I’m a brand new SGP user, haven’t even done a session with it yet. I’m just reading the manual and getting ready to try it tonight. I see that blind plate solving is only available through astrometry.net with an internet connection, which is surprising to me.
I’ve been spoiled by using APT for about a year. I need SGP for its automation features, but APT has a really nice blind plate solver called All Sky Plate Solver found at All Sky Plate Solver . It is installed locally and doesn’t require an internet connection. I’ve used this with no input except my approximate focal length and sensor size with three different focal lengths from 1010 to 1620 mm and it never fails to plate solve, usually within 30 s. This is way easier than having to seed a solver with approximate coordinates.
If SGP really doesn’t have a non-internet blind plate solver solution, I would sure like to see something like this.