Release v1.4.1.0

Bump version to 1.4.1.0 and fix live loop double precession

Release v1.4.0.0

fix: resolve systematic ~9-arcmin polar alignment error (J2000/JNOW e…

Release v1.3.1.0

🚀 2-Point Polar Alignment v1.3.1.0

This release delivers a critical bug fix that prevents alignment sequence crashes on highly precise telescope mounts.

✨ Core Math Accuracy & Rig Stability

• High-Precision Polar Guard Expansion: Solved a critical "Alignment failed: Plate solve returned coordinates too close to the exact celestial pole" crash that occurred during verification passes on extremely well-aligned rigs.
• The Math: The safety guard threshold has been expanded to 0.9999999999 ($89.99999^\circ$, or 36 milliarcseconds from the pole). This extends the allowable alignment zone to the absolute limits of physical and atmospheric resolution, preventing mathematical crashes on perfect alignments while retaining 100% numerical and floating-point stability.

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📦 Installation Instructions

1. Download the TwoPointPolarAlignment-v1.3.1.0.zip asset below and upload it to this release.
2. The N.I.N.A. Plugin Store will automatically detect the new version once the manifest PR is merged.

Release v1.3.0.0

🚀 2-Point Polar Alignment v1.3.0.0

This release introduces a critical mathematical correction that resolves a systematic, community-reported polar alignment error offset by bringing coordinate epoch precession into perfect harmony.

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🌌 Mathematical Epoch Precession Correction (J2000 to JNOW)

• The Problem:
  N.I.N.A.’s plate solvers resolve against static star catalogs and return equatorial coordinates mapped to the J2000.0 epoch. However, Local Sidereal Time ($LST$) and your physical mount's orientation are defined in the real-time JNOW epoch.

  Due to the Earth's axial precession, the true celestial pole drifts by approximately $20.04''$ per year. Over the years elapsed since 2000, this accumulated drift reaches ~8.5 to 8.8 arcminutes by 2026. If J2000 coordinates are used directly, this celestial drift manifests as a systematic, phantom polar alignment offset of the exact same magnitude—even if your mount is physically aligned to the true sky.

• The Solution:
  Version 1.3.0.0 intercepts all incoming plate solver coordinates and precesses them natively from J2000 to JNOW before running the mathematical solver. This ensures that the entire mathematical calculation pipeline resides in the JNOW reference frame, bringing 2PPA into alignment harmony with PHD2 guiding logs and other native solvers.

Release v1.2.1.0

🚀 2-Point Polar Alignment v1.2.1.0

This is a major feature release that elevates the 2-Point Polar Alignment plugin to a fully automated, professional-grade sequencing tool!

Since the last official manifest release (v1.1.0.2), we have completely re-engineered the plugin's capabilities—introducing native Advanced Sequencer Integration for hands-free automation, Multi-Frame Sampling & Outlier Rejection to defeat bad seeing and wind gusts, and specialized mechanical rotation prompts.

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⚙️ 1. Native Advanced Sequencer Automation (v1.2.1.0)

You can now incorporate 2-Point Polar Alignment directly into your N.I.N.A. Advanced Sequencer workflows!

• Seamless Toolbox Integration: Located natively under the Polar Alignment category in the sequencer toolbox, featuring our custom 2PPA brand icon (tracking arc + two stars).
• Full Parameter Control: Override any configuration setting (Method, Starting Point, Direction, Binning, Offset, Retries, Exposures per Point, and Rough Finder) directly from the sequence item.
• Contextual "Resume Sequence" Gatekeeper: When run from a sequence, the plugin coordinates physical adjustments in Phase F (Live Adjustments) and holds sequence execution. Once you are satisfied with the alignment errors, click the new purple [Resume Sequence] button in the main Dockable UI to instantly complete the instruction and resume the imaging sequence.
• Agility & Homing Safetynet: If something goes wrong under the stars, the operator can stop, start, or home the mount manually as many times as they want inside the plugin without aborting the sequence instruction.

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⚡ 2. Multi-Frame Sampling & Outlier Rejection (v1.2.0.3)

Achieve sub-arcminute calculations even during heavy wind gusts or turbulent seeing.

• Multi-Exposure Averaging: Added the Exposures Per Point setting, supporting Single, Double, or Triple sub-frame captures at each measurement station to smooth out coordinate jitter.
• 3D Spherical Outlier Rejection: For triple exposures, the plugin uses 3D unit vectors to compute great-circle angular distances, isolating and discarding the worst coordinate solve (e.g., from a passing satellite or cloud) and averaging the remaining two.
• Sub-frame LST Drift Normalization: Each individual sub-frame coordinate is mathematically normalized to the station's anchor Local Sidereal Time ($LST$) before running the solver, keeping celestial frames perfectly aligned during consecutive exposures.

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🔄 3. Hemisphere & Mount Adaptations (v1.2.0.1 - v1.2.0.2)

• Rotary Azimuth Knob Settings: Perfect for mounts with a single horizontal adjustment knob (such as the ZWO AM5 or William Optics base). You can now configure Clockwise (↻) and Counter-Clockwise (↺) rotational arrow instructions on the Azimuth axis.
• Phase F Live Diagnostics Logging: Restored high-precision calculated polar alignment errors in DMS and decimal arcminute formats for Altitude, Azimuth, and Total Error. Continuous live updates are written cleanly to the central N.I.N.A. log files for post-session review.

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🛡️ 4. Stability, Thread-Safety & UI Polishing

• Robust Hardware Validation: Implemented thread-safe, non-blocking hardware connection validations. Dragged or deserialized sequencer items automatically query connection states and alert you with tooltips and native red exclamation warning marks when equipment is disconnected.
• Premium Theme Compliance: Restructured all sequencer templates to inherit from N.I.N.A.'s native SequenceBlockView container. Text boxes, combo boxes, and check boxes automatically adapt to your active light or dark theme (no hardcoded color block overrides!).
• Compiler Hardening: Cleaned up internal semaphores, MEF field injections, and isolated third-party library assets in the project configuration to guarantee $0\text{ errors}$ and $0\text{ warnings}$ under .NET 8.0-windows.

Release v1.1.0.2

This update significantly improves polar alignment precision by addressing celestial drift during the alignment sequence.

Main Improvement: LST Time-Drift Normalization

When the plugin is running, mount tracking is disabled to isolate physical RA movement. Because of slew times, camera downloads, and plate solving, the two measurement points are typically captured 25–40 seconds apart. Since tracking is off, the sky drifts by several arcminutes during this window, which previously introduced a systematic error.

This version captures the exact Local Sidereal Time (LST) at both measurement points and mathematically shifts the coordinates to "freeze" the Earth's rotation. This correction zeros out the drift error, ensuring your physical polar alignment matches your dashboard numbers exactly, bringing accuracy to the sub-arcminute limit of your plate solver.

Changes:

• Optimized alignment math to normalize sidereal drift between points.
• Improved reliability for both SCTs (with star diagonals) and standard refractors by reverting to stable coordinate handling.
• Internal cleanup of redundant degeneracy logic from testing builds.

Release v1.1.0.0

Bump version to v1.1.0.0 and add release manifest automation

Beta v1.0.3.8 - Reactive Custom Home & Rodrigues Rotation Solver

Two-Point Polar Alignment — Beta v1.0.3.8

This beta release introduces critical geometric solver stability under live skies, a highly requested reactive UI custom homing feature, and complete documentation refinement.

✨ Core Solver & Math Upgrades

• Rodrigues' Rotation Formula Integration: Replaced the legacy linear approximation in EvaluateLiveError with a mathematically rigorous 3D Rodrigues' rotation matrix. This solves any vector translation distortion during the interactive alignment phase, keeping live Alt/Az coordinate error updates rock-solid and steady even under large adjustment angles.

🎨 Visual & UI Enhancements

• Reactive [CUSTOM HOME] Button: When Override Mount Home is toggled to True, the main home button now dynamically transforms to a high-visibility [CUSTOM HOME] indicator (deeper royal blue background) with custom ToolTips to immediately confirm the mount will slew to your locked custom coordinates rather than the default physical ASCOM home.

📋 Manual & Documentation Polish

• Removed hemispherical manual rules (now adapted natively in the software's instructions).
• Stripped obsolete Alt-Az mount references.
• Improved page layout breaks in USER_MANUAL.pdf for beautiful, clean, 6-page printing.

🔧 Installation

1. Download TwoPointPolarAlignment-Beta-v1.0.3.8.zip below.
2. Extract the 5 files directly into %LocalAppData%\NINA\Plugins\3.0.0\TwoPointPolarAlignment (overwrite existing files).
3. Restart N.I.N.A.

Beta 1.0 - Production Candidate

Initial beta release containing our new hardened concurrency engine and real-time visual dashboard.