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ASTAP Failure when using INDI, HNSKY and CCDCiel

General discussions ASTAP
Steve Cohen
2022-06-02
2022-06-04

  • Steve Cohen

    Steve Cohen - 2022-06-02

    I am using ASTAP in the following environment:
    Raspberry Pi 4 running Astroberry and CCDCiel with INDI drivers and HNSKY for planetarium.
    I am just messing around trying to learn the software as a newbie. Accordingly, my INDI devices are the CCD Simulator and the Telescope Simulator.

    Here are the versions in case someone might spot some incompatibility somewhere:

    $ apt list astroberry-server-full ccdciel hnsky h17 astap indi-bin
Listing... Done
astap/now 0.9.300 armhf [installed,local]
astroberry-server-full/unknown,now 2.0.3-3 all [installed]
ccdciel/now 0.9.79-2663 armhf [installed,local]
h17/now 3.0 all [installed,local]
hnsky/now 4.1.6b armhf [installed,local]
indi-bin/unknown,now 1.9.5 armhf [installed,automatic]

    In CCDCiel, I connect my devices and HNSKY. I then click (under Planetarium, New Target. It asks me to click my target in HNSKY. I do so, let's say Vega, but any star will fail. Coming back to CCDCiel I note that it shows me the coordinates of Vega. I click OK, and the system begins to slew the telescope to point at Vega. It successfully does so, and then I'll let the logging explain what happens:

    2022-06-02T10:29:01.984 1: Move to new planetarium object 81558
2022-06-02T10:29:09.727 3: Telescope Simulator: Slewing to Local 18h37m43s/+38d48m05s
2022-06-02T10:29:23.931 3: Telescope Simulator: Slew is complete
2022-06-02T10:29:29.013 3: Take control exposure for 10.0 seconds
2022-06-02T10:29:29.620 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 10.0
2022-06-02T10:29:30.154 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 9.1
2022-06-02T10:29:31.211 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 8.1
2022-06-02T10:29:32.176 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 7.1
2022-06-02T10:29:33.213 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 6.1
2022-06-02T10:29:34.138 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 5.1
2022-06-02T10:29:35.157 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 4.1
2022-06-02T10:29:36.176 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 3.1
2022-06-02T10:29:37.146 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 2.1
2022-06-02T10:29:38.154 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 1.1
2022-06-02T10:29:39.161 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 0.1
2022-06-02T10:29:39.264 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 0.0
2022-06-02T10:29:39.366 3: CCD Simulator: progress: 0.0
2022-06-02T10:29:40.007 3: CCD Simulator: receive blob
2022-06-02T10:29:40.007 3: CCD Simulator: receive blob
2022-06-02T10:29:40.007 3: CCD Simulator: this is a fits file
2022-06-02T10:29:40.007 3: CCD Simulator: copy stream
2022-06-02T10:29:40.040 3: CCD Simulator: NewImage
2022-06-02T10:29:41.141 3: Resolve control exposure
2022-06-02T10:29:41.222 3: Resolving using ASTAP ...
2022-06-02T10:30:41.332 1: ASTAP resolve error. Timeout!
2022-06-02T10:30:41.362 2: Saved file /home/astroberry/.config/ccdciel/Log/astrometry_fail_20220602_103041.fits
2022-06-02T10:30:41.370 0: Fail to resolve control exposure

    I've tried loading the .fits file into ASTAP and trying to resolve it. It fails there as well.
    I've installed the h17 star database as indicated on the ASTAP page.

    I can't find any way to make ASTAP's internal logging visible to diagnose the problem further. Is there a way?
    I'll attach my astap config file. Perhaps someone find a problem there:

     
    Thumbnail
    Screenshot from 2022-06-02 11-02-02.png
    Thumbnail
    Screenshot from 2022-06-02 11-04-41.png
    astap.cfg

  • Steve Cohen

    Steve Cohen - 2022-06-02

    I think I've found the source of the problem with the help of Patrick Chevalley. The INDI CCD simulator is based on data that isn't good around bright stars. Aiming away from them, it seems to work.

     

  • han.k

    han.k - 2022-06-03

    You can activate some logging in ASTAP but easiest way to diagnose is to load the image in ASTAP. There you test solving, test star detection and see if hotpixels are detected. So more visual then a text log.

    ASTAP 0.9.300 is pretty old from year 2019. Try the newest version. This version will work better.

    Han

     

    • Steve Cohen

      Steve Cohen - 2022-06-03

      Well, the new version won't install. I downloaded this link for my 64-bit Raspberry Pi.
      I try to install it using the Pi's "package installer". It gives the following message:
      "One of the selected packages failed to install correctly. More information is available in the detailed report." I have no idea what is meant by "detailed report". A quick scan of the directory tree produces no likely suspects. I have tried installing with both the "pi" and "astroberry" usernames, with the same results.
      Is there another recommended method of installation?

       

      • Steve Cohen

        Steve Cohen - 2022-06-03

        Also, sudo apt install ./astap_arm64.deb
        fails with Error Code 1.
        Looking more closely at the output, I see this:

        dpkg: error processing archive /home/astroberry/Downloads/astap_arm64.deb (--unpack):
 package architecture (arm64) does not match system (armhf)

        This is interesting because when I query the system architecture I don't get armhf or arm64, I get:

        $ uname -m
armv7l

        whatever armv7l is. This may explain why a recent version of astroberry includes an old version of astap.

         

        Last edit: Steve Cohen 2022-06-03

        • Steve Cohen

          Steve Cohen - 2022-06-03

          More and more interesting!

          Today I learned that my Raspberry Pi 4, although listed (on the box) as having a "64-bit quad-core Cortex-A72 processor", is shipped with an OS built on the arm7vl architecture which is 32-bit.

          Apparently, armhf is compatible with armv7l so the 32-bit Raspberry Pi version was the one to install. The previously installed version was also armhf.

          This works.

          Thank you.

           

  • han.k

    han.k - 2022-06-04

    Hello Steve,

    Good it is solved. There is also a newer database, the H version instead of G. The difference is that it works faster due to smaller segments. No need to upgrade if your happy with the speed.

    Can you send a note to the author of Astroberry that it is time to upgrade. The newer ASTAP version will work better.

    Regards, Han

     

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