The script unconditionally attempts to solve images for astrometry, even when the images already contain a valid WCS solution (i.e. they have already been plate-solved). This forces every user to maintain a local installation of the Astrometry.net index files (~60 GB) even if their images don't actually need solving.
Expected Changes:
Before attempting an astrometry solve, the script should check whether the image already contains a valid WCS solution — for example, by checking for the presence of standard WCS header keywords such as CTYPE1, CTYPE2, CRVAL1, CRVAL2, CRPIX1, CRPIX2, and/or CD1_1 (or CDELT1/CDELT2) in the FITS header. If a solution is already present, the astrometry step should be skipped unless the user explicitly requests a re-solve. Therefore, adding a pre-check that inspects the FITS header for an existing WCS solution before invoking the astrometry solver. Optionally, expose a --force-solve (or equivalent) flag to allow users to override this behavior and re-solve intentionally.
The script unconditionally attempts to solve images for astrometry, even when the images already contain a valid WCS solution (i.e. they have already been plate-solved). This forces every user to maintain a local installation of the Astrometry.net index files (~60 GB) even if their images don't actually need solving.
Expected Changes:
Before attempting an astrometry solve, the script should check whether the image already contains a valid WCS solution — for example, by checking for the presence of standard WCS header keywords such as
CTYPE1,CTYPE2,CRVAL1,CRVAL2,CRPIX1,CRPIX2, and/orCD1_1(orCDELT1/CDELT2) in the FITS header. If a solution is already present, the astrometry step should be skipped unless the user explicitly requests a re-solve. Therefore, adding a pre-check that inspects the FITS header for an existing WCS solution before invoking the astrometry solver. Optionally, expose a--force-solve(or equivalent) flag to allow users to override this behavior and re-solve intentionally.