MantisBT - Issues

0002914: Sequence overwrites file with the same filename.

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:31:49 +0200

This one is weird.

I am running CCDciel 0.9.93-3961 on Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS on an ARM (aarch64) processor on INDI 2.2.0. I have noticed this for awhile and haven't ever looked into it, so I'm sure the issue has existed on prior versions as well.

I have a QHY533M camera.

When I run a sequence to get 100 darks, I sometimes get something like 99 or 98 images instead of the full 100. Looking at the logs I do not see any errors, but I DO see something rather peculiar. The same image name is sometimes used for subsequent writes.

For example, here's a snip of the log that shows the filename 20260426_045024_100s_60_-10C_Dark.tif is used for two separate writes happening at 2026-04-25T23:50:25.347 and again at 2026-04-25T23:52:06.437.

2026-04-25T23:47:02.632 1: Saved file /home/setnes/Sessions/20260425/Dark/20260426_044520_100s_60_-10C_Dark.tif
2026-04-25T23:48:43.332 1: Starting Dark exposure 36/100 for 100 seconds
2026-04-25T23:48:43.875 1: Saved file /home/setnes/Sessions/20260425/Dark/20260426_044702_100s_60_-10C_Dark.tif
2026-04-25T23:50:24.591 1: Starting Dark exposure 37/100 for 100 seconds
2026-04-25T23:50:25.347 1: Saved file /home/setnes/Sessions/20260425/Dark/20260426_045024_100s_60_-10C_Dark.tif
2026-04-25T23:52:05.992 1: Starting Dark exposure 38/100 for 100 seconds
2026-04-25T23:52:06.437 1: Saved file /home/setnes/Sessions/20260425/Dark/20260426_045024_100s_60_-10C_Dark.tif
2026-04-25T23:53:47.146 1: Starting Dark exposure 39/100 for 100 seconds
2026-04-25T23:53:47.696 1: Saved file /home/setnes/Sessions/20260425/Dark/20260426_045206_100s_60_-10C_Dark.tif
2026-04-25T23:55:28.386 1: Starting Dark exposure 40/100 for 100 seconds
2026-04-25T23:55:29.033 1: Saved file /home/setnes/Sessions/20260425/Dark/20260426_045347_100s_60_-10C_Dark.tif
2026-04-25T23:57:09.521 1: Starting Dark exposure 41/100 for 100 seconds

0002893: Draw concentric circles in a transparent, moveable, screen overlay to show photometry apertures

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 19:00:53 +0200

When taking images for asteroid photometry the target passes close to a star. It would be very helpful to have a moveable, transparent overlay of concentric circles to show where my photometric apertures will be. I can then determine if the asteroid is passing too close to a star and stop imaging that asteroid and move to a different asteroid while waiting for the first asteroid to move far enough away from the problem star.

I have done something like this in SkyChart by creating 3 finder circles in the Eyepiece tab of the Display menu The 3 circles represent my photometric central aperture, the "dead zone", and the outer background sky anulus. I then lock on the asteroid and advance the time to see if it passes too close to a star. The only problem here is sometimes the asteroid isn't exactly where the orbit places it ,even updating the orbits for that day. It would be very helpful to place my 3 aperture circles over a star in the asteroids path and I can wait and watch to see if the asteroid gets too close.

I don't know how many others this feature might help, or how difficult writing the code would be, so I can understand if it goes to the bottom of the list. Thank you for your consideration and for creating SkyChart and CCDCiel, the only programs I have used for 10+years of asteroid tracking (an I've tried several others). The programs are amazing, wonderful, reliable, easy to use .... (insert endless complements here).

Thanks you.

0002913: Mauvais guidage avec le guideur interne de CCDciel

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 08:37:06 +0200

Bonjour Patrick,
J'essaye d'utiliser CCDciel en spectro mais je n'arrive pas à bien faire fonctionner le guideur interne malgré une calibration réussie. Ma monture est une ZWO AM5 qui présente peut être des particularités pour le guideur interne ? Quoi qu'il en soit, je ne rencontre pas de soucis avec PHD2 avec une calibration dans les mêmes conditions, une étoile proche du croisement équateur celeste/méridien côté est.
Il y a un point qui m'échappe, je n'ai pas à renseigner la focale. J'imagine que le calcul se fait automatiquement connaissant la taille des pixels et suite à astrométrie ? Toutefois, la page Advanced du guider me remonte un pixel scale de 9"/px au lieu de 0.8 (newton 150/750 + ASI290M (2.9µm)).

Merci d'avance pour votre aide !
Jean-Marc

0002911: Cannot download data from MPC due to SSL/TLS support

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 15:57:07 +0200

Hello,

When trying to update the orbital elements for asteroids using the "Download MPC data" panel, after connecting to www.minorplanetcenter.org:443, i got "Error: 500: SSL/TSL support is not compiled".

Is this a limitation of version 4.2 (i'm using 4.2.15 obtained from the latest stable deb pkg) ?
Should I upgrade to 4.3 ?

Jocelyn

0002912: CCDCiel can not locate app dir after update

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 15:56:28 +0200

I've recently had to install the latest beta (0.9.94-4026), in order to have to have CCDC write astrometry data in FITS header, as suggested in Issue #0002869 (this did work in latest stable release).
Now, when launching the app, I get a popup saying "Can't locate the CCDciel directory. Please try to reinstall the software".
This does not prevent to use the application (and, yes, this fixed the FITS header pb) but I suspect this will cause problems (for ex the log says "Error loading focus star list in /usr/bin/data/stars/....".
Is there a way to fix the location of this app dir directly ?

0002907: Slider to rotate CCD fields

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 15:54:44 +0200

I'd like to request, if possible, to add a slider (or better, a popup slider from the left toolbar) to quickly rotate CCD fields.

Currently I have to open the fields settings and manually write a rotation value (for each field) and click apply. It would be so useful to me, to check whether an object fits in the field, to quickly rotate the field with a slider, without open the settings every time. I don't mind if the slider rotates all fields at once. I think the rotation scale can be just 0-90, unless you want to take into account offsetted fields that would require a 0-359 rotation.

0002904: Indistarter not connecting to cameras or EAF

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 15:50:44 +0200

Hi,
I've been having problems connecting my devices through Indistarter. The issues are probably because I'm not familiar with setting up networks. I'm using ccdciel and so there need to connect my devices via indistarter. I was using kstars/ekos before. My setup uses M1 Mac mini running Tahoe OS and I'm remotely controlling my devices on a rpi running stellarmateOS 2.0.1 - I believe running the latest indi libraries.

Currently my issue is that when I run Indistarter it connects to the server but only the mount (ZWO AM5) and manual filter connect. My two playerone cameras (capture and guiding) don't connect and the ZWO EAF won't connect. However they do connect via ekos and kstars. I'm posting some terminal information that may help below.

Thank you,
Eli

I Have indistarter set as
Host: stellarmate.local
Port: 5624
Username: stellarmate
Local and remote port: 7624

This is what I get when I run indiserver via ekos/kstars:

(base) eliron@Elis-Mac-mini ~ % ssh stellarmate "ps aux | grep indiserver"

stellar+ 8953 0.3 0.0 3752 1680 ? S 02:53 0:00 bwrap --args 39 -- indiserver -u /tmp/indiserver6093 -p 7624 -m 1024 -r 0 -v -f /tmp/indiFIFO
stellar+ 8968 0.2 0.0 3760 1492 ? S 02:53 0:00 bwrap --args 39 -- indiserver -u /tmp/indiserver6093 -p 7624 -m 1024 -r 0 -v -f /tmp/indiFIFO
stellar+ 8969 1.1 0.1 11696 5520 ? S 02:53 0:00 indiserver -u /tmp/indiserver6093 -p 7624 -m 1024 -r 0 -v -f /tmp/indiFIFO
stellar+ 9024 0.0 0.0 5352 2856 ? Ss 02:53 0:00 bash -c ps aux | grep indiserver
stellar+ 9026 0.0 0.0 5032 1476 ? S 02:53 0:00 grep indiserver
(base) eliron@Elis-Mac-mini ~ %

This is what I get from indistarter:

(base) eliron@Elis-Mac-mini ~ % ssh stellarmate ls /tmp
IndiStarter.fifo
cached_wifi
chunked_uploads
indiFIFO
indiserver.log
pkg
plasma-csd-generator.XCWYyh
pymp-n7t1oo61
sddm-auth-cc918d3c-6cec-4152-9bd1-e3bf56f3fb79
systemd-private-fe2cc1f46598437e9555391c8323cf23-bluetooth.service-ntRDCq
systemd-private-fe2cc1f46598437e9555391c8323cf23-dbus-broker.service-Dx1aSB
systemd-private-fe2cc1f46598437e9555391c8323cf23-nginx.service-yNkOIn
systemd-private-fe2cc1f46598437e9555391c8323cf23-polkit.service-sKHko0
systemd-private-fe2cc1f46598437e9555391c8323cf23-systemd-logind.service-gIqWa4
systemd-private-fe2cc1f46598437e9555391c8323cf23-upower.service-uB9L4N
xauth_eRNbGB
zwo

0002910: CCDCiel does not copy dark theme from LinuxMint

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:42:09 +0200

Hello,

Having recently installed CCDCiel under LinuxMint (22.1) for asteroid imaging, I've noticed that setting a "dark" theme in the OS (for ex Adwaita-sombre) does not affect the display of CCDCiel panels (which remain white - a pretty annoying feature when working at night). From issue #0002860, i guess that some themes may be "CCDCiel-compatible", some others not. How do i know which one are ?

The Theme selection panel in LinuxMint shows approximately 50 themes, most of them being qualified as Gtk3, Gtk2 and some Xfwm4 (from a recent issue i guess this may play a role).

I use CCDciel v 0.9.94-4026 (latest) under LinuxMint 22.1 with Xfce WM.

Thx for your help

Jocelyn

0002909: Connecting to telescope

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:27:07 +0200

Hi Patrick,
I use CCDciel to connect to Skychart and select the telescope interface to connect automatically to the mount on startup.
I have set up the default profile in CCDciel to run simulation devices to try out the various features of both CCDciel and Skychart.

I notice that if I switch profiles from simulation to my equipment the telescope no longer automatically connects and I have to manually select the correct mount (EQ6 in my case) from the simulator which is shown and vice versa.

This is really not a problem but I just wanted to know if that is how it is supposed to work or should it automatically change the telescope name to the selected mount in the device profile in CCDciel.

It is not an issue as it is easy to change but I would be grateful if you could clarify this.

The more and more I use your programs the more I love it so a big thank you for all your efforts and never ending support. It is very much appreciated.
Regards Rob

0002899: Faster TIFF unit

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 17:25:33 +0200

For ASTAP I have developped a TIFF unit which can save/load monochrome and colour 16 and 32 bit float TIFF files. The advantage using this unit for CCDCiel would be that it is faster then current FCL image (and handle 32 bit but that would not be interesting for CCDCiel)

Would you be interested in replacing FCL image (FPReadTiff, FPWriteTiff, FPTiffCmn) in cu_fits? See attached unit_tiff. If so I could work on it.

cs, Han

0002905: ccdciel 0.9.93: read FL&ap. from INDI CCD driver, not telescope, since INDI 2.0.5

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 17:25:03 +0200

Since INDI 2.0.5, the scope configuration for focal length and aperture is located in the INDI CCD driver, and no longer in the telescope INDI driver. I've attached an INDI config screenshot to show the location.

In the astrometry preferences in ccdciel, there is an option to read the focal length "from the telescope driver", and when it is set, it does indeed try to read the settings from the INDI telescope driver, where they don't exist. This should be updated to read from the INDI ccd driver.

0002908: ccdciel 0.9.93: histogram is displayed incorrectly after new image capture

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 17:17:39 +0200

Having updated to 0.9.93 recently, I am trying it out for imaging for the first time tonight. All is working fine as far as I can tell, except for a small detail in the histogram display: after finishing a new capture, the displayed histogram fior the mew image is all squished up in the left-hand corner. However the stretching range is displayed correctly, and is applied correctly to the new image (screenshot 1). Toggling the "show full histogram range - show clipped to data" button twice, fixes the histogram display (screenshot 2).

0002903: adding new IAU stars common names in Skychart

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 17:17:05 +0200

Trying to bring new names from source master data available at https://exopla.net/star-names/modern-iau-star-names/

The source data has many HR numbers missing and many v faint stars now given names. With friend's help got magnitude column and then HR numbered stars separated manually. What to do about faint stars that really do not have HR numbers may be next thing to think but for now trying to bring 401 stars list (file attached) that are bright and do have HR numbers.

Tried to mod StarNames.txt file but csv output from excel created tab separated instead of 4 spaces separated text file. Skychart did not display new names with that file but surprisingly displayed and searchable all names that come by default. So are there multiple files to be modded for this?

For now would like to have 401 stars list shared below to show up.

0002906: New improved pu_hyperbola.pas

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:28:08 +0200

Attached an improved pu_hyperbola.pas. The older version worked fine but I was personal not so happy with the orginal brute force method of curve fitting. The following has changed:

1) The new version has a Nelder-Mead method of curve fitting. The fitting is tiny bit better then the old method for some difficult datasets. The processing speed went from from 30 to 50 ms to 30 microseconds on my desktop. So it is about 1000 times faster. If for focussing the routine is called 9 times then the total processing time goes from 0.3 seconds to 0.0003 seconds on my desktop. For a smaller RPI computer it will be more. Number of iterations are now reported at somewhere around 50. The old version reported maybe 5 iterations but that did not included the internal cycling which took maybe 60000 cycles total.

2) I have moved the global variables iteration_cycles, lowest_error to the procedure find_best_hyperbola_fit(). This resulted in some minor changes in fu_starprofile which was added. The orginal fu_starprofile.pas was downloaded yesterday.

3) The function mean_error_hyperbola() is made symmetrical.

The exiting format of “data: array of TDouble2 {pos, hfd}” looks a little weird since position are stored in [*,1] and HFD’s in [*,2] but I haven’t looked in detail. The positions are in steps rather then actual positions. This all has been kept original. Maybe this should be revisited but that is for next time.

The routine has been tested with several curves and fitting could be a tiny amount better then the old routine for difficult data sets. So the major gain seems processing speed.

0002898: Some minor compile problems

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 12:07:04 +0200

Noted the following after a fresh code download:

1) Laz_synapse is not in CCDCielcomponents v0.0

2) In cu_tpcserver

line 202, if ClientSock<>NoSocket then

I get the following compiler error:
cu_tcpserver.pas(202,24) Error: Range check error while evaluating constants (-1 must be between 0 and 18446744073709551615)

0002901: Rise/Set times in the Ephemeris Calendar do not use Local Horizon if that option is set in the Observatory configuration

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:28:03 +0100

A minor issue, but I just noticed when I create an ephemeris for any object (Ephemeris Calendar button) the rise/set times are always for a 0 degree (flat) horizon, even if I have "Compute rise/set times relative to this line" set in the Observatory, Horizon tab (which is a great and very helpful feature!). The rise/set times are correct on a chart, but different in the Ephemeris Calendar. I think it would make sense for consistency between the two rise/set times. Should be a pretty easy fix if you agree. There might also be a need to change the column header in the Ephemeris to add the word "Local" to rise/set if that is the time listed.

Thank you!

0002902: Recherche mise à jour logiciel impossible

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 21:43:25 +0100

Bien que connecté par câble Ethernet à la box, refus systématique de recherche de mise à jour. Donc impossible d'accéder aux nouvelles versions.

0002900: CCDCiel 0.9.93 crashes when autoguider is settling

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 20:49:24 +0100

I have a new computer running Win10 instead of Win7. I have installed the latest CCDciel version 0.9.93. Unfortunally CCDCiel has crashed at least three times during the last two clear nights. It happens at Auto guider settling. See attached log. This has never happende before. My previous computer was running CCDCiel 0.9.92

Last lines in the log

2026-03-08T20:50:59.367 3: Autoguider: Start Guiding
2026-03-08T20:50:59.497 3: Autoguider: Looping Exposures
2026-03-08T20:51:01.575 3: Autoguider: Settling

or at

2026-03-08T19:03:25.958 3: Autoguider: Looping Exposures
2026-03-08T19:03:28.059 3: Autoguider: Settling
2026-03-08T19:03:28.063 3: ASCOM.QHYCCD_GUIDER.Camera: Set binning 2x2

I switched now back to version 0.9.92 to see if this fixes this problem

Any idea what could cause this behavior?

0002896: SVBony powerbox switch

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 21:37:27 +0100

I couldn't connect to the SVbony SV241Pro powerbox (https://www.svbony.com/products/sv241-remote-astro-power-controller) using ASCOM. It shows an error: "ASCOM.SVBONY.Switch: Connection error: Method 'Connect' is not supported by automation object"

The ASCOM driver is installed, and I can connect it from Astro Photography Tool (APT). Also, if I use INDI (running on Raspberry Pi), I can connect to it from CCDCiel running on Windows.
But I couldn't change values in the PWM fields in the switch window. They always immediately return to default values. The only option is to set it directly in the INDI server settings.

0002897: Decimal angle/hour coordinates

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 16:05:16 +0100

All angle/hour coordinates are expressed in degrees/hours, min, sec.
It would be useful to add a configuration option to express all cooordinates (both input and output) in decimal degrees/hours.

0002895: Corrupted BC/AD buttons

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 14:54:39 +0100

Era (BC/AD) buttons are corrupted, and difficult to be selected with the mouse.

0002885: VMA-9.0 > CcLun > Ephemeride: date / time display

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 10:02:29 +0100

Whenever I want ro use ephemerides for a specific date / time it is nagging that these are not readlable because the fields for the numers are too small. They won't grow and cannot be resized even when cclun displays full screen, see screen shot.

Apart from this issue, I am full of praise about VMA.
Big thanks to all involved!

0002892: Inccorect discription of the crater name origin

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:53:08 +0100

The following crater name is Anton Maria Schyrlaeus von Rheita, and the country of origin for the bearer of the name is indicated as follows: “17th century Czech Astronomer born in Czecoslovaquia.” In the 17th century, the name of the country could not be Czecoslovaquia; instead, the region should be referred to as Bohemia or the Czech lands. The link for this may be followed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_the_Czech_Republic
. The usual name for the country at that time was Bohemia.

0002870: Meridian flip near pole

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 20:03:39 +0100

If the object passes through the lower culmination (e.g. close to the pole), CCDCiel thinks that the object sets and finishes it in sequence. And it doesn't make an automatic meridian flip in such a case. The only possibility is to stop the sequence and re-run it again - now the object is already after culmination, and the mount is flipped.

0002827: Something happened near pole - Unexpected time past meridian

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 20:03:21 +0100

Hello,
last night we want to image NGC188, which is located near celestial north pole. The sequence was started to run at 23:00:00. Goto and Platesolving were ok. Starting imaging failed with "Unexpected time past meridian 702". I was still awake and could handle this with disabling automatic merdianflip and start sequence again.

Thomas