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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

New Internal Solver for Mac, Windows, and Linux -- Testing/ Experiments needed

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Whatever the default logging was, SexySolverTester would crash. Turning off logging or changing to verbose logging took care of it.
3 years 10 months ago #53916

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Ok, I think I can solve it. I will look into it. I think it is an issue only on Linux. Neither windows or Mac had an issue, but sometimes I saw the same issue on another Linux system. It is related to initialization of the logger.

Thanks for testing!
3 years 10 months ago #53919

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Han, I think I fixed most of these things today. #1 I think I fixed by improving the options profile and making the interface clearer. #3 I think I fixed this for the external solvers.

For #2 though, I am confused since I think it does give a warning?



It should be noted that this message prints because my SexySolver algorithm determined it could not run Sextractor since it doesn't exist. It did not try to run the command, but instead returned an error and printed this message. Is this not the warning you are looking for?
3 years 10 months ago #53922
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One more question Han.

Is there a version of ASTAP released somewhere so that I can try implementing INT SEP EXT ASTAP?
3 years 10 months ago #53923

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So I released a new version based on my fixes to all the great feedback that I got today.

github.com/rlancaste/sexysolver-tester/releases/tag/1.2
3 years 10 months ago #53925

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I tested the new version 1.2. I tried only the internal extractor and solver using the default settings. Here are six problem files:

ufile.io/pjj8pgom

It can't solve three files. Two take too long and one file can't be opened.

Sometimes the program crashes after problem file. Didn't investigate further.

Aborting the internal solver takes too long for impatient users.

Han
Last edit: 3 years 10 months ago by han.
3 years 10 months ago #53943

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I know it is only a test program but for the record:

The command line to solve using ASTAP is not correct:

Command: C:/astap.fpc/astap.exe -o C:/Users/h/AppData/Local/Temp/externalSextractorSolver_12197.ini -speed auto -f C:/Users/h/AppData/Local/Temp/externalSextractorSolver_12197.fits -wcs -fov 1.7478 -ra 19.9789 -spd 110.525 -r 15

The fov is always forced at 1.7478 degrees. Better is to remove -fov parameter for FITS files and to set it to auto for jpeg/png files by: -fov 0 It would also be nice to allow setting the search radius which is now fixed at 15 degrees by -r 15

Cheers, Han
3 years 10 months ago #53944

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3 years 10 months ago #53949
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Not complete yet. I uploaded ASTAP version 0.9.362g for Linux and Windows (at www.hnsky.org only) which can read and display FITS files extensions like XYLS or AXY. Just as text with tab separated. I played briefly with a spreadsheet but that took an other 500 kbyte to the executable, so I skipped that. The export XYLS has been removed. I briefly played with creating AXY files and that worked using nova.astrometry.net but removed it.

So back to your question. Importing INT SEP file to display only should be no problem. I haven't implemented solving of such files. If your program can produce a FITS table file with the X and Y position of 500 brightest objects I could work on the code to solve it. No other columns are required. See screenshot below. ( For AXY or XYLS files you have to type *.* before it sees them)



Multiple ASTAP executables can work in parallel if you divide the working area. E.g for blind:

South part of sky
c:\astap.fpc\astap.exe -f c:\astap.fpc\test_files\parallel_running\m16.fits -ra 0 -spd 0 -fov 90

North part of sky
c:\astap.fpc\astap.exe -f c:\astap.fpc\test_files\parallel_running\m16.fits -ra 0 -spd 180 -fov 90

In principle it would be possible to coordinate the programs since they have a simple server to communicate. An other option would be to introduce threads. The question if that brings any real benefit. 99% of all solves is withing 10 degrees offset and done in seconds.

Han
3 years 10 months ago #53953
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Han,

I ran your files with the FastSolving option (generally the better performer) and had the following results:
Deneb_α_Cyg_200s_20191130_175725.fits -- Couldn't open either.  I did open and save as fits and jpeg in PixInsight but couldn't open the resulting files in SexySolverTester 1.2 (really strange since everything from my files loaded)
 
M13 dec min 30 degrees.fit -- FastSolving aborted.  I don't have an explanation, but a smaller FOV of M13 from my files solved in 0.552s
 
m42_20180918_055007_0_ixdaex_l_cal.fit -- solved in 6.15s
 
NGC_2359_Light_L_900_secs_2020-01-29T23-05-32_007 location removed.fits -- solved in 1.243s
 
Apogee F16M IC443_444-010-R solved.fit -- solved in 8.92s
 
IC1318_200s_20191130_183555.fits -- solved in 0.821s

Rob,

I had some issues with SexySolverTester 1.2 aborting silently on loading of files in some cases.
Last edit: 3 years 10 months ago by Richard Beck.
3 years 10 months ago #53960

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Thank you very much for the continued testing, you are most helpful. This is exactly what I want to do now, figure out any issues and solve them.

An issue that I think you had in trying to solve these images is that you used the default options. The thing is that I am trying to develop different options profiles to be used for different purposes. This library is effective for both Sextraction and Solving, but the desirable option settings for each task are very different. For source extraction to get information about the sources in your image, you want different settings for focusing, for guiding, for getting data about galaxies, or for astrometry. In general the goal would be to maximize the sources detected and get reliable magnitudes, flux, etc. For solving, you don't care so much about all that, you just want to keep the stars in the image that will speed up the solver and get an accurate position. You don't even care that the magnitudes are accurate, so long as you can sort the stars and get rid of the ones you don't need.

For solving images, the profiles that I have been honing for that purpose would be the following:

FastSolving - never does multiple threads, but optimized for solving otherwise
ParallelSolve - Will do multiple threads automatically when appropriate, may parallelize on different scales or depths, or not at all as needed.
ParallelSmallScale - Just like the one above, but limited to image widths of 0.1 to 10 degrees to speed it up even more.
ParallelLargeScale - Just like the two above, but limited to image widths of 1 to 180 degrees to speed it up

You should NOT use the default options for solving.

I had a go with your images, and while some of them solved very well with the appropriate profiles, as you pointed out, there were some issues. For the file that would not open, I found that it was the alpha character in the filename. I will have to take a look at this to see why it doesn't open. I am mostly using the KStars image opening, stretching, and displaying algorithms, since this library is intended to go back into KStars first and foremost, so if there is a problem here, it probably exists there too. I will check it out. The M15 image would not solve with my profiles, I will look into that, I'm not sure why yet. The NGC 2359 image sometimes was causing a crash when opening. I think the crash is related to the KStars stretch algorithm recently developed by Hy Murveit. I will check with him to see why it might crash. But when it actually did open, it solved well just like the others.

So after I changed the alpha character in the one filename and ran all the images with the internal solver with the profiles I have developed for solving, they all solved in less than 10 seconds with. the exception of M15. I will keep playing with that image.
3 years 10 months ago #53970
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Hi Han,

So the search radius is set in the profile parameters. The user can change the radius by using a different profile with a different radius, making a new profile with the desired radius, or by using the options in the edit profile tab and not using one of the saved profiles at all. You can use whatever radius you want.

I'm confused by your statement about the fov. I recently added the option for fov to the ASTAP command, and it is based upon the scale information in the image just like in astrometry.net. So if you have the scale information in your image, it attempts to use that whenever you have "use scale" selected. If you don't want to use the scale, you don't have to. This isn't saved in the profile. It is definitely not always set to 1.7478 degrees. I expected that if the scale information is saved in the fits file, then setting the fov based on this information would speed up the solve. Is that not correct? If you load a jpeg image, it doesn't have the scaling information in it, so it should not even send the fov parameter to ASTAP at all. Did it try to set the fov when you loaded a jpeg?

Here is an example below of me loading a fits image, leaving the "use_scale" checkbox checked and solving.
Then unchecking the box and solving again.
Note that I removed the parts of the log about the actual solution since that isn't relevant.
You will note that the -fov option appears in the first command, but not in the second.

Is this not the correct way to use the -fov option? Maybe I don't understand it.



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Configuring external ASTAP solver
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Starting external ASTAP Solver...
Command: /Applications/ASTAP.app/Contents/MacOS/astap -o /private/var/folders/_t/ntxs0hp56b31tsp0_9t3rttm0000gn/T/externalSextractorSolver_341496650.ini -speed auto -f /private/var/folders/_t/ntxs0hp56b31tsp0_9t3rttm0000gn/T/externalSextractorSolver_341496650.fits -wcs -fov 0.953564 -ra 3.78231 -spd 114.116 -r 15
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Configuring external ASTAP solver
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Starting external ASTAP Solver...
Command: /Applications/ASTAP.app/Contents/MacOS/astap -o /private/var/folders/_t/ntxs0hp56b31tsp0_9t3rttm0000gn/T/externalSextractorSolver_341849597.ini -speed auto -f /private/var/folders/_t/ntxs0hp56b31tsp0_9t3rttm0000gn/T/externalSextractorSolver_341849597.fits -wcs -ra 3.78231 -spd 114.116 -r 15
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3 years 10 months ago #53971
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