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Ekos on Mac OS X ?

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Replied by Paul Daly on topic Ekos on Mac OS X ?

Hi

I've just tried this latest DMG on my Macbook Air running Sierra:-

RPi as INDI server with EQMOD, Lodestar CCD and SPC900 - all connect and work fine, although I've not been able to test under the stars as it's cloudy here (again!).

I've still not been able to get Astrometry working - I have both Cloudmakers Astrometry and Astrometry 0.64 installed under Homebrew.
The Homebrew version uses same index file as managed by the Cloudmakers version.

Both versions can solve captured images however if I try to use the internal solver I get the following:

2017-01-20T20:30:04 Solver failed. Try again.
2017-01-20T20:30:04 This program is part of the Astrometry.net suite.
For details, visit astrometry.net.
Git URL github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net
Revision 0.69, date Thu_Dec_1_21:13:06_2016_-0500.

Usage: /Applications/kstars.app/Contents/MacOS/astrometry/bin/solve-field [options] [<image-file-1> <image-file-2> ...] [<xyls-file-1> <xyls-file-2> ...]

You can specify http:// or ftp:// URLs instead of filenames. The "wget" or "curl" program will be used to retrieve the URL.

Options include:
-h / --help: print this help message
-v / --verbose: be more chatty -- repeat for even more verboseness
-D / --dir <directory>: place all output files in the specified directory
-o / --out <base-filename>: name the output files with this base name
-b / --backend-config <filename>: use this config file for the
"astrometry-engine" program
--config <filename>: use this config file for the "astrometry-engine" program
--batch: run astrometry-engine once, rather than once per input file
-f / --files-on-stdin: read filenames to solve on stdin, one per line
-p / --no-plots: don't create any plots of the results
--plot-scale <scale>: scale the plots by this factor (eg, 0.25)
--plot-bg <filename (JPEG)>: set the background image to use for plots
-G / --use-wget: use wget instead of curl
-O / --overwrite: overwrite output files if they already exist
-K / --continue: don't overwrite output files if they already exist; continue
a previous run
-J / --skip-solved: skip input files for which the 'solved' output file
already exists; NOTE: this assumes single-field input files
--fits-image: assume the input files are FITS images
-N / --new-fits <filename>: output filename of the new FITS file containing
the WCS header; "none" to not create this file
-Z / --kmz <filename>: create KMZ file for Google Sky. (requires wcs2kml)
-i / --scamp <filename>: create image object catalog for SCAMP
-n / --scamp-config <filename>: create SCAMP config file snippet
-U / --index-xyls <filename>: output filename for xylist containing the image
coordinate of stars from the index
--just-augment: just write the augmented xylist files; don't run
astrometry-engine.
--axy <filename>: output filename for augment xy list (axy)
--temp-axy: write 'augmented xy list' (axy) file to a temp file
--timestamp: add timestamps to log messages
-7 / --no-delete-temp: don't delete temp files (for debugging)

-L / --scale-low <scale>: lower bound of image scale estimate
-H / --scale-high <scale>: upper bound of image scale estimate
-u / --scale-units <units>: in what units are the lower and upper bounds?
choices: "degwidth", "degw", "dw" : width of the image, in degrees (default)
"arcminwidth", "amw", "aw" : width of the image, in arcminutes
"arcsecperpix", "app": arcseconds per pixel
"focalmm": 35-mm (width-based) equivalent focal length
-8 / --parity <pos/neg>: only check for matches with positive/negative parity
(default: try both)
-c / --code-tolerance <distance>: matching distance for quads (default: 0.01)
-E / --pixel-error <pixels>: for verification, size of pixel positional error
(default: 1)
-q / --quad-size-min <fraction>: minimum size of quads to try, as a fraction
of the smaller image dimension, default: 0.1
-Q / --quad-size-max <fraction>: maximum size of quads to try, as a fraction
of the image hypotenuse, default 1.0
--odds-to-tune-up <odds>: odds ratio at which to try tuning up a match that
isn't good enough to solve (default: 1e6)
--odds-to-solve <odds>: odds ratio at which to consider a field solved
(default: 1e9)
--odds-to-reject <odds>: odds ratio at which to reject a hypothesis (default:
1e-100)
--odds-to-stop-looking <odds>: odds ratio at which to stop adding stars when
evaluating a hypothesis (default: HUGE_VAL)
--use-sextractor: use SExtractor rather than built-in image2xy to find sources
--sextractor-config <filename>: use the given SExtractor config file. Note
that CATALOG_NAME and CATALOG_TYPE values will be over-ridden by
command-line values. This option implies --use-sextractor.
--sextractor-path <filename>: use the given path to the SExtractor executable.
Default: just 'sex', assumed to be in your PATH. Note that you can
give command-line args here too (but put them in quotes), eg:
--sextractor-path 'sex -DETECT_TYPE CCD'. This option implies
--use-sextractor.
-3 / --ra <degrees or hh:mm:ss>: only search in indexes within 'radius' of the
field center given by 'ra' and 'dec'
-4 / --dec <degrees or [+-]dd:mm:ss>: only search in indexes within 'radius'
of the field center given by 'ra' and 'dec'
-5 / --radius <degrees>: only search in indexes within 'radius' of the field
center given by ('ra', 'dec')
-d / --depth <number or range>: number of field objects to look at, or range
of numbers; 1 is the brightest star, so "-d 10" or "-d 1-10" mean look
at the top ten brightest stars only.
--objs <int>: cut the source list to have this many items (after sorting, if
applicable).
-l / --cpulimit <seconds>: give up solving after the specified number of
seconds of CPU time
-r / --resort: sort the star brightnesses by background-subtracted flux; the
default is to sort using acompromise between background-subtracted and
non-background-subtracted flux
-6 / --extension <int>: FITS extension to read image from.
--invert: invert the image (for black-on-white images)
-z / --downsample <int>: downsample the image by factor <int> before running
source extraction
--no-background-subtraction: don't try to estimate a smoothly-varying sky
background during source extraction.
--sigma <float>: set the noise level in the image
--nsigma <float>: number of sigma for a source detection; default 8
-9 / --no-remove-lines: don't remove horizontal and vertical overdensities of
sources.
--uniformize <int>: select sources uniformly using roughly this many boxes
(0=disable; default 10)
--no-verify-uniformize: don't uniformize the field stars during verification
--no-verify-dedup: don't deduplicate the field stars during verification
-C / --cancel <filename>: filename whose creation signals the process to stop
-S / --solved <filename>: output file to mark that the solver succeeded
-I / --solved-in <filename>: input filename for solved file
-M / --match <filename>: output filename for match file
-R / --rdls <filename>: output filename for RDLS file
--sort-rdls <column>: sort the RDLS file by this column; default is ascending;
use "-column" to sort "column" in descending order instead.
--tag <column>: grab tag-along column from index into RDLS file
--tag-all: grab all tag-along columns from index into RDLS file
-j / --scamp-ref <filename>: output filename for SCAMP reference catalog
-B / --corr <filename>: output filename for correspondences
-W / --wcs <filename>: output filename for WCS file
-P / --pnm <filename>: save the PNM file as <filename>
-k / --keep-xylist <filename>: save the (unaugmented) xylist to <filename>
-A / --dont-augment: quit after writing the unaugmented xylist
-V / --verify <filename>: try to verify an existing WCS file
--verify-ext <extension>: HDU from which to read WCS to verify; set this
BEFORE --verify
-y / --no-verify: ignore existing WCS headers in FITS input images
-g / --guess-scale: try to guess the image scale from the FITS headers
--crpix-center: set the WCS reference point to the image center
--crpix-x <pix>: set the WCS reference point to the given position
--crpix-y <pix>: set the WCS reference point to the given position
-T / --no-tweak: don't fine-tune WCS by computing a SIP polynomial
-t / --tweak-order <int>: polynomial order of SIP WCS corrections
-m / --temp-dir <dir>: where to put temp files, default /tmp
The following options are valid for xylist inputs only:
-F / --fields <number or range>: the FITS extension(s) to solve, inclusive
-w / --width <pixels>: specify the field width
-e / --height <pixels>: specify the field height
-X / --x-column <column-name>: the FITS column containing the X coordinate of
the sources
-Y / --y-column <column-name>: the FITS column containing the Y coordinate of
the sources
-s / --sort-column <column-name>: the FITS column that should be used to sort
the sources
-a / --sort-ascending: sort in ascending order (smallest first); default is
descending order

Note that most output files can be disabled by setting the filename to "none".
(If you have a sick sense of humour and you really want to name your output
file "none", you can use "./none" instead.)
2017-01-20T20:30:04 /Applications/kstars.app/Contents/MacOS/astrometry/bin/solve-field --no-verify --no-plots --resort --no-fits2fits --downsample 2 -O -3 359 -4 180 -5 15 -W /var/folders/rg/hxd7_vhj42s4rq17w8qzqrw80000gn/T/solution.wcs /Users/Paul/Desktop/NGC385.fit
2017-01-20T20:30:04 Starting solver...
2017-01-20T20:30:04 Solver iteration #1
2017-01-20T20:30:04 Using solver options: --no-verify --no-plots --resort --no-fits2fits --downsample 2 -O -3 359 -4 180 -5 15
2017-01-20T20:30:04 FITS header: Cannot find FOCALLEN.
2017-01-20T20:30:04 FITS header: Cannot find OBJCTRA. Using current mount coordinates.

If I try and use the external solver I get the following:

2017-01-20T20:33:08 Solver failed. Try again.
2017-01-20T20:33:08 Warning: failed to open index directory: "'/Users/Paul/Library/Application Support/Astrometry'"


You must list at least one index in the config file (/usr/local/bin/../etc/astrometry.cfg)

See astrometry.net/use.html about how to get some index files.
2017-01-20T20:33:08 Solving...
2017-01-20T20:33:08 Reading sort column "FLUX"
Sorting sort column
mmapping input file
Copying table header.
Writing row 0
Done
2017-01-20T20:33:08 simplexy: found 143 sources.
2017-01-20T20:33:06 This looks like a multi-color image: processing the first image plane only. (NAXIS=3)
Downsampling by 2...
2017-01-20T20:33:06 Extracting sources...
2017-01-20T20:33:06 Reading input file 1 of 1: "/Users/Paul/Desktop/NGC385.fit"...
2017-01-20T20:33:06 /usr/local/bin/solve-field --no-verify --no-plots --resort --no-fits2fits --downsample 2 -O -3 359 -4 180 -5 15 -W /var/folders/rg/hxd7_vhj42s4rq17w8qzqrw80000gn/T/solution.wcs /Users/Paul/Desktop/NGC385.fit
2017-01-20T20:33:06 Starting solver...
2017-01-20T20:33:06 Solver iteration #1
2017-01-20T20:33:06 Using solver options: --no-verify --no-plots --resort --no-fits2fits --downsample 2 -O -3 359 -4 180 -5 15
2017-01-20T20:33:06 FITS header: Cannot find FOCALLEN.
2017-01-20T20:33:06 FITS header: Cannot find OBJCTRA. Using current mount coordinates.

Both these are using the "Load and Slew" option with a FIT file that I know both my external versions can solve.

Also changing the solve options does not seem to have any effect - if I clear them all they still get inserted into the solve-field command.

Otherwise a fantastic port - Thanks!!

Paul
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq
7 years 2 months ago #13971
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Replied by Jasem Mutlaq on topic Ekos on Mac OS X ?

You're using astrometry.net v0.69 so you need to remove "no-fits2fits" option as indicated by the warning message when you first start Ekos.
7 years 2 months ago #13984
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Replied by nMAC on topic Ekos on Mac OS X ?

That's exactly what I had to do with the DMG, the internal version uses 0.69.
If you want to use version 0.64 you can use that parameter but you have to add custom binary folders to the
kstars configuration.
Last edit: 7 years 2 months ago by nMAC.
7 years 2 months ago #13986
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Replied by Paul Daly on topic Ekos on Mac OS X ?

Hi

Thanks -removing the no-fits2fits option allows the solver to run, how do I remove this from the options permanently (it reappears each time).

I still cannot use the external solver (I have upgraded to 0.69 which runs OK outside of EKOS/Kstars) - does not appear to find the astrometry.cfg file as specified in the preferences pane.

Cheers

Paul
7 years 2 months ago #13994
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Replied by nMAC on topic Ekos on Mac OS X ?

Hi, mine was saved automatically after making a solve and exiting kstars. I only did that.
That's odd, I also configured the external astrometry and didn't have problems with the path.
Make sure both parameters are saved when you exit kstars.
Last edit: 7 years 2 months ago by nMAC.
7 years 2 months ago #13996
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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Ekos on Mac OS X ?

Yes, specifying the astrometry.cfg file in the astrometry section of kstars options does nothing other than tell kstars where it is so that it can inspect it and report any issues. astrometry.net will still look for the astrometry.cfg file where it wants to look by default. It took me some time to figure that one out, because I had astrometry.cfg files in several places and I had trouble figuring out which one was right.

Here are the places where it will be depending on your install:
If you are using the OS X internal one it is inside the app at /Contents/MacOS/astrometry/bin/astrometry.cfg.
If you installed it from home-brew it is at /usr/local/cellar/astrometry-net/0.69/etc/astrometry.cfg.
If astrometry.net is installed another location like /usr/local/bin, the config file is one folder up from it inside the /etc folder like this: /usr/local/etc/astrometry.cfg

I don't believe this property can be changed. Astrometry is programmed to look for it in several specific places, the same folder as the executable, one folder up from it inside the /etc folder (../etc), and I think /etc/astrometry.cfg.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Paul Daly
7 years 2 months ago #13998
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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Ekos on Mac OS X ?

Yes, the properties should be saved I think.
7 years 2 months ago #13999
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Replied by nMAC on topic Ekos on Mac OS X ?

Just to report I have just managed to make a full capture session on the Rosette Nebula (24x300s), using calibration, guiding, dithering, astrometry and autofocus. No problems at all. So to me it looks pretty much stable for daily use. I have not used the scheduler. It must be tested.
Some bugs remain, in the setings as reported but still, fully usable.
I had a quirk with dithering, it stalled while doing but stopped and restarted the sequence.

I want to give a BIG THANK YOU to all involved in creating MacOS version, for your hard work, it's a great achievement!
Last edit: 7 years 2 months ago by nMAC.
7 years 2 months ago #14000
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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Ekos on Mac OS X ?

Excellent! Actually in terms of use, I have been using it for my imaging sessions for about 2 months now. But that is on a system which was used for development. The issues have been with getting it working on a computer that did not build it, and that has been, suffice it to say, a bit of a challenge. . .

But I am very glad that it is working great for you!! Right now I am working on the startup wizard. Not quite ready to have folks test that yet, there have been a couple of issues. Should be ready in the next couple of days.
7 years 2 months ago #14001
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Replied by nMAC on topic Ekos on Mac OS X ?

Bring it on :-D, will test it too, once again thanks for your efforts!
The following user(s) said Thank You: Rob Lancaster
7 years 2 months ago #14002
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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Ekos on Mac OS X ?

Every now and then I have seen a dithering failure. I don't think it's a Mac issue though, it's a general one.
7 years 2 months ago #14003
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Replied by nMAC on topic Ekos on Mac OS X ?

Yes, I think the same, it has already happened on my x86_64 version.
7 years 2 months ago #14004
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