0.13 Release Notes

0.13 overview · 0.12 release history

PSF Guard 0.13 adds night schedules for your rigs, star measurements matched to N.I.N.A., integrated mosaics and GPU stacking. Run stacks and RC-Astro tools on another computer, then inspect the result with new color and pixel controls.

Start with: Upgrade checks · Night planning · Star measurements · Workers · Color processing · Settings

Upgrading

Check these before using 0.13

Shared scoring defaults change on upgrade. The first editor to open PSF Guard saves their defaults on the server, including built-in values. Everyone then uses those defaults; only an editor can change them. Viewer defaults are not copied.

  1. Install the same PSF Guard release on each worker as on the server.
  2. Allow time for each stack to rebuild once when next opened or refreshed. For older mosaic previews marked out of date, click Build current set.
  3. Open Settings → Review → Grading & display and review the shared scoring defaults.
  4. Review Star detection on that page. To use N.I.N.A.'s star counts and HFR instead of PSF Guard's, choose Stars and HFR in Scoring.

The stacking engine changed. Build current set refreshes older mosaic color previews from cached stacks with a solve of the integrated canvas.

The next quality scan measures affected frames again with the new detection settings. Until then, scoring excludes their earlier scan values. PSF Guard remains the default source for stars and HFR.

Stack builds stay on the server until you choose otherwise. WBPP runs stay on the server.

Check what stays the same

Direct Target Scheduler access remains deprecated

Your existing direct connection still works in 0.13. For a new connection:

  1. Open Settings → Databases & rigs → New / import.
  2. Choose Import a local TS file or Use the PSF Guard Sync plugin.

A later update will create a PSF Guard catalog for existing direct connections and keep captures, plans and grades in sync with Target Scheduler. Separate catalogs let us add features to PSF Guard and support new Target Scheduler versions. This automatic migration is not part of 0.13.

If you are upgrading from 0.11, also read the 0.12 upgrade notes.

Plan each rig's nights

Compare clear dark hours, the Moon and planned work across your rigs. Night planning and Director controls are in early beta; schedules are estimates. Availability marks change the predicted schedule only. Forecasts can also support optional Director weather holds with a later plugin update; see Director weather support.

Open a predicted schedule

  1. Open Rigs › Nights.
  2. Select a night to see its predicted Target Scheduler or Director schedule.
  3. Choose a target block to see why the scheduler selected it. Check Not this night for excluded targets and their reasons.
  4. Hover the Cloud, Dew and Moon bars for weather and Moon details.

Tonight's schedule starts from now. Rigs whose sites are within one degree in latitude and longitude share a group and weather/Moon bars. Dew shading shows how close the air temperature is to the dew point.

Each filter run shows its minimum Moon separation, dimmed when the Moon stays below the horizon. Select a block for each filter's minimum separation and highest Moon altitude. The Moon strip shows rise, highest point and set; brighter shading means a higher or more fully lit Moon.

Mark available hours

  1. Set the site's Time zone under Settings › Presets › Sites.
  2. In Rigs › Nights, select a night and open Mark this night.
  3. Choose Available, Not available or Limited to specified hours.
  4. Choose one rig or every rig at the site, then click Save mark.

Marks change the predicted schedule only. A manual site mark overrides the site forecast; a rig's own mark still applies.

Set a cloud and dew limit

Forecasts are off by default. Enabling one sends the site's location, rounded to about 1 km, to the provider. Providers may also supply temperature, dew point and humidity.

  1. Open Settings › Presets › Sites and edit a site.
  2. Under Weather forecast → Forecast, choose Open-Meteo or MET Norway.
  3. Set Clear at or under to the maximum cloud cover that counts as clear.
  4. To exclude hours close to the dew point, set No imaging within. For example, 2 °C excludes hours when air temperature is 2 °C or less above the dew point. Leave it blank to ignore dew.
  5. Click Save site.

A drop icon marks nights shortened by the dew limit. The timeline shows a dew band and lists the affected hours. Nights with no clear dark hours appear red, including nights clear only in daylight.

Forecasts change planning estimates by default. They do not replace the rig's safety monitor or enclosure interlocks.

Preview Director weather support

The server support is part of 0.13. Weather reporting and holds need a later Director plugin update; the published 0.1.0.3 Beta 1 does not include them.

  1. Open Rigs › Live to compare each rig's NINA reported weather and its site's Forecast.
  2. Open the rig's Weather tab for supported readings and forecast details.
  3. Expand Reported weather history (24 hours) to see earlier reports once a compatible plugin sends them. Missing readings stay blank.

The later plugin update will let you opt in to weather holds between exposures using N.I.N.A. cloud cover, the site's cached forecast, or both. Both options are off by default. Forecast holds use the site's cloud and dew limits, including a paid forecast source configured on the server. Every selected source must be fresh and clear before imaging can resume. A forecast for a different location, or missing coordinates, cannot clear a hold; the Weather tab explains the problem.

A weather hold lets the current exposure finish saving. The rig's physical safety monitor and enclosure interlocks still govern immediate interruption and safe shutdown. See weather setup and limits.

Change a Director rig's night

  1. Select the night and click Edit night.
  2. Move or pin target blocks, exclude work, set a plan order or hold the rig.
  3. Review the changed schedule, then click Save changes.

A running session finishes its current exposure and receives the overrides at its next check-in. Overrides only restrict the existing program and expire at the end of the observing night.

Change Target Scheduler priorities

You need editor access and database management to save these changes.

  1. Select the night and open Target Scheduler settings.
  2. Click Change settings.
  3. Change project priorities or activate and deactivate projects and targets.
  4. Review the schedule, then click Save changes.

PSF Guard updates the rig's database and, for a synced catalog, its Target Scheduler file too. These settings apply to every night until changed again. A conflicting edit prevents the affected save.

Mode in rig setup selects Target Scheduler or Director. Until you set it, PSF Guard infers the mode from reports. Pairing the Director plugin sets Director mode.

Check progress and completion

See Night planning.

Choose star measurements for grading

Match the quality scan to each rig's N.I.N.A. detector settings, then choose which measurements scoring uses. Image Information shows both sources; N and P mark the source used on cards.

Match the detector settings

  1. Open Settings › Review › Grading & display › Star detection.
  2. Choose the shared Default or a rig override.
  3. Set Detector, Sensitivity, Noise reduction and Hocus Focus version.
  4. Click Save star detection.

The defaults are Auto, High, None and 4. Auto selects Hocus Focus when N.I.N.A. 3.2 or earlier recorded an FWHM; otherwise it selects N.I.N.A.'s detector.

Import a N.I.N.A. profile

  1. Under Import N.I.N.A. profile, choose the profile file.
  2. Choose All frames, or Frames from the date those settings first applied.
  3. Click Read file, then Import profile.

The import reads autofocus crop, brightest-star count, autostretch and Hocus Focus options. Sync and Director plugins also record settings during capture.

If settings changed over time, import each profile with its start date. Frames before the first dated record use the earliest record. Later dated records still apply after an All frames import.

Choose the source for scoring

  1. Open Scoring and choose Stars and HFR.
  2. Select N.I.N.A. or PSF Guard. PSF Guard remains the default.

You can also choose Measured by under Settings › Review › Grading & display › Sequence scoring.

The source applies to Max HFR, Min stars, relative comparisons and the Stars and HFR cutoff. Previously, limits used PSF Guard values while views showed N.I.N.A.'s. Reject reasons now identify the source and show HFR to two decimal places.

See Star measurements and scoring.

Stack on the GPU and follow builds

Stack previews now use Metal on a Mac, Vulkan on Linux and Direct3D 12 on Windows. Debayering, star detection, resampling, the live stack and the final pass can run on the GPU.

  1. Open Settings → Performance → GPU to choose which passes use the GPU.
  2. Open Stacks to watch a channel's Live stack preview. It updates about every five seconds during a build.

The finished preview replaces the live image. Completed FITS downloads remain separate during a rebuild.

Computers without a supported GPU, and frames under about a million pixels, use the CPU. Turning Use the GPU off keeps all stacking work on the CPU, including artifact searches and color-preview channel alignment.

On an Apple M4 Max, 35 frames of 26 megapixels stacked in 5–6 seconds instead of 12.

See Stack previews.

Build integrated mosaics

Build one mosaic per channel in Stacks, then compose RGB, LRGB or narrowband color from those mosaics.

For older uncalibrated previews marked out of date, click Build current set to refresh them from cached stacks.

Follow mosaic builds and SNR

See Mosaic builds.

Run processing on workers

Use another computer for stack builds and RC-Astro tools. Install the same PSF Guard release as the server. Creating a worker token requires an editor account and a server that allows database management.

Start a desktop worker

  1. On the server, open Settings › Performance › Workers, click + Add a worker, and create a token.
  2. On the worker's macOS or Windows app, open Settings › Performance › Workers › Worker on this computer.
  3. Enter Server address and Worker token.
  4. To start at login, select Start worker at login.
  5. Click Save worker settings, then Start worker.

The worker keeps running in the menu bar or system tray after you close the window. Opening PSF Guard while its window is open brings it forward instead of starting another copy.

Worker on this computer shows local settings and status. Workers for this server lists connected workers. Controls explain task types, concurrent tasks, temporary files and saved tokens; tray status distinguishes waiting for a connection from waiting for tasks.

Run a worker as a Windows service

Use a service to process tasks before anyone logs in.

  1. Open Settings › Performance › Workers › Worker on this computer and enter the worker settings.

  2. Turn off Start worker at login and click Save worker settings. If the desktop worker is running, click Stop worker.

  3. Open PowerShell as administrator and run:

    psf-guard-cli worker-service install

Run the command again after changing settings or updating PSF Guard. It updates and restarts the service. Desktop worker controls do not control the service.

Windows services now read saved settings and start successfully. Reinstalling also repairs permissions from older installations and waits for the stopped process before replacing its executable.

Run a worker as a Linux service

The Fedora RPM and Debian package install psf-guard-worker without enabling it.

  1. On Debian, copy /usr/share/doc/psf-guard/worker.conf.example to /etc/psf-guard/worker.conf first.

  2. Enter the server address and worker token in /etc/psf-guard/worker.conf.

  3. Run:

    sudo systemctl enable --now psf-guard-worker

Send stack builds to a worker

Stack builds stay on the server until you choose otherwise. WBPP stays on the server.

  1. Start a worker with --work stack.
  2. On the server, open Settings › Performance › Workers.
  3. Choose Workers first or Workers only for stack builds.

Each channel uses the frames, masters, checkpoint and settings the server would use. Mosaics can run there too. The channel card identifies the worker, and Live stack shows its running image.

Send RC-Astro processing to a worker

Install and license the RC-Astro tools on the worker computer before sending work.

  1. Add a worker under Settings › Performance › Workers.
  2. Run the supplied psf-guard worker --server … command on that computer with its token.
  3. Under Where work runs, choose workers first with this server as the fallback, workers only, or this server only.

Workers run BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator and StarXTerminator for stack previews, color previews and narrowband stars. The processing panel shows where each tool runs.

A worker accepts every tool it has, or the ones --work lists, and runs up to --slots steps at once. Files pass through the server; use --files shared for a folder the worker and server share.

See Workers.

Fix a worker upload rejected by a proxy

  1. Read the failed run or the worker's log. When a reverse proxy refuses a file as too large, the error identifies the file and the upload limit.
  2. Raise the proxy's limit for /api/workers/v1/, including any server URL prefix. For nginx, set client_max_body_size to allow the result file.
  3. Reload the proxy configuration and run the processing again.

See the worker proxy settings for an nginx example that passes full-size results.

Compose color and control stars

Processing stack now has numbered, expandable steps from input preparation to RGB finishing. Color and RGB-star branches appear separately. Emission amounts and star reduction appear where they run; collapsing a step preserves its edits.

The steps show which star policy applies. Saved setups use consistent field fonts and spacing.

Choose a default Color setup

  1. Open Settings → Presets → Processing setups.
  2. Click Make default on a Color setup, or save your changes over Default.

PSF Guard adds a setup named Default with the current pipeline. New color previews use the default setup; existing previews keep their saved choices. Automatic stack refreshes now create a target's first color preview once its channels finish, just as a build you start does.

Choose and reduce RGB stars

New narrowband cards offer automatic SHO/HOO selection, a shared H-alpha stretch and background-protected OIII/SII balance. Existing previews keep their saved palette and processing.

  1. Choose Stars → Automatic to use RGB stars when the sources and StarXTerminator are available. Otherwise, PSF Guard explains the fallback to narrowband stars.
  2. To choose exact RGB sources, open the card's Custom combination. These sources can use different exposures.
  3. Open Processing stack → Combine and restore stars and adjust RGB star reduction to make the restored stars smaller and fainter. Keep zero for the current result.

Star reduction preserves RGB color and the starless nebula. It works independently of BXT sharpening and halo controls. Narrowband cards now show a ✨ Stars label beside the selector.

New automatic narrowband recipes use a SetiAstro-style Star Stretch for the linear RGB stars. Lower its amount in Combine and restore stars for fainter stars. Saved setups keep Auto MTF until you switch.

Process the nebula and RGB stars separately

Fit and inspect continuum subtraction

Custom RGB + emission, LRGB + emission, and Narrowband + broadband structure cards fit continuum on aligned linear inputs.

  1. Open Processing stack → Subtract continuum.
  2. Choose Automatic, Manual or Off.
  3. Review the per-line fit results and signed residual downloads. Clear the optional OIII B/G ratio to return to measured photometry.

Failed natural-color lines are omitted with a warning. A failed mapped line keeps the previous preview available.

Combined color previews validate held-out stellar pixel profiles and can match continuum PSFs with Gaussian broadening. Reports show core/halo errors and the changed resolution.

Narrowband controls also offer star exclusions for balance statistics and green-excess reduction before RGB stars are restored. Optional calibrated-response exports preserve signed line flux, exact source provenance and uncertainty assumptions.

Set the processing memory budget

  1. Open Settings → Performance → CPU & memory → Processing memory.
  2. Set the budget for processing. If a color or stretch operation fails for lack of memory, compare its reported estimate with the current budget.

Estimates now count each source channel and the composition's largest step, rather than adding every step. They also include RC-Astro memory when the tool runs on this server.

For SHO with RGB stars on a 90-megapixel mosaic, the estimate is now 22 GiB instead of 26 GiB with StarXTerminator on the server, and 12 GiB with SXT on a worker. Color-channel RC-Astro estimates are higher when run on the server because they now include the tool's memory.

See Color processing.

Inspect stacks and measure pixels

The stack and calibration-master inspectors fill the window. A narrower sidebar leaves more room for the image and contains details, FITS downloads, Sky context, artifact search, shortcuts and zoom controls.

Inspect stars and pixel values

  1. Open Sky context to solve the stack's own pixels, starting from its frames, and draw objects over the image.
  2. Press S to mark stars with HFR, or P to open the PSF view.
  3. Turn on Value or RA/Dec, or press M or R, then move the pointer over the image.

The readout follows the pointer and shows pixel position, linear file value (one per channel for color stacks), and RA/Dec from the plate solution. It also works in the image viewer. PSF Guard reads only nearby pixels, so the whole stack need not load.

For desktop full screen, press F11 on Windows or Linux. On macOS, use View → Enter Full Screen or the window's green button.

See Stack inspection.

Find settings and share defaults

Settings groups pages in a desktop sidebar and a compact phone selector. Existing settings and shortcuts stay the same. Settings asks before you leave a page with unsaved edits.

Find the page you need

Quality analysis and calibrated-copy pairing offer shared defaults and database overrides. Existing databases keep their choices as overrides; new ones inherit defaults. Database overrides use the Calibration rig controls, with inherited values aligned beside their override buttons.

Edit import rules

  1. Select a database in Settings and open Import.
  2. Expand Scan rules to change saved filters.
  3. Save the rules. The editor closes, and imports use the saved filters.

This page also has automatic-import settings and previews. New databases offer the same exclusion patterns and scan filters before the first import, with filters initially collapsed. Long folder paths now wrap on phones.

Save, restart and resolve conflicting edits

Each form keeps its own Save controls. The compact header has Close and, in the desktop app, Open logs.

If another person changes a rig's planning site or Target Scheduler limits while you edit, Save rig profile saves the rest of the profile and explains the conflict. Click Reload to replace your site and limit edits with their saved values.

Reload rig profile keeps those edits when nothing changed on the server.

See saved values as forms load

Forms no longer briefly show empty values, an Automatic port or false unsaved markers while loading. This covers:

Fields you have not edited follow newer server values. Your edits stay until you save or discard them. PixInsight's Check again also updates the executable and WBPP runs folder.

Keep automatic stacks on shared scoring defaults

Automatic stack refreshes now use the server's scoring defaults, the same values every view starts from.

Stacks showing Out of date — scoring settings changed after an automatic refresh rebuild with those defaults on the next automatic refresh. Saving new defaults under Settings → Review → Grading & display also rebuilds stacks scored another way when automatic previews are on.

See Settings navigation and scope.

Calibration and image compatibility

Check which flats a stack will use

  1. Open the Library and click Calibration on a project's full card, or its 🧪 pill.
  2. Check the flat date and age for each night and filter. When a stack uses an external flat master, the report uses that master's date and age.
  3. For a night without same-night flats, check why nearer raw flats were not used. The report lists up to three groups and explains mismatched rotator angles, too few flats to build a master, and other reasons.

PSF Guard no longer marks a light as unable to be calibrated because raw flats are older when a stack uses a matching master from the light's own night. Stacks keep those lights, and exports include the matching master instead of the older raw flats.

Use an external flat master at another gain

Use this only when the master's flat darks were subtracted (recorded as DARKSUB) and the camera's normalized flat does not change with gain—for example, suitable gain-0 flats for gain-100 lights.

  1. Open Settings › Processing › Calibration › Matching, or the rig's settings.
  2. Turn on External flat masters at another gain.

The setting is off by default. It permits a flat master from other software to calibrate lights at another gain or offset. When gain or offset is the only mismatch, the refusal message identifies this setting.

Keep calibration sessions separate

Multi-session stacks keep lights using different external masters in separate calibration sessions, even when they match the same raw frames. Existing masters, grades, flat groups and stacks keep their results and do not rebuild because of the calibration-library update.

Solve PixInsight XISF frames

Plate solving now starts from the solution stored in an XISF frame's properties, as it does with FITS WCS. Previously PSF Guard missed that solution and used the frame's other pointing headers.

See Calibration libraries.

Import masters and leave out stacks

PSF Guard recognizes masters made by seiza master, including older files whose type appears only in SEIZAMST. They enter the calibration library and follow External masters under Settings › Processing › Calibration › Matching.

Repair Seiza masters previously imported as lights

Deleting a project requires an editor account and a server started with --allow-database-management.

  1. Select the database in Settings and open Import.
  2. Click Preview import, then Import N frame(s). This adds the masters to the calibration library; automatic import does not reread them.
  3. In the Library, open an Unknown Target project containing only those masters.
  4. Open Edit project and click Delete project... to remove the light records. The source files stay on disk.
  5. Repeat for other projects containing only those masters.

Check skipped stacks

Imports now skip stacks and report the count; remote uploads refuse stacks. Previously a header such as NCOMBINE = 40 could let a stack enter as a light. Existing stack records remain in the catalog.

An empty Include only scan rule now shows All files, replacing the misleading LIGHT placeholder.

See Importing images.

Storage and reliability

Set storage and WBPP retention limits

  1. Open Settings → Storage & backups → Folders & limits.
  2. Choose a dedicated WBPP folder and volume usage limit.
  3. Set retention periods for intermediates and masters. Defaults are seven days and 90 days, respectively. Choose Keep WBPP masters forever to protect masters from cleanup.
  4. Click Save storage settings to save limits, folders and WBPP retention together. WBPP uses the shared Limits and Folders sections.

WBPP cleanup removes intermediates before masters. It protects active runs, downloads and master copies. Saved process masters and imported stacks remain separate.

Check volume use on every platform

Volume usage limit now works on Windows as well as macOS and Linux. Disk use under Settings › Storage & backups › Folders & limits shows Windows volumes too.

When a volume exceeds its limit, PSF Guard deletes these in order:

  1. Least-recently-viewed previews.
  2. Stack resume checkpoints at least a day old.
  3. Rebuildable calibration masters unused for a week.

Limits accept every whole percentage from 0% through 100%, including values below 50%, for the cache, stacks, calibration masters and WBPP.

Save to SMB shares and download FITS files

On macOS, saving to an SMB share now falls back to a plain sync when the share refuses a full sync. This avoids Operation not supported (os error 45) for affected masters, stacks, uploads, WBPP work files, backups and settings.

FITS downloads in stack processing use compact controls with a download icon and explicit labels. Long labels wrap in narrow panels.

Fixes already shipped in 0.12

This release includes the 0.12.4 fixes and the 0.12.5 renamed-file fixes:

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