rlancaste wrote: Hi Alan,

So the message you are referring to was actually a function of KStars, not astrometry.net. Yes we could make it print that message again saying that you don't have the right indexes, but actually I didn't like that message because it was often incorrect. It would just say you don't have such and such index files even though you didn't need them for your image scale and I got tired of seeing that message. It is actually hard to say which index files you actually need to solve a particular field size. Yes, the index files are definitely meant for certain scales, and we could just do a table lookup based upon the scale size you/Kstars indicate the image should be and to just search for the index files with sky marks that size and the ones a little larger and a little smaller than your scale. But one issue you might encounter is that sometimes the index files that are significantly larger or smaller than your scale are the ones that actually solve the image. So it can be hard to say exactly which ones should be included. I did write an algorithm in the index file downloader a few years ago that attempts this. Maybe we could use similar code here. I mean I guess it is just a warning so you could ignore if it is wrong. We can look into it.

Thanks,

Rob

Rob,

The parallel solving speeds up the solver significantly (about 4-5 fold under my conditions). It now solves routinely in under 1 s on my Pi4/8Gb, but it takes up to 5 seconds otherwise. However, for this to work I need to restrict the astrometry files the Solver loads into RAM to a minimum. Since I am using a wide-field scope at 250 mm focal length, that is feasible on a Pi4. However, when I select all the astrometry files needed to solve on any of my scopes, including an 8" RC, then the file size exceeds the RAM available and solving slows down dramatically.
At the moment, I am managing this by manually moving the astrometry files that are not needed for my short focal length into a subfolder from which they are not loaded. I then can manually move them back when I am putting a larger scope on the mount.

What I am wondering is whether it would be possible for the Solver to just load those files it ANTICIPATES it needs for parallel solving BASED ON FOV into RAM and ignore the rest for first pass. Only when solving is unsuccessful, it would then include the remainder of the astrometry files for sequential solving.

That way, it would not be necessary for the observer to make that decision and then, if solving fails, having to move back larger astrometry files into the folder on which the Solver is looking for them.

I would think it should be possible to do that in an automated fashion?

Thoughts?

Jo

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