seiza-cli

The seiza command-line tool: star detection, hinted and blind plate solving, and star/object dataset management for astrophotography. The library lives in the seiza crate.

cargo install seiza-cli

Solving

# Hinted: approximate center (or FITS RA/DEC headers) plus pixel scale
seiza solve image.jpg --data stars.bin --ra 324.8 --dec 57.5 --scale 2.8
seiza solve light.fits --data stars.bin --scale 1.45

# Blind: no position, just a plausible scale range
seiza solve-blind image.jpg --data stars.bin --min-scale 0.5 --max-scale 15

# Annotate detections or list objects in a solved field
seiza detect image.jpg --annotate out.png
seiza solve image.jpg --data stars.bin ... --objects objects.bin

# Query objects when sky bounds are already known; no image or solve needed
seiza catalog objects --data objects.bin --ra 10.6848 --dec 41.2691 --radius 3
seiza catalog objects --data objects.bin \
  --corner 8.91,42.14 --corner 12.47,42.02 \
  --corner 12.31,40.35 --corner 9.02,40.46 \
  --sort prominence --format json

# Resolve exact IDs/names or complete names; no image, solve, or network needed
seiza catalog object --data objects.bin "M 31"
seiza catalog object --data objects.bin "openngc:NGC224"
seiza catalog object --data objects.bin "andro" --prefix --limit 10
seiza catalog star --data stars-lite-tycho2.ids.bin "TYC 5949-2777-1" --format json
seiza catalog star --data stars-lite-tycho2.ids.bin "HIP 32349"
seiza catalog star --data stars-lite-tycho2.ids.bin "RR Lyr"
seiza catalog star --data stars-lite-tycho2.ids.bin "STF 2382 AB"
seiza catalog star --data stars-lite-tycho2.ids.bin "RR L" --prefix --limit 10

catalog objects accepts a cone or a convex polygon whose vertices are in boundary order. It can filter by object kind, magnitude, angular size, and common-name availability; results can be emitted as a table, JSON, or CSV. JSON and CSV include primary and alternate stable IDs, primary and contributing source provenance, aliases, and parent IDs when the catalog provides them. The prominence score is a catalog-based prediction, not proof that the object is visible in the image pixels.

catalog object resolves primary/common names, aliases, and stable or alternate IDs. Both object viewport queries and name completion use indices embedded in the memory-mapped objects.bin; normal open does not decode every record or touch every index page.

Use with N.I.N.A.

seiza speaks ASTAP's CLI contract: set N.I.N.A.'s plate solver to ASTAP and point the ASTAP path at the seiza binary (a copy named astap.exe also works). Provide a star catalog via the SEIZA_STAR_DATA environment variable or a stars-*.bin next to the executable — seiza download-data prebuilt fetches one. Hinted and blind-slot solving both work; see the repository's docs/design/astap-mode.md.

Datasets

The quickest route is the prebuilt, SHA-256-verified sets hosted at downloads.seiza.fyi (Tycho-2 lite, Gaia DR3 G≤15, the unified object catalog, and a nightly-refreshed transient list):

seiza download-data prebuilt --output data
seiza download-data prebuilt --output data --file objects.bin --file transients.bin

The downloader combines /data/manifest.json for core datasets with /data/v3/manifest.json for the SEIZAOB3 object schema. Both manifests still write into the same local output directory. Until the v3 manifest is first published, a missing v3 manifest (HTTP 403 or 404, depending on the CDN origin) falls back to the legacy object entries in the base manifest.

Building from primary sources stays supported for custom depths, epochs, or tile granularity — note the Gaia TAP download alone can take many hours:

seiza download-data tycho2 --output raw/tycho2
seiza download-data star-identifiers --output raw/star-identifiers
seiza build-data tycho2 --input raw/tycho2 --output stars-lite.bin \
  --identifier-index stars-lite.ids.bin \
  --identifier-sources raw/star-identifiers

seiza download-data gaia --output raw/gaia        # Gaia DR3 via TAP, resumable
seiza build-data gaia --input raw/gaia --output stars-gaia.bin

seiza download-data objects --output raw/objects
seiza build-data objects --input raw/objects --output objects.bin \
  --source-manifest objects.sources.json
seiza download-data transients --output raw/transients
seiza build-data transients --input raw/transients --output transients.bin

The optional source manifest records the output hash and size, metadata coverage counts, source URLs, and hashes of every raw catalog file used. The optional identifier sidecar provides memory-mapped exact TYC/HIP/HR/HD/ SAO/FK5 lookup plus exact and prefix search over IAU proper names, Bayer/Flamsteed names, GCVS variables, and WDS double-star designations. It does not change the solver's compact star tile file.

Normal catalog opens do not perform exhaustive validation. Validate any seiza star tile, identifier sidecar, blind index, object catalog, or minor-body catalog explicitly when required; the file format is auto-detected:

seiza catalog validate --data stars-lite.ids.bin
seiza catalog validate --data stars-lite.bin
seiza catalog validate --data objects.bin

FITS files are read natively (see seiza-fits) with bounded-memory streaming into the final typed pixel buffer, automatic autostretch before detection, and RA/DEC hints taken from headers.

License

Apache-2.0