Index: trunk/psastro/src/psastroChooseRefstars.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/psastro/src/psastroChooseRefstars.c	(revision 10716)
+++ trunk/psastro/src/psastroChooseRefstars.c	(revision 10785)
@@ -80,5 +80,10 @@
                 psFree (refstars);
 
-                psastroRefstarSubset (readout);
+		// XXX this error means the readout fails, but should probably not kill the entire program
+		// in this case, no PSASTRO.REFSTARS is added to readout->analysis
+                if (!psastroRefstarSubset (readout)) {
+		    psError(PSASTRO_ERR_DATA, false, "Can't determine an appropriate refstar subset\n");
+		    return false;
+		}
             }
         }