Getting Started
Step 7: Taking an Automated Image

Now we're ready to acquire an image using the automation facilities. For starters, we'll acquire just one image, letting the acquisition script do its initial pointing update and then acquiring the final image. If this works, then we'll do a run of several images.

The next couple of steps involve creating a simple observing plan manually. You'll do this just this couple of times, during Getting Started. Routinely, you should be using the web interface if you image single targets (multiple images/filters). If you image multiple targets in a night, and you don't yet know about the free ACP Planner, now is the time to learn! Multi-target plans in Planner can be automatically uploaded to the observatory from within Planner, and run via the web interface. Thus, there is no reason for you to be using ACP's console after you install and check things out.

1. Using Notepad, create a text file containing just two lines of text. This will be our first "plan" and we'll create it in the simplest of the formats that ACP's AcquireImages.js script will understand. The first line is #INTERVAL 120, indicating a 120 second exposure for the following targets. The second (target) line consists of the target name, a TAB character, the target right ascension (hours, J2000), another TAB character, and the target declination (degrees, J2000). RA and Dec can be in sexagesimal with any delimiters or decimal. The #FILTER is required if you have filters on your system.
   
   For the Right Ascension use the current Local Sidereal Time (LST on ACP's console) plus 2-ish hours. For declination, use your latitude plus 20 degrees toward the pole. For example if the LST is 04:24:21 and your site is at latitude +35:06:54, you can just use RA 6 hours and Dec of 55 degrees. It's not critical, just somewhere high in the sky. Do not enter the coordinates of a bright object like a low-mag star!

   #INTERVAL 120
   #FILTER Luminance                  ; Required if your system has filters
   Test1   6       55
   

   Be certain that the object name, RA and Dec are separated by TAB characters and not spaces!
2. Save this file to disk as My Documents\ACP Astronomy\Plans\Test1.txt
3. Load the AcquireImages.js script into ACP's console. Click the Select the Script... button in the Script area and select this script. It should be listed without navigating directories.
4. Click the Run button. A file selector will appear. Select the Test1.txt plan file you just created.
5. Watch the console window to see the progress of the script. It should take a pointing exposure, plate solve it, print out the pointing error, update the scope's pointing, then take the final image and plate solve it as well.

   If the process fails for some reason, see the troubleshooting information below.
   

6. When the script completes and you see "end of run" in the console window, take a look at the image you just acquired. It is in My Documents\ACP Astronomy\Images\yyyy-mm-dd.
7. You should also look at the run log (and maybe print it) using Notepad. It is located in My Documents\ACP Astronomy\Logs. The file name is the UTC date/time of the log.

Do not attempt to go any further until you get this single-image test to succeed.

Congratulations! Your observatory just acquired a completely automated image. At this point, take a break. You deserve it!

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Troubleshooting

If the script failed to complete successfully, the first thing to do is print out the run log. Every effort has been made to make error messages meaningful. Look through the run log. What is the error message? Did it plate solve the pointing exposure? If not, what might the problem be? Look at the Preferences/PinPoint tab and see that the correct drive letter or path on your hard drive is entered in the catalog path field. Are the plate scales correct? They are listed at the beginning of the log. The p-xxx.fts image in the images directory is the pointing exposure. Look at it if that's what failed. If the plate solution timed out, then either the image is way too weak or the telescope's pointing is so far off it can't find itself. Were there at least 20 image stars detected? Are there are least 20 catalog stars available? Take a manual exposure of a known target near the one you had in the plan. Is it visible in the image? How far off is it?

There are many possible problems here, try to figure out what may have gone wrong. Above all PLEASE DO NOT UNINSTALL AND REINSTALL THE PROGRAM!