Deepsky annotation => "Deep sky database not found."

[Tom Oskar Ortleb]

Hello all,

I downloaded deep_sky_database_update.pkg from the ASTAP downloads page. No hint and no idea what format that is and how to unpack it under Linux (which usually extracts everything consisting of ones and zeros ... )

Then I tried to simply put it in the program's directory /opt/astap/ ... but again no success. Calling Tools > Deepsky Annotation from the main menu I only get the message Deep sky database not found. Download and unpack in program directory.

How can I get this running?

I also tried annotating with the provided Tools > Deepsky (HyperLeda) Annotation. This works somehow ... but disappointing: In the attached image of the SH2-230 region in the constellation of Auriga only one out of many objects gets an annotation, IC405, while there are at least a hand full of others.

Any hint / help to getting a nice deepsky annotation is appreciated.

Thank in advance,
Tom

[han.k]

The /opt/astap/deep_sky.csv database is standard included and installed by the program package astap_setup.deb. It is also included in the tar archive.

It is standard .csv file. You should have first a solved the image before this menu annotation deepsky is enabled.

The deep_sky_database_update.pkg is for the Mac computer only.

Clear skies, Han

[Tom Oskar Ortleb]

The /opt/astap/deep_sky.csv is in place. I aways install *.deb packages with gdebi or dpkg -i ... so nothing special here. I noted the annotation options in the Tools menu are grayed out which indicates that the image has to be solved at first ... for quite obvious reasons.

Now I tried to solve a couple of single FITs, preprocessed (Siril stacked) FITs, post processed or not yet post processed TIFs:

• Leo Triplet (M65, M66, NGC3628) - no solution!
• M41 in CMa - no solution!
• M81/M82 in UMa - no solution!
• Markarian Galaxy Chain in Vir - no solution!

Tools > Stars (database) annotation always works and is fast. as well as Variable star annotation.

All of these images only get a solution when I enter the RA/Dec manually ... which I look up in Stellarium. This is probably not the intention behind the "solving idea".

So, again I seem to miss something which may be obvious for others but is not for me.

All of these images are successfully solved on astrometry.net btw.

[han.k]

Hello Tom,

If your images are saved as FITS from the beginning, then they will contains the mount position in the header. That is not the case if they are raw files.

To get an initial position you can double click on RA input or use the popup menu of the RA input to give an object name as input. If the object name in is the file name it will give a suggestion based on the file name. This will quickly give and initial RA, DEC position.

You can also blind solve if you set the range to 180 degrees in tab alignment.

Han

[han.k]

Stretching is bad for solving. You better not feed ASTAP with stretched images because it will be difficult to separate bright from faint stars. ASTAP will solve an FITS image 200x300 seconds easily but could have problem with solving a stretched PNG.

[Tom Oskar Ortleb]

EDIT: Screen shot of successful DS annotation attached.

UPDATE: Good news - deep_sky.csv is now working! I checked the whole contents of /opt/astap/ and found that all catalog files (v16, v17, g17) had the access permission 0766 (aka -rwxrw-rw-) and hyperleda.csv had the same permissions.

deep_sky.csv instead was set to permission 0700(aka -rwx------) which allows only the sysadmin root to execute, read and write this file but nobody else! So I set its permission to 0644 (aka -rw-r--r--) and voilà! ... no it works.

Side note: For all Linux/Unix systems ASTAP catalog files, CSVs and TXTs and other pure data files should be delivered with access permission 0644 only, that is -rw-r--r--: Only the owner (root) can read and write the files but everybody else can only read (use!) them. None of the data files should be set for execution (x) for security reasons. Thus, my suggestion for best access permission settings is:

0755 (aka -rwxr-xr-x) - for the executable astap alone
0644 (aka -rw-r--r--) - for everthing else

HTH,
Tom

[Tom Oskar Ortleb]

This is how the file permissions should be set on Linux/Unix systems after installation for security reasons:

[root@orion]# id
uid=0(root) gid=0(root) Gruppen=0(root)
[root@orion]# ls -l
insgesamt 1675724
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    34635 Okt  5 14:01 'acknowledgement of databases.txt'
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  7274576 Nov 21 12:05  astap
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      766 Aug  1  2017  astap.ico
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      711 Dez 12  2017  copyright.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1101770 Okt 25 09:19  deep_sky.csv
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   598760 Sep  3  2019  g17_0101.290
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   799115 Sep  3  2019  g17_0201.290
 ...
 ...
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1057245 Sep  3  2019  g17_1704.290
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   353470 Sep  3  2019  g17_1801.290
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 85325688 Mai  3  2019  hyperleda.csv
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   448532 Sep  8  2019  v16_0101.290
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   614906 Sep  8  2019  v16_0201.290
 ...
 ...
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   805382 Sep  8  2019  v16_1704.290
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   277400 Sep  8  2019  v16_1801.290
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   821696 Sep  7  2019  v17_0101.290
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1088036 Sep  7  2019  v17_0201.290
 ...
 ...
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1445162 Sep  7  2019  v17_1704.290
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   478190 Sep  7  2019  v17_1801.290
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   104504 Jun  6  2019  variable_stars.csv
[root@orion]# 

Simply set file permissions to:

0755 (aka -rwxr-xr-x) - for the executable astap alone
0644 (aka -rw-r--r--) - for everthing else

... which is a matter of seconds. As user root (sysadmin) issue the following command to change the file permissions accordingly:

sudo chmod 0644 /opt/astap/*
sudo chmod 0755 /opt/astap/astap

done!

HTH,
Tom

[han.k]

Good, maybe I forget to set the permissions correctly after an update. I will check. Normally I have also an routine to set the permissions.

[Tom Oskar Ortleb]

Just in case the error message of a missing database file happens elsewhere, I suggest a more specific error massage. Instead of (simply said) "Database not found - please download and instlall" maybe sth. like "Database xyz found but inaccessible. Please check/set appropriate file permissions."

[han.k]

The permission of deep_sky.csv was wrong. I also added a Debian package postinst file to set the permissions correct if I forget it. I have set them 666 as I did in the past for HNSKY. It is no problem if anybody want to edit them. Executable at 755 and the copyright and acknowledgment.txt at 644.

This happens if you swap between Windows and Linux.

I'm also a little surprised that nobody else noticed it. The deep_sky.csv is from 25-10-2020. So feedback is important :)

Clear skies, Han