October 2022 update
New search filters
Thanks to the massive success of the new equipment database, which now extends to over 80% of AstroBin images (thank you all who migrated your equipment!) I was able to finally release a bunch of new search filters on AstroBin, and I think this is pretty awesome!
So without further ado, these are the new filters:
1️⃣ Range of camera pixel size in microns
2️⃣ Range of telescope diameter in millimeters
3️⃣ Range of telescope or lens focal length in millimeters
4️⃣ Range of telescope or lens weight in kilograms
5️⃣ Range of mount weight in kilograms
6️⃣ Range of mount payload in kilograms
7️⃣ Modified camera
So now there are even more ways to understand what equipment combinations work together, for instance you can search for:
Images acquired with a certain mount, but with a telescope above a certain weight
Images acquired with a telescope of a certain focal length range, with cameras that have a pixel size in a certain range
Images acquired with a apochromatic refractor and a modified DSLR
Images acquired with a telescope of a certain diameter range
... the possibilities are endless!
Learn more about the new equipment database if you haven't already:
https://welcome.astrobin.com/features/equipment-database
And the search engine features:
https://welcome.astrobin.com/features/advanced-search
Two bug fixes related to search
I have fixed two issues with the search engine.
Searching for Sh2 objects didn't work as expected, because the search engine was thrown off by the dash sign and was interpreting as an exclusion symbol. Whoopsie!
Searching for animated GIFs did not work at all... 🤦♂️
Plate-solution information added to data download CSV file
As you might now, AstroBin has a way to export your data (https://www.astrobin.com/profile/download-data/). I have added astrometry information, such as right ascension, declination, FOV, orientation, and so on, to the exported CSV file, where available.
What's planned for November
The following things are on my task list for November. I'll try to do them all but things don't always go as planned because there might be a varying amount of user support requests.
Before I proceed, I would like to make clear that when a user has an issue with AstroBin, I take a great deal of care in investigating it, no matter how rare a bug it might be.
Sometimes this means spending several days of work to fix an issue that affects only one user, delaying the implementation of other features.
For November, I plan the following:
The revamping of the “acquisition details" form, that can finally take advantage of the new frontend stack to which AstroBin has been migrating over the past few years (that's the final piece of the puzzle for the modernization of the image upload form, and, as some of you have noticed, it now sticks out as a sore eye 😄 I know that it's a clunky form, and I can't wait to make it better!)
The above was scheduled for October, but I didn't manage to make it happen, unfortunately. Work is still ongoing!