I need help to test my astrophotography application/project!

[larrylart]

Hi,


You can check a preview of my project at: http://larryo.org/work/information/unimap/index.html









I started this project back in 2004 as I realize that more and more people get into astrophotography but most will go no further then framing nice pictures. So I thought that it will be good to have a simple to use tool to allow amateur astronomers to do plate-solving(detect and match your image against star catalogs), so they can explore and learn more about these marvelous images so I started to develop this project. Now after literally tens of thousands of development hours you can just load your astrophoto and in a few clicks learn almost everything is known about your image, what are the stars, galaxies, nebulas, radio sources, x-ray/gamma bursts, supernovas, extra solar planets or asteroids, comets and even artificial earth satellites passing through. Also, you can get more advanced information like various measurements available (including spectral) and links to articles/abstracts talking about objects and/in that area in the sky.

On top of that I added several tool to help amateur astronomer to better plan his observing session like an on click collection of environmental/weather data, instruments management/control and also an online collaboration interface to allow amateur astronomers to easily exchange/review the data.

Anyone interested to help me test it and/or feedback will be appreciated!

Larry

[DSOMAN]

Hi Larry,

WOW!! You have been one busy guy!

Your project looks like one of the best and most versatile tools I have seen. It is nice to have so many features in one program. I have been involved in astrophotography since I was 12 [now 65]. There are many facets of your project I am interested in and would like to know more about. Testing would be great.

Brent

[larrylart]

There is something else I want to add… the project is written in c++/wxwidgets (cross platform gui library)  and that means it can be compiled on other platforms such as linux/mac/etc. Most functionality will work except for the digital cameras interface (and for Mac I am not sure about the video interface either) which is for the moment is windows only. So if people are interested I will be looking in the future to release it for Linux or Mac osX as well.

And, also to clarify … my future plans with this project is to release it free and opensource (for windows, linux and perhaps macosx)… if all goes well, I mean if people show interest in it and it’s workable and from there I might be looking for sponsorship at some point to support a big central database though which amateur astronomers from all over the world can share image resolved with astrometry data etc.

Larry

[StevenSWissler]

I'd love to try it out, sounds great.

[CleverNight]

That looks like a great tool. If you're looking for help, count me in.

Patrick

[Philip Pugh]

My time is limited but I'd like to try it out. Ever thought of writing a book about it? It'd make a great read on cloudy nights.

[larrylart]

Ever thought of writing a book about it? It'd make a great read on cloudy nights.

: ) No I didn't For the moment I am struggling to find time to put together a good manual. You can play with it offline on cloudy nights

Larry

[larrylart]

I appologize for the delay as my life got sligthly complicated lately. On top of that my pc crashed last week - I think the cpu is screwed (it will power off as soon as it gets even a little load) and the only way around it was to under-clock it to 1ghz and 0.7v and now I will have to install everything.

You can download and test the very first pre-alpha release from here:

http://larryo.org/work/information/unimap/test0/unimap_setup_pa_0.exe

I know there is still room for of improvements, optimization, etc. "Unfortunately" I have built this application so big and I got so little time lately that I should probably focus on getting the core functionality working right and here any suggestions and ideas will really help.

It is copiled on XP. On windows 7 there it seems that you might encounter crashes (mostly due to io permisions) – I will get them fixed as soon as I will get some time.

Larry

[larrylart]

I have made some adjutments to the installer, fixed some bugs and now it should work ok on windows 7 as well. Anyone here tried the application yet?

Larry

[nfredrick2002]

I tried it out today but couldn't get it to match anything except the pictures that it comes with. I opened several of my pictures taken with my Meade DSI , set the catalog, set the hint to either the constellation or object, detected and ran the match but nothing showed up. I also downloaded one of the pictures from the online collection (m57) and got the same results

It seems like it would be an invaluable application if I could get it to work

Norm

[larrylart]

Hi Norm,

Can you mail me one of your pictures that din't work out ? For that m57 you need to use tycho2 with hint to m 57 and I set a focal length of 2000mm (ususally don't mind the settings for sensor size I just leave it most times default).

Larry

[nfredrick2002]

Done, sent to your gmail and larryo  account

Norm

[larrylart]

Got it and answered with the image solved - this one got solve not problem with both tycho2 and usnob1.0

Larry

[larrylart]

A new version has been released with:

- updated the star common names list with a better one 
- added extension files one and two to tycho2
- added map for common names with tycho2
- fixed 2mass catalog names display error
- fixed show/hide all objects from menu->view objects
- fixed search in spiral - which is now set default as it's faster (instead of swipe)
- added a simple method to check/notify on updates
- some minor bug fixes

Also, note that now there is a forum on the site to discuss more in depth the technical problems.


Larry

[larrylart]

I am wondering if people here find this application useful? At the concept level what do you think I should change/add to improve it?