January 2023 update
Increased account security
As you may know, AstroBin is constantly at war with spammers, and I take this topic, and security in general, seriously.
Since 12 years, I strive to build and foster a community that is safe for all audiences, and this has always meant a zero-tolerance for spam, phishing, unethical/illegal content, and so on.
Every day, moderation queues are purged of spam attempts, and so far AstroBin has succeeded in shielding the community.
Lately, spammers learned a new trick, in this everlasting arms race, and started breaking into accounts with weak passwords in order to post spam.
To address this, I needed to enforce the security of your accounts.
From now on, new accounts will be required to have a strong password, and old accounts with weak passwords will be required to perform an additional email verification every time they login.
This not only keeps your personal account safe, but protects the community in case your account is compromised.
If your password does not meet AstroBin's new security requirements, I urge you to change it as soon as possible.
Even if your password is already secure, please consider setting up two-factor authentication. Two methods are supported: token generator (e.g. Google Authenticator), and email.
Better basic plate-solving success rate
AstroBin now submits full-resolution images to Astrometry.net, which increases the success rate in case your image was very large (in pixel count) and had very pinpoint stars.
Work is in progress to do the same for the advanced plate-solving powered by PixInsight.
New editor for acquisition sessions almost ready for testing
I have been working to a new form to edit the acquisition sessions associated to your images. As you know, the current one is quite clunky (it's the last surviving image data editing form still on the old tech stack) and is not integrated in the current image data editing form.
I believe I have completed the initial core features that can do everything the current form can, but in an easier to use way.
I will release this for early feedback to the members of the AstroBin Beta Testers group soon.
Please join the group if you would like early access to new features and help with feedback!