Questions about Pinpoint 5.1

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Sep 7, 2010, 03:19
bobrieg1

Questions about Pinpoint 5.1

Greetings to everyone from Vail, Arizona just East of Tucson.

I'm evaluating Pinpoint version 5.1 and have a couple of questions:

1. I am trying to evaluate the internet catalog function for the Nomad database. The plate solve stops and tells me that it cannot find an internet connection. Yet I have a very good connection as the fact I am sending this message illustrates. Are there settings I have to adjust somewhere to utilize the internet databases?

2. When I try to connect to the link on downloading and using catalogs, I get the following error message:

An internal Visual Basic error has occurred in /wsx/$webstar.exe.

3. The instructions mention that the plate solve report includes a limiting magnitude and exposure time for the image. I don't see this, although I notice there is a zeropoint value with time setting which always seems to be 1 second.

4. What is the zeropoint and time value?

I'm running all my software including Maxim DL5 on the windows XP partition of a MacBook Pro.

Thanks
Bob Rieger
Sep 7, 2010, 17:12
Bob Denny

Quote:

1. I am trying to evaluate the internet catalog function for the Nomad database. The plate solve stops and tells me that it cannot find an internet connection. Yet I have a very good connection as the fact I am sending this message illustrates. Are there settings I have to adjust somewhere to utilize the internet databases?

It's possible that the USNO server was down. Did you try it more than once over a day or two? Also, what are you planning to use PinPoint for? It's possible that B1.0 and NOMAD aren't the best catalogs.

Quote:

2. When I try to connect to the link on downloading and using catalogs, I get the following error message:

An internal Visual Basic error has occurred in /wsx/$webstar.exe.

The link in the PinPoint help file... OK, this one got zapped by the server changes we've been doing over the last couple of weeks. I missed that one (and there are probably a few others). Sorry... the bits have been accumulating on the old server for 8+ years! I'll get it fixed ASAP. Meanwhile I've copied the reference Comm Center post on this from the premium support section for Pinpoint to the publicly viewable Company and Product Info section. So see Downloading and Using PinPoint Reference Catalogs.

Quote:

The instructions mention that the plate solve report includes a limiting magnitude and exposure time for the image. I don't see this, although I notice there is a zeropoint value with time setting which always seems to be 1 second.

Yes, this is a documentation error. The old limiting mag info has been replaced by the zero point, which is normalized to a 1-second exposure. The change was a few years ago in response from a number fo science users. I have filed an issue in our Gemini Issue Tracker to fix this in the docs:

http://gemini.dc3.com:8472/Gemini/De...spx?p=20&i=445

Quote:

4. What is the zeropoint and time value?

See this web page among many others. Basically it's a value that allows direct conversion from ADU to magnitude. Please note that PinPoint's photometry is not at all science grade. It is based on catalog magnitudes which are very very poor in most cases and which are using filter passbands that are often unique to a catalog.
Sep 8, 2010, 01:35
bobrieg1

Your response to my questions

Hi Bob Thanks so much for the answers to my questions- your software is very impressive and I'm certain I will be purchasing a license to the full 5.1 program. I've been successfully using the LE version with Maxim DL5 for the past 2 years to solve plates and I just want to spend a bit of time learning what the full-featured version can do for me. A couple of additional questions please: 1. You asked me what catalog I was using and why I might be interested in the online Nomad or other catalogs. Actually, I'm just experimenting. The GSC catalog (corrected) that I downloaded works quite well, yielding an average residual of 0.7 arc seconds for most plate solutions. Since I do use the internet-based Aladin software for object identification I also have used the Nomad database and just wanted to see how it performed with your software. I did not try the Nomad database over a period of a couple of days so I'll test your theory their server may be down. 2. A more interesting question- Now that I've downloaded your trial version of 5.1 is that automatically recognized by Maxim DL5 or does Maxim still use the included LE version? The reason I ask is I am obtaining different residual errors between Maxim and Visual Pinpoint. Using exactly the same FIT image I notice Maxim actually returns a lower residual error of around 0.6 versus a Visual Pinpoint solution of about 1.0. Not sure why this would occur (or which one is correct) but perhaps you can share some view on this. Thanks, and I appreciate all your assistance. Bob Rieger
Sep 8, 2010, 02:56
Bob Denny

Are you using the same catalog with MaxIm? Visual PinPoint and MaxIm both use the same single instance of the PinPoint engine. If full PinPoint is installed, you'll notice that MaxIm has a few more options available. The solutions can be a bit different depending on the settings for sensitivity. Compare the number of stars used in the solution and check to see that you have the same catalog selected (and expansion factor) in both programs. PinPoint is an engine and has no "settings" itself, the settings must be provided by whichever program (MaxIm or Visual PP) is hosting the engine.