PixInsight Core 1.8.4 Ripley has stopped working

[Andrew J]

I have just installed Pixinsight Trial for the first time today on a Windows 7 64 bit PC and when I try to run the BatchPreProcessing Script using all default settings I keep getting the following error message: "PixInsight Core 1.8.4 Ripley has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Please close the program." This has happened twice in a row. Any suggestions on how to correct?

Ran again, now I am getting the attached error message:

[Juan Conejero]

This problem cannot be reproduced on any platform and working/testing machine, and has not been reported before.

From the console text in your screenshot, you are working on a set of images that cannot be registered. FWIW, this usually denotes a problem with the data being used, such as importing floating point images created by other applications, dissimilar images, etc. Difficult to say without more information.

[Andrew J]

Hello Juan.

Thanks for your response. I have started over with some cleaned up images. If I come across the error again I will let you know and try to provide more details.

The one thing I thought of is that the images I am using were taken on an Alt/Az mount, which means they contain field rotation. Can PI Register and stack images with field rotation? I am working on getting an Eq mount, but for the moment I am limited to 30 second shots on my Alt/Az.

Thanks again

Andrew J

[NGC7789]

You don't mention your focal length, but at 30 secs I would guess that stars are sufficiently trailed that PI does not recognize them as stars.

[Andrew J]

I my OTA is a 8 inch SCT. Focal length is 2032mm. I tried different exposure times. 30 seconds is the longest I can go without getting elongated stars.

[NGC7789]

There are many factors that contribute to the length of star trails but based on the "500 rule" 30 seconds seems WAAAY too long for your scope. More like 1/4 second! See this link:

http://www.exploringexposure.com/blog/2014/8/28/how-to-avoid-star-trails-with-the-500-rule

I would be curious to see a sample of your stars.

[Andrew J]

I am using a Celestron SE goto mount. So I do have sidereal tracking. It is just not very accurate.  Which is why I am limited to 30 second exposures. I am going to be upgrading to an Astro-Physics Mach1 mount shortly which should solve a lot of my issues. I was just curious if PI can handle field rotation or not.