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Help updates dev6 (#1268)
* Cleanup of MultiStar processing and UI if subframes enabled * Force rebuild of MultiStar list when subframes are disabled * Help updates for multi-star selection and profile migration * Adjust discussion of multi-star selection * Fix star.cpp clang regression again
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help/Basic_use.htm

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@@ -563,7 +563,7 @@ <h4><a name="Simulators"></a>Simulators</h4>
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&nbsp;The settings to
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control
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Auto-exposure are on the <a href="Advanced_settings.htm#Camera_Tab">Camera Tab</a>
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of the Advanced Settings dialog. &nbsp;<br><h3><a name="Multi-star_Guiding"></a>Multi-Star Guiding</h3>Most guiding configurations can benefit from guiding on multiple stars
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of the Advanced Settings dialog. &nbsp;<br><h3><a name="Multi-star_Guiding"></a>Multi-Star Guiding and Star-Selection</h3>Most guiding configurations can benefit from guiding on multiple stars
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rather than just one. &nbsp;This results in using a
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weighted average centroid position of multiple stars rather than just the
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centroid of a single star. &nbsp;Multi-star guiding is enabled using a
@@ -591,7 +591,56 @@ <h4><a name="Simulators"></a>Simulators</h4>
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will depend on many factors including image scale, star and background
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sky brightness, star size, focus, tube currents, and camera noise. &nbsp;Because of the way the
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algorithm is implemented, your best option will be to try it and decide
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for yourself. &nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">Note: if you don't use the auto-select function and instead choose a guide star manually, multi-star guiding will be inactive.</span>
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for yourself. &nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">Note: if you don't use the auto-select function and instead choose a guide star manually, multi-star guiding will be inactive.<br><br></span>Since
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the multi-star selection and guiding feature was introduced, users have
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asked for a means to override guide star selection based on what they
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see on the display.&nbsp; These requests have not been acted upon
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because they would disrupt the underlying mathematics of the multi-star
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algorithm. More importantly, they would lead to inferior results for
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reasons described below.&nbsp; The algorithm applies the basic
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principle that the accuracy of centroid calculation - the fundamental
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calculation of where a star is located on the sensor - is proportional
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to that star's SNR.&nbsp; It has nothing to do with the shape of the
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star, its location on the sensor, its proximity to the sensor edge, or
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any other visual characteristics of the star candidate. The algorithm
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will always choose the set of stars with the highest SNR values subject
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to user-controlled parameters that define what a star should look like
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on a particular system.&nbsp; Two parameters, Min-HFD and Max-HFD,
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define a range of star "sizes" that control whether a bright area on
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the sensor can be accepted as a star candidate rather than being
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rejected as sensor noise, an internal reflection, or a close pair of
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stars.&nbsp; The third parameter, Saturation ADU, defines an upper
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limit to the peak brightness of a star candidate, usually defined as
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the maximum ADU value produced by the guide camera.&nbsp; The algorithm
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tries to avoid saturated stars and will accept one only if there are no
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other viable candidates.&nbsp; Setting these parameters correctly is
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the single most important thing for a user to do in order to get the
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best possible sets of guide stars.&nbsp; The "Min" and "Max" HFD values
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can be determined empirically by using the Star Profile tool or by
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examining the PHD2 guide logs to see the range of star sizes that are
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typical for the guiding system and its seeing conditions. Once set,
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they should rarely need to be changed unless something in the
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configuration or the atmospheric conditions has&nbsp;changed
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substantially.<br><br>Users
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are commonly fooled by what they see on the display and think they can
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do a better job of guide star selection.&nbsp; This is a mistaken
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impression.&nbsp; The single biggest reason is that many of the
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"attractive" guide stars on the display are saturated.&nbsp;
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Secondarily, they are often just sensor noise, e.g. hot or warm pixels,
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that look like stars once the image has been down-sampled and
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gamma-stretched for display.&nbsp; No dark library or bad-pixel map can
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completely eliminate these artifacts. In summary, simply squinting at
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the screen and clicking on bright spots will produce inferior results
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compared to the quantitative, systematic approach taken by the
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auto-select star-finding mechanism.&nbsp; Of course, skeptical users
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can
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still manually choose a guide star, but they won't then be able to use
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multi-star guiding. For people who question&nbsp;the auto-selection
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process, the debug log file contains a detailed
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list, for every auto-find, of the location and properties of
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every&nbsp;candidate object in the guide frame and how these were
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included
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or excluded to compile the final list of usable guide stars.<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>
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<h3><a name="Automatic_Calibration"></a>Automatic
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Calibration</h3>
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<h4>Conventional Mounts</h4>

help/Supplemental_Info.htm

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@@ -802,12 +802,21 @@ <h3><a name="Managing_Equipment_Profiles"></a>Managing
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during a <span style="font-style: italic;">PHD2</span>
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session. Finally, you can import and export
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profiles for purposes of debugging, backup, or&nbsp;exchange
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between computers. &nbsp;When you export a profile to a new computer,
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remember that the dark library and bad-pixel maps will not be migrated
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automatically because they are stored in the file system - in the
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between computers. &nbsp;<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Migrating PHD2 Settings to a Different Computer</span><br><br>On
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Windows, the profile information is kept in the Windows registry, so
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you can't simply do file transfers to move your settings from one
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computer to another. &nbsp;Instead, you should 'export' your profiles
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into files on the old computer, copy those files to the new&nbsp;one,
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then 'import' them on the new system. &nbsp;This will transfer all the
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settings associated with the profile except for the dark libraries and
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bad-pixel maps. The dark and bad-pix map data are stored in the file
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system because of their size. They are located in the
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'AppData\Local\PHD2' logical directory used by your operating system.
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&nbsp;You will need to transfer that directory and all of its files to
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the new computer manually.<br>
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the new computer manually without changing the directory location or
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file names. &nbsp;That said, the best practice is to simply rebuild
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them on the new system in order to have data that reflects the current
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behavior of the guide camera sensor.<br>
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<br>
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<h3><a name="Ask_for_coordinates_aux_mount"></a>Aux-Mount
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Connection using "Ask for coordinates"</h3>

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