KStars v3.3.7 Released

KStars v3.3.7 is released for Windows, MacOS and Linux. This late autumn release packs a lot of new features and fixes across the board.

ASTAP integration

ASTAP is an astrometric plate solver, stacking of images, photometry, and FITS Viewer application available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux on multiple architectures.

KStars included support for solving via ASTAP in the Align module in addition to the existing astrometry.net solver. ASTAP employs a different method to solve images making it extremely fast  while at the same time requiring a smaller star catalog compared to other astrometric solvers.

You need to download and install the G17 Star Catalog for ASTAP to work locally.

ASTAP Solver

The error reporting was improved to show the overall error in arcsec. Furthermore, the Align module initial FOV is calculated from the camera and telescope parameters (no longer default to 0x0'). This make the initial solve with a wider search radius faster compared to a blind solve. Once the exact FOV is measured, the search radius is reset to the default value to expedite subsequent searches.

Observatory Weather

Wolfgang Reissenberger continued his outstanding work on the observatory module by adding a dedicated weather widget with live plotting for each parameter.

FITS Enhancements

Hy Murveit contributed further improvements to the FITS loading mechanism which resulted in speed ups during sequence capturing.

When capturing images, previously once the capture was complete, images were written to disk, then read back, then displayed in the fits viewer (if enabled), and finally the next image could be captured. This delayed the next capture by a few seconds.

With this change, the FITS data is displayed using (a copy of) the INDI blob sent to INDI::CCD, a memory buffer, and the FITS data is written to disk on a separate thread, which does not block the next capture nor the display of the INDI data.

Focus Module

Eric Dejouhanet Fixed HFR calculation in the FITS Data class, which was accumulating integer instead of double values.

This led to incorrect consolidation of HFR over multiple stars in the focus procedure and incoherent results in full-frame mode.

The UI received an overhaul as well to make the various settings more accessible. Each detected star HFR is now displayed next to it.

Scheduler Updates

Eric Dejouhanet implemented customizable dusk and dawn offsets (D23869). This introduces two new Ekos options, located in the Scheduler option pane. Dusk (resp. dawn) offset will apply a positive or negative hour offset to today's astronomical dusk (resp. dawn) when scheduling observation jobs.

The dawn offset and the pre-dawn offset are cumulative, but the dawn offset allows an earlier or later dawn to be used both while scheduling and executing.

The resulting dusk-to-dawn interval is displayed in the Scheduler UI on the right side of the Twilight checkbox. If the Twilight restriction is checked, the modified dusk and dawn values will be used to schedule the observation job to night time.

If the Twilight restriction is not checked, the observation job will not depend on night time and the modified dusk and dawn will be ineffective in scheduling that job.

The dusk and dawn offsets can be modified from the Ekos Scheduler options, and the night time interval displayed in the Scheduler UI will be updated when applying the changes in that dialog.

Additionally, if the Scheduler is not running, jobs will be re-evaluated to take the new dusk and dawn values into account. However, jobs will only effectively update their schedule if the night time constrain them to do so, not if the night time restriction relaxes.

Guiding & PHD2 improvements

Robert Lancaster improved PHD2 integration with Ekos.

This update is intended to fix several PHD2 problems and provide several PHD2 enhancements.

Fixes an issue where if the user hits the stop button while guiding in the PHD2 interface, then the user restarts guiding from PHD2, Ekos did not pick up the guide state change since no settling occurred and the user didn't click guide in Ekos.

Fixes an issue where the guiding data was not put into the graphs if the user did not enter a focal length into PHD2. Formerly the solution was to put a warning in the Guide log, but users ignored that. Now this tries to set the current CCD, so the backup method can work the way it was intended to work.

1. Fixes an issue when the user had external guide frames selected, they did not appear in the guide view, and instead loaded in the fits viewer.
2. Enables the loop and capture buttons for PHD2 along with the corresponding functions to make them work. Works well if the camera is connected to Ekos, also works if its not, but it will not display in Ekos. A message prints to the log letting the user know why.
3. Disables the binning combo box which was enabled accidentally.
4. If the user has external guide frames enabled, this enables the tracking box so that the lock position in the image can be reported to the user, and it also enables the user to be able to click to change the lock position for PHD2.
5. This improves Ekos's ability to recognize the guide camera by using PHD2's report of what guide camera it is using. Then Ekos can use this information to disable or enable the receipt of image frames as well as the option to use the SubFrame checkbox.
6. Improves the communication about the various options and status for cameras connected to PHD2 and Ekos.
7. Enables the SubFrame method for PHD2 cameras so that they can switch quickly back and forth between the Guide Star image and full frame external guide frames at the push of a button.
8. After I cleaned up some of the old and no longer needed methods/code, Ekos now connects to PHD2 much faster.
9. I added the option for the user to select autostar, or to have PHD2 use the star lock position chosen by the user.
10. Removes the External Guide Frames option since this makes it obsolete
11. Saves the subframe option between KStars sessions and sets Ekos to receive External Guide frames or not based on it.
12. Removes all the setting and unsetting of external blobs for Linguider, which doesn't support INDI cameras anyway, so it was pointless.

Furthermore, the guiding module now shows directional guiding label to help see which directions are affected by the pulses.

Misc Enhancements & Bug Fixes

+ Added download time estimation to the capture module. (D25138)

+ Solved several issues with guiding & dithering in both capture & scheduling. (D25110, D25105)

+ Fixed gain setting in capture module. (D24417)

+ Fixed focus HFR-averaging issue. (D24352)

+ Connect Scheduler sleep timer to Simulation Clock scale change. (D24151)

+ Handling of aborts during parking/unparking of rolloff roofs corrected. (D24064)

+ Hitting a constraint sets a job to IDLE instead of COMPLETE so that it might be restarted later. (D24232)

+ Update OpenNGC to v20191019 (D24896)

KStars v3.2.2 is Released!

Thanks to all to the hard work by KStars developers and volunteers, we are happy to announce KStars v3.2.2 release for Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

In this release, support for x86-32 bit architecture has been dropped and the Windows 10 executable now requires an x86-64 bit system.

Improved Observing List Wizard

This is a maintenance release to fix a few bugs and introduce a few enhancements:

• Important stability fix for crashes reported with FITS Viewer.
• Ignore Video Streaming when guiding via PHD2 with a video device.
• Automatic syncing for Active Devices on Startup.
• Meridian Flip Fixes.
• Keep GUI parameters for scheduler and capture in sync with row selection
• When a manual filter is detected, prompt user to change the filter and update the driver accordingly.
• Fix observing list wizard object filter by time and altitude and introduce a coverage param where the user can control the percentage.
• Improved saving of settings in all Ekos modules.

KStars v2.9.8 released

KStars 2.9.8 is released for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It is a hotfix release that contains bug fixes and stability improvements over the last release.

This marks the last release of the 2.x series, the next KStars release shall be v3.0.0

Highlights:
 + Eric Dejouhanet fixed several issues in the Ekos scheduler to enable running duplicate jobs.
 + Pino Toscano fixed many problematic i18n strings that accumulated over the years.
 + Csaba Kertesz improved KStars Lite android build process and fixed touch support.
 + Andy Galasso fixed several issues with Ekos PHD2 support.
 + Wolfgang Reissenberger fixed logging out in capture module.
+ Yuri Chornoivan fixed minor EBN issues.
+ Using Max RMS value as the threshold to abort the guider instead of maximum pulse length.

KStars 2.9.1 is off to a fantastic start in 2018!

We're kicking off 2018 with a new fantastic release of KStars for Windows & MacOS. Linux users should wait a few more days to get the release in the official PPA due to Canonical's Launchpad downtime because of the Meltdown and Spectre CPU vulnerabilities discovered recently.

KStars 2.9.1 aka "Lancaster" release is primarily a bugfix release, but it brings with it as well several new features and improvements to existing technologies.

Over the holidays, Robert Lancaster made significant improvements to KStars and this release is named in his honor. Thank you Robert for your awesome contributions to KStars and Open Astronomy community!

MacOS users gained a few additional drivers with this release including Apogee, QHY, and Meade DSI support!

Set Park Position

Setting a custom parking position used to involve going to INDI Control Panel and tinkering with a few settings before it is saved and active. With KStars 2.9.1, it is now a very accessible action. Simply click anywhere on the sky map and select your desired custom parking position.

The mount shall slew normally to the desired location and save it as the parking position. It will NOT park the mount, it will just save that position as the desired position. To park the mount, use the parking/unparking controls from the toolbar or from the sky map as you normally would.

Additional PHD 2 Support

Robert Lancaster built upon his previous changes to PHD2 to add a PHD2 command request list so that KStars can keep track of what it has asked PHD2 to do. This allowed the addition of several additional commands that could be used to control PHD2. Now, users can use the Ekos Guide Module to change the PHD2 exposure time, change the DEC guide settings, and get information about the guiding pulses sent to the mount. Also, after changing the Connect/Disconnect code, the PHD2 connection seems to be more reliable.

Dither support was improved by using the timeout variable in the Guide options to control how long KStars will wait after issuing a dither command before continuing. And in a related fix, the Guide module will use the setting in the guide options “Dither Failure Aborts Autoguide” to control whether a dither issue will cause the entire sequence to abort. The last two changes were due to the fact that if PHD2 did not send back a response after dithering, KStars would not complete the sequence and if PHD2 reported a guide error, it would abort the entire sequence regardless of the setting in the guide options. This should all now be fixed. Also he added a PHD2 Lost Lock Timer so that if it loses track of the guide star but then regains it within 5 seconds, then it won’t abort guiding.

Drift Graphics Updates

Robert Lancaster made several improvements to the graphs in the Guide Module. These changes will work whether the user is using PHD2 or the internal guider. First, the mount corrections were added to the Drift Graphics plot so that the user could see not just the RA and DEC error, but also the corrections that the mount is making in each axis.

Since this graph naturally has a different scale than the guide errors, a separate axis was added along with a slider to control its scale independently of the other axis. A set of controls was added at the bottom left so that each component could be added or removed from the graph independently. A slider was added so that the user could scroll through the guide history, or click the “Max” checkbox to lock the graph onto the latest point so it will autoscroll.

Also buttons were added for autoscaling the graphs, or exporting the guide data to a CSV file, clearing all the guide data, and for scaling the target in the Drift Plot. Finally, a label was added to the guide graph every time that a dither occurred so the user knows guiding was not bad at those points.

New 3D Star Profile and Data Visualization Tool

Robert Lancaster created a new KStars tool based on some QT Examples that would plot the Pixel Data shown in any of the KStars Image Views so that the user can inspect the data in a new manner. This is particularly useful for astrophotographers who want to visualize the profile of a star they are considering focusing or guiding on, for scientists who want to examine a cross section of their data to understand the relative brightness of different objects in the image, and for imagers who want to visually see what is going on in their data collection in a new way.

Note that in order to use this feature, KStars must be built with the Data Visualization module installed. For the Mac OS X DMG, users can start using this function right away. We are working to get it into the Windows exe and Linux PPA very soon so that these users can also use this function right out of the box. But for now, Linux users would have to build from source with Data Visualizations installed to have these features.

To use the new feature, the user needs to select the View Star Profile Icon in one of the Ekos Module Views, or in the Fitsviewer. Then, the region selected in the green tracking box will show up in the 3D graph as shown above. The user will then have one of the following toolbars at the bottom.

At the far left, the sample size combo box will let the user select the size of the image crop shown in the graph. This option is only available in the Summary Screen, the Align Module, and the Fitsviewer. The second combo box lets the user control whether they are selecting an individual item, or a row, or a column of pixels.

The slice button will be enabled if the user selects “Row” or “Column.” It will put the graph in slice mode so that the user can see a cross section view of the image. Third, is a check box that will open up two sliders that will let the user drag the slider to change the selection.

This is extremely useful in the slide mode to change the selected point and to move the cross section around the graph. It is also useful in the normal view when in “Explore Mode” so that the user can zoom around the image examining the pixels. 

Then the user has the “Zoom To” combo box, which the user can use to zoom the graph to different preset locations. Next is the combo box that lets the user select the color scheme of the graph. Then are the HFR and the Peak checkboxes, which will both turn on the HFR and Peak labels on each found star in the image, but will also display one of them at the bottom of the screen. And finally comes the Scaling checkbox, which enables the Scaling Side Panel. In that panel are three sliders, one to control the minimum value displayed on the graph or “black point”, one to control the maximum value displayed in the graph or the “white point,” and a third that is disabled by default that lets the user control the cutoff value for data displayed on the graph.

This third slider is very useful to get really big peaks out of the way so you can study the finer details in the image. There is a checkbox at the top to enable/disable the cutoff slider.

And finally at the bottom of the sliders is the “Auto scale” button. This will auto scale the sliders as you sample different areas in the image. It will not only optimize the display of the data, but will also affect the minimum and maximum points of the slider.

If you disable auto scale, then as you sample different parts of the image, they will be displayed at the same scale. A particularly useful way to use this is to select an area of your image using auto scale, tweak the min, max, and cutoff sliders to your liking, and then turn off the auto scale feature to explore other areas of the graph.

KStars 2.8.9 is released!

Here comes the last KStars release for 2017! KStars v2.8.9 is available now for Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

Robert Lancaster worked on improving PHD2 support with Ekos. This includes retrieving the guide star image, drift errors and RMS values, among other minor improvements and refactoring of the Ekos PHD2 codebase to support future extensions.

Furthermore, Robert added drift plot support to Ekos Guide module which provides a visual indication of the accuracy of the guiding.

The Ekos Guide module received further improvements to make it more straightforward to use with end users. The calibration button is now removed and performed automatically whenever guiding starts. The user can clear the calibration at any time to restart the process.

Meridian Flip support improved with various fixes to post-meridian-flip operations including autofocus. Filter Manager received several fixes to improve filter switching during various phases of the capture process. Users can also control when to run the In-Sequence focus check. By default, the check is executed after each frame, but now can be configured to be executed only after several frames are captured.

A minor but quite useful addition is the Meridian Line. It can be turned on so that users can get a visual indication on how close the mount is to executing a meridian flip procedure.

Enjoy the new release, and do not forget to report any bugs or suggestions over at bugs.kde.org.