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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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FYI and followup as appropriate.

I thought I would try a difficult solve.

I cropped from a Stellarium screenshot of M63 at my imaging FOV (+/-) and fed the jpeg to SexySolverTester 1.3.

Using the internal solver with Parallel Small scale, the image was correctly solved in 0.728s. SexySolverTester using the ASTAP solver failed.

I tried to solve in ASTAP directly and got theses messages in the header section:
COMMENT 1   Written by ASTAP, Astrometric STAcking Program. www.hnsky.org
PLTSOLVD=                    F / No plate solution found.   
WARNING = 'Warning, too small image!! '
3 years 10 months ago #54057
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It's too artifical. ASTAP can't do miracles :)
Last edit: 3 years 10 months ago by han.
3 years 10 months ago #54059

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I never thought of trying to solve a screenshot of a planetarium program. That being said, I am constantly testing with shots taken by the INDI simulator CCD, so it isn’t THAT different. ASTAP solves those just fine. but one thing is very different. Planetarium programs sometimes distort the sky with different projections to attempt to display the sky on a flat screen. This could make it more challenging for plate solvers to succeed.
3 years 10 months ago #54062

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I have uploaded the ASTAP Mac version to Sourceforge:
sourceforge.net/projects/astap-program/f...r/astap.pkg/download


No change for Linux and Windows. Only available at :

www.hnsky.org/astap_setup.exe
www.hnsky.org/astap_amd64.deb

I need some more testing before I release these two to Sourceforge.

Han
3 years 10 months ago #54067

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Thanks Han, I ran the same test on my Mac that I ran on Ubuntu and Windows with the same image, The INT SEP EXT ASTAP was still faster than ASTAP. Oddly though, SexySolver was faster than all of them and ASTAP was the slowest, which was not the results I saw on the other machines. It could be because the other machines were virtual machines so their specs were impaired.

3 years 10 months ago #54071
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Today I did some testing. The Sexysolver program really shines in blind solving:

3 years 10 months ago #54087
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Hey all,
Just getting started with this. I am running on an Rpi4 with a 32G SD card. I have a 'slow' imaging setup; CSCT 9.25 at f/10 with an SBIG 8300M camera. My FOV is 20' x 26' , I run the PA routine in Ekos and I use Astrometry.net to do the solves and they usually solve in a minute or so. I have G17 library files downloaded for ASTAP and index files for Astrometry. I have had no luck with internal ASTAP solver for this setup around Polaris (during PA - it has worked for me with slower systems at f6.3). I think the internal Astrometry.net (Solve-Field - stand alone; I did not try this in Ekos) did solve, but I cannot see the results because nothing on the Rpi reads that output file (I have to copy it to a PC and run TopCat which is a pain in the Butt).

ASTAP indicated (somewhere) that if you have a narrow FOV system you should download the G18 index files. But they are over 10 G, so I put a 128G USB 3.0 stick in the Rpi4, downloaded the G18 index files there , copied ASTAP to that location and ran it from there. It did run and almost as fast as from the internal SD. But it still did not solve.

So now I am trying this solver. I just downloaded it and installed. It is now running on an image from last night around the NCP, pretty good S/N lots of stars; but it is not solving. I did add the directory for the Astrometry.net index files to it and just hit Solve in SexySolver (can't you change the name?!) I did not change any defaults, I simply added where the Astrometry.net index files are. I have index-4107,8,9,10 and 4204-00 thru 4210.

I have to read thru all the forum messages to see if there is something else I should try. Right now at "Processing Trial 1: 1971 s and counting.

Ron
3 years 10 months ago #54116

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Note: I should say that I just went here:
github.com/rlancaste/sexysolver-tester

and followed these instructions to install:
Linux
Download the sexysolver-tester git repository in a terminal window or download it in your browser

git clone github.com/rlancaste/sexysolver-tester.git

Run the installLinux.sh script
sudo ./installLinux.sh
It will build and install the program and create a shortcut on the desktop

It shows that I am running SexySover Library Tester 1.3, build 2020-05-19TO1:28:15Z

Ron
3 years 10 months ago #54117

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Can you send an example image or two? It sounds like your images have a really small scale. You probably do need the smaller scale index files, but let me have a go with I if you don't mind. The goal is to eventually bring this interface back into Ekos. It will have the ability to run a variety of different solving methods and I'm trying to perfect these solving options. The more testing and learning we can do the better I think.
3 years 10 months ago #54119

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Is the hope that the user will not need to modify any settings? Right now I don't have to touch a thing, and solves have been successful for me. I'm assuming, it pulls the telescope focal length and pixel size to figure out the basic scale?
3 years 10 months ago #54120

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Yes, when I integrate it into Ekos that will be true. But not yet. Right now, you should select the appropriate profile for solving or sextracting. They should solve faster and more reliably.

In Ekos, the default options for finding the HFR for focusing or the default options for solving the image will not be the "Default Options" in the combo box now. My goal is to develop good solving profiles for each task. So that when it is in Ekos, I will have a couple of combo boxes for the configuration where you can select from different profiles for each of the key tasks. The default options for each task should be a good all around set of settings, but there will be others that users could pick from for their special circumstances. Or they could make their own profile (I plan to have an editor similar to the Profile editor on the left in this program)
3 years 10 months ago #54122

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It might be kind of cool, if solving fails, it falls back to another method automatically with the last resort being the online blind solve.
3 years 10 months ago #54123

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