Project: datamanagement
Issue DM-2793: Improve behavior of new matcher on highly distorted fields
The optimistic matcher used by the new astrometry task probably does not handle highly distorted fields well. The issue is that it tries to match in X-Y space, and if that has significant curvature then the match is not optimal. I suggest matching in RA/Dec space, as per Tabur's original algorithm (on which this code is based). This is simple and easy to understand An alternative is to use the old technique of "undistorting" source and reference object positions before matching. This works, but is complicated, difficult to understand and adds an unnecessary step.
Story points: 8