to look for some targets for the future. It crashed without mercy.
Attached you'll find:
- Ekos logs from yesterday and tonight (zip file)
- Mac OS logs of the crashes (rtf files)
Can someone help in solving this issue?
With 2.9.8 I had other problems, but at least it was kinda stable. 3.0.0 solved some of the problems I had in 2.9.8, but has become manageable like a wild tiger...
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to make the whole adventure clear to all
Cheers
Antonio Soffici