Hello Bill,
thanks again for this new update. I want to comment one thing you didn't
mention: the custom CCD guider frame. It works and it is great!
> Hi folks,
>
> I posted a minor update to Guide yesterday. The changes are almost
> entirely small bug fixes. The most visible change is that the dialog
> for planet display now has a "feature density" control... you don't have
> to use the Alt-. and Alt-; keys anymore.
For those who didnt't know a part of a mail from Bill dating 02/29/2000:
Now, regarding 'building' your own CCD guider frame... I
didn't really have anything set up to allow this. Three types of guider chip
were hard-wired into Guide: the ST7, ST8, and ST9e. In each case, Guide
knows _exactly_ where the chip is supposed to be.
But on reading your e-mail, it occurred to me that the hardwired data
could be overridden easily enough, using GUIDE.DAT. You would select the
"main" chip just as you do now, in the CCD Frame dialog. Guide would
get the size of the guider chip, and its position/offset relative to
the main chip, from a line in GUIDE.DAT containing six (sometimes four)
numbers. Here's an example:
GUIDER_CHIP=-.5, .6, .25, .19, 192, 165
(-.5,.6) = offset between the centers of the guider and main chip, with
the size units being the width and height of the main chip. Thus, if
the first two numbers had been (.5,.5), we'd be telling Guide that the
center of the guider chip is exactly on the upper right corner of the main
chip. (0,-.7) would mean the guider chip was a little below the center
bottom of the main chip. And so on... as it is, the (-.5,.6) means that
the chip is just a little above the upper left corner of the main chip.
(.25,.19) means the guider chip has 25% of the width, and 19% of
the height, of the main chip. This places the lower right of the guider
chip almost, but not quite, on top of the upper left of the main chip:
,-----,
| | <- Guider chip
|_____|
,-----------------,
| |
| |
| Main chip |
| |
| |
'-----------------'
The units may seem a little odd. But an offset in RA/dec can't work
very well if the scope rotates at all, and changes with focal length.
(192,165) means that the guider chip is 192 by 165 pixels (which, in
fact, is the size for an ST4.) You can omit this if you wish; the
only place it is used is when you zoom in very far on the guider chip,
to allow Guide to show you the grid of pixels. Omit these numbers, and
the _only_ consequence is that Guide can't show you the pixel grid on
the guider chip.
I have just arranged Guide to do the above, and it seems to work,
and will be announced the next time I post an update.
--- End of mail 02/29/2000 -----
Clear skies
Bernd
Bernd Brinkmann
Herne, Germany
http://homepage.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/Bernd.A.Brinkmann/index.html