[WIP] Sqm improvements #372
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mrosseel
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Jan 18, 2026
mrosseel
commented
- SQM auto exposure should target SNR, not nr of stars seen
This reverts commit c872394.
Extract RotatingInfoDisplay class to encapsulate state and animation logic. Reduces code by ~100 lines while preserving cross-fade animation behavior. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Add from_camera_profile() factory method to ExposureSNRController - Calculate min/target/max background from bit_depth and bias_offset - Target background just above min (no benefit to higher values) - Remove arbitrary 400ms min_exposure floor (now 10ms) - Remove 5-second rate limiting (averaging handled in SQM code) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Check if T_solve exists in solved dict before accessing it. Previously checked wrong dict (solution vs solved) or didn't check at all. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Move saturation handling from auto-exposure to SQM calculation: - SQM: detect saturated stars (max aperture pixel >= 250) and exclude from mzero calculation by setting flux to -1 - Auto-exposure: remove saturation detection, just target background level This allows longer exposures for better background SNR while ignoring bright saturated stars that would corrupt the photometric calibration. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
colors.get() only takes intensity, not red=True keyword argument. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
SQM state only has value, source, last_update - not value_raw. Store source in metadata instead. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Change target_background from min*1.25 to min+2 for more linear camera response and less saturation risk. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Add noise_floor to shared state (solver writes, camera reads) - SNR controller uses adaptive noise floor + 2 as min_background - Falls back to static camera profile if noise floor not yet available This gives more accurate exposure control based on real-time noise measurements instead of static camera profile values. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Show 'Saving...' message immediately before creating zip - Remove +2 margin from noise floor - target exact value for shortest exposure Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Includes: mzero, mzero_std, background, pedestal, extinction, star counts, saturation info, etc. - everything needed for calibration validation. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Captures 3 exposures: base, +1 stop, -1 stop (or base, -1, -2 if at max). Shows progress for each bracket. Re-enables auto-exposure when done. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Faster sweep (~1 min vs ~4 min) while still sampling exposure space. Launch from SQM view → hold square → DEBUG. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Brighter stars have higher SNR so their mzero estimates are more reliable. Weight each star's contribution by its flux. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Without margin, background_corrected ≈ 0 when at noise floor, causing log10(~0) = very negative, making SQM too high. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
…tion Two fixes for SQM being ~0.4 mag too high: 1. Use only bias_offset (6.0 ADU) as pedestal instead of full noise_floor (7.46 ADU). Read noise and dark current are random fluctuations, not systematic offsets that should be subtracted. 2. Disable atmospheric extinction correction. When comparing to ground-based SQM meters, both measurements are through the same atmosphere, so no correction is needed. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Use 0.1 mag/airmass to match typical consumer SQM meters instead of the scientific V-band value (0.28). This enables comparing measurements at different altitudes while staying consistent with reference meters. At zenith: +0.10 mag At 45°: +0.14 mag At 30°: +0.20 mag Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
…ased for science
- Main SQM value uses fixed 0.1 mag extinction (matches consumer SQM meters)
- Also calculate altitude-dependent extinction (0.1 mag/airmass)
- Display altitude-corrected value on SQM view in small font ("alt: XX.XX")
- Enables comparing measurements at different altitudes scientifically
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Main SQM value: raw measurement (no extinction correction) - Altitude-corrected: adds 0.28*(airmass-1) per ASTAP convention - Zenith is reference point (extinction=0), only additional extinction below zenith is added for altitude comparison At different altitudes: - Zenith (90°): extinction = 0 - 45°: extinction = 0.115 - 30°: extinction = 0.28 Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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