laurence
59d6e30712
The mechanical merge preserved both histories but left two repositories sitting side by side rather than one repository. This is the part that makes it whole. A top-level README explains the three strands - the telescope network and campaign, the processing code, and in-person observing plans - and says plainly that image data does not live here, because that is the first question anyone will have when they find a pipeline with no pixels. state/PROJECT.md was still describing a markdown-only reference project whose scope explicitly EXCLUDED automating bookings and image processing. Both of those are now most of what the project does, so the objective, scope and key facts are rewritten to match reality. state/DECISIONS.md records why the merge happened - the two repos were split by chronology rather than design, and the seam was already leaking, with the campaign's TODO citing results held in the other repo and the pipeline's README explaining a campaign it did not contain. It also records that the image data deliberately stays out of the repository. state/TODO.md gains the pipeline and observing work that previously had nowhere to live, including the measurement that changes the pipeline plan: per-frame processing is 2.9 seconds and the whole 24-frame session is 1.1 minutes single-threaded, so a scheduler earns nothing on stacking and should be pointed at the Monte Carlo stages instead. Internal links fixed for the new paths: pipeline/README.md referred to session-scripts/ throughout, and itelescope/README.md pointed at a state/ directory that is now one level up. The .gitignore conflict between the two repositories is resolved by combining them, with image formats ignored globally except under docs/, where documentation figures are committed deliberately.
65 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
65 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
# Project: astrophotography
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> The anchor document. A session that reads only this, TODO.md and DECISIONS.md should
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> understand what the project is and what to do next. Keep it current.
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## Objective
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Take astronomical images, process them properly, and understand what is in them.
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Three strands, all in this repository since the 2026-07-21 merge of the
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`itelescope` and `astro-pipeline` repositories:
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1. **Remote imaging** (`itelescope/`) - a review of the iTelescope.net network
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and which scope to book for a given target. The active objective is the drain
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campaign (`itelescope/CAMPAIGN.md`): spend the account's remaining points on
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southern-sky imaging by 10 Aug 2026, download all data, then cancel before the
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12 Aug renewal. **Cancellation needs explicit user confirmation on the day.**
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2. **Processing and analysis** (`pipeline/`) - the code that turns frames into
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calibrated, plate-solved images and into measurements. Proven on the NGC 5128
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session of 2026-07-21; being productionised into a staged, containerised
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pipeline that can run under a scheduler.
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3. **Observing in person** (`observing/`) - currently the total solar eclipse of
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12 Aug 2026, seen from Menorca.
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## Scope
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- In scope: the telescope network reference; booking and running remote sessions;
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calibration, stacking, plate solving, rendering and analysis code; observing
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plans for trips.
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- Out of scope: the image data itself. Sessions stay on disk and are located
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through `ASTRO_SESSION`; a single frame is 61 MB and a session is several GB.
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Each session directory carries its own METHODS.md.
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- Previously out of scope, now central: automating bookings and image
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processing. Both proved necessary and both are done.
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## Audience
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Laurence, when planning or processing imaging runs, and anyone else choosing a
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telescope on the network or wanting to reproduce a result.
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## Description
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iTelescope.net operates remote telescopes across six observatories (Utah, Sierra
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California, Siding Spring Australia, Deep Sky Chile, AstroCamp Spain, e-EyE Spain).
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Public specs are scattered across a Freshdesk support article and a maintained Google
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Sheet. This repo snapshots that data and turns it into a usable review: per-telescope
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assessments plus a "which scope for what" guide.
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## Success criteria
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- Every active telescope on the network has an entry with specs and an assessment.
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- A reader can pick the right scope for widefield, deep space, galaxies, photometry,
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or free imaging without visiting the source pages.
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## Key facts
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- Trunk branch: main
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- Forge / remote: https://git.discworld.casa/laurence/astrophotography
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(merged 2026-07-21 from `itelescope` + `astro-pipeline`; both histories intact)
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- Runtime / stack: markdown for the reference and campaign; Python 3.12 for the
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pipeline (numpy, scipy, astropy, scikit-image, sep, astroalign, photutils,
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astroquery, matplotlib)
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- How to run it: read `itelescope/TELESCOPES.md` to choose a scope; set
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`ASTRO_SESSION` and run `pipeline/*.py` to process a session
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- Image data is NOT in this repo: it lives on disk per session, each with its
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own METHODS.md
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