An astrometric solver determines the precise celestial coordinates (RA and Decl) of objects in an astronomical image. It analyzes the positions of all objects in your FITS image and compares them with known positions from catalogs. By identifying and matching objects in your image with those in catalogs, the solver calculates ('solves') the accurate coordinates of the objects in the image. It is sometimes also called a WCS (World Coordinate System) solver.


Phoranso comes with an integrated solver, called the WCSAutoSolver, which is part of the JPFITS package written by Joseph Postma, University of Calgary. Special thanks to Joseph for his kind support with the integration of WCSAutoSolver in Phoranso.


Phoranso furthermore supports ASTAP (Astrometric Stacking Program) solver which is a free stacking and astrometric solver developed by Han K. 


Finally, Phoranso supports the PinPoint solver, both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The PinPoint Astrometric Engine is a commercial product of DC-3 Dreams.