Chain Solver (Plate Solvers)¶

The Chain Solver is really more of a concept than an actual plate solver. The easiest way to think about it is as a simple group of solvers where it will attempt to solve by using one of its constituent solvers and will stop when it has success. The Chain Solver maintains a prioritization of its "internal" solvers and will always attempt to solve in that same order. Of course, you can easily customize this order just by dragging the solvers around in the list until they match your preferences. In addition to solver precedence, you can also use multiple instances of the same solver where each instance uses the same solver application but carries different settings. Lastly, it is important to understand that every equipment profile carries its own unique Chain Solver. In other words, as an example, one equipment profile may configure Pinpoint to use UCAC catalogs and another may use Atlas and switching between them will not clobber any kind of "global" notion of a Pinpoint config.

Let's look at a Chain Solver setup where we want to, for all solves, attempt with the following solvers: Pinpoint (with Atlas), Pinpoint (with GSC), PlateSolve3 (with Kepler) and, finally, if all of those fail, by using ANSVR:

Let's take a closer look at the Chain Solver list (located in the Control Panel and also in the Equipment Profile Manager):

Configuration and Reordering the Chain¶

Reordering the chain is super simple. You can either grab the gripper icon in each row and drag the solver to wherever you'd like it in the solver order (the arrow points to the gripper icon):

Or you can right-click it to choose from several reordering options like move to top, move up, etc.

Identifying Blind Solvers¶

It is useful to easily understand what solvers function in a "blind" capacity. A blind solver is nothing more than a solver that does not require any "hint" data in order to produce a solve. This functionality, of course, comes at the cost of time. Blind solvers are typically much slower than non-blind solvers. In any case, it is often a good idea to place these solvers at or near the end of your chain. Each solver has an eyeball icon. If the icon is disabled (gray), it means that the solver is NOT a blind solver and will require accurate hints to succeed. If the icon is not gray, then, of course, the solver is blind (but hints may still be valuable):

What is that little pin icon?¶

It serves to notify you that the plate solver supports "click solving" (for any image solve an arbitrary x,y location). At this moment, we have been able to coerce all solvers to function as viable click solvers.

Solver Status (and Troubleshooting)¶

For all the plate solvers SGPro supports, there are essentially 2 different classifications of errors that prevent use of a solver in the chain:

• Not installed / bad install errors: The plate solver is simply not installed or, it is installed, but is currently unusable (missing files, servers down, etc)
• Server install is OK, but SGPro thinks your solver doesn't know where to find its required catalogs / indices.

When a solver is misconfigured you'll notice several identifying features here. An X icon and red text that reads not installed. Hovering over the text or icon reveals a tooltip with more information specific to that solver:

And finally, if you actually click the item or right-click it and choose Download PlateSolve3 you'll be transported directly to PlaneWave's site. This has been implemented for all supported solvers.

Cloning Solvers¶

Some solvers support the notion of "cloning". This is an advanced feature that, in most cases, can safely be ignored. In the case that you need it though, here it is... What's it do? It essentially allows you to use the same solver in the list multiple times, but use each instance configured in a different way. An example might include using the same solver in the list twice, but each instance is configured to use a different catalog. Any setting available to a solver can be used and set in a different way between clones. Here is an example of the Pinpoint solver and its clone where each uses a different catalog. The top one, named Atlas (you can name clones whatever you want) will be used first and then, if that fails, the Chain Solver will move on to using Pinpoint with the GSC catalog (note that this configuration is nonsensical, but serves to illustrate an easy-to-comprehend example).

The Image Preview Context Menu¶

Changes are afoot here... both in terms of new features and modifications that help support the notion of the new Chain Solver. First let's cover changes to existing functionality. For many years, SGPro has allowed you to attempt to plate solve almost any image you can see on-screen. This can be done by right-clicking anywhere on the image and simply choose Plate Solve. This functionality is certainly still present and is just as easy to use. That said, there are a couple of key differences to be aware of here.

The Plate Solve Image Option¶

This option does exactly what you think it does and allows you to bypass the Chain Solver and choose to solve immediately with the chosen solver. If a solver is not active in the chain (checked), it will not appear in the menu here.

The Center Here Option¶

This option has very similar changes to the above Plate Solve option. The top-level Center Here option will attempt to center the telescope using the Chain Solver and, alternatively, you can choose to bypass the Chain Solver and center the telescope using any currently active solver within the chain.

The Plate Solve at Mouse Cursor Option¶

This option functions almost exactly like its "Plate Solve sibling" (discussed above), but with one key difference. Instead of solving at image center, this option will solve the image at the coordinates used to invoke the context menu. Other than that, it has the same optional behavior that allows use of the Chain Solver or any of the individual solvers that comprise its chain.

Plate Solve Settings¶

Solve and Sync¶

The phrase "Solve and Sync" refers to a series of actions designed to synchronize your telescope with the reality of it current location. This process involves:

• Capturing a frame at the desired exposure length
• Plate solving that frame
• Relaying the results of that plate solve to your telescope such that it knows where you are currently pointed

The two options here are very similar and only differ in the types of plate solvers they use during the solve and sync process.

The Normal Sync¶

Captures and then plate solves an image. If the solve is successful the telescope is synced to the solved location. This is useful if you have your target framed exactly as you would like. Clicking this action will show a menu (see screenshot below) that allows you to choose the underlying plate solver(s) to use during the sync event. If you chose the Chain Solver, the solve and sync process will use the plate solvers you currently have selected in your Chain Solver. Alternatively, you may choose to engage just a single plate solver if you'd like to override the Chain Solver's default behavior.

The Blind Sync¶

The only meaningful difference between a Blind Solve and Sync and a normal Solve and Sync is that the Blind Solver does not require hints in order to solve and, as such, is the ideal candidate for the initial sync after mount setup (i.e. when the Telescope's location is nowhere near reality). After a sequence is up and running and the Telescope's location is in the proximity of reality, it is preferable to use the normal Solve and Sync

Clicking this button will show a menu (see screenshot above) that allows you to choose the underlying blind plate solver(s) to use during the sync event. If you chose the Chain Solver, the solve and sync process will use the plate solvers you currently have selected, starting with the first blind solver in your Chain Solver. Alternatively, you may choose to engage just a single blind plate solver if you'd like to override the Chain Solver's default behavior.