Project: datamanagement
Issue DM-1579: Implement replacement for A.net index files
Astrometry.net index files are hard to generate and hard to read. We need another, more flexible, more standard system for storing reference files. We should also be able to read FITS files and other formats, but having a standard format with the utilities to create and query them is a must. Coming up with a format that satisfies astrometry.net's solver may be too hard, because a.net requires quads, which a non-blind solver may not need. However, a format that we can convert to something suitable for a.net would probably suffice (conversion would presumably be a separate task that is run once). It will be easier to identify a suitable format once we have identified at least one solver other than than a.net that we wish to implement or adapt. hscAstrom appears to use a catalog of star positions, which is nice and simple.
Story points: 5