Tutorial or Instructions on how to install Astrometry.net for SGP

Sequence Generator Plate Solving
6

Peter,

You can do a minimal initial cygwin install. Installing everything would be way overkill. Chris’s package will overlay the cygwin folder with everything necessary for plate solving.

Andy

7

Andy,

OK. Do you remember how to select minimum install? I don’t recall this feature.

Also, maybe add a special section to SGP web site dedicated to ansvr and Astrometry.net describing how to install and setup. This way we don’t have to search for different threads of this forum.

Thanks,
Peter

8

Just accept defaults, do not add any packages.

That’s more of a question for Jared and Ken.

Andy

9

Ok. I think I did that and it was still a huge install. Wish me luck!!!

Thanks,
Peter

10

Andy, do you happen to know which version of Astrometry.net is in that package from Chris?

I was thinking of trying to update to the latest ver of Astrometry.net (no particular reason, just to figure out how to do it), but wasn’t sure of the best way to do that on top of an existing install.

11

I am now at home. I re-installed Cygwin64, then created “opt” sub-directory, installed ansvr, executed “tar” command line, updated Cygwin64 shortcut to use proper Target field, ran Cygwin64, opened SGP, checked Plate Solving Interface and finally see Astrometry.NET!!! I think it worked. The key part that was missing was the missing “opt” sub-directory and that was it!!! I thought creating “opt” sub-directory was the easiest approach so I didn’t have to install 0.11 and then upgrade to 0.13.

Thanks for all the help and possibly saving me $150 for buying Pinpoint 6.0.

Peter

12

I see the following statement from another thread:

Finally, restart the server if it is currently running:

go to http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/config8 and click “Terminate ansvr”
open your ansvr shortcut to start ansvr

Going to the link resulted “Unable to connect” and “Problem loading page” messages and I do not see “Terminate ansvr”. Has the http address been changed?

Thanks,
Peter

13

No, 127.0.0.1 is a local IP address. It always points to your machine. It seems like the server might not be running. I would run ansvr with the -d option initially so you can make sure it launches and you should see it running in the terminal.

Also there is no 8 at the end of the url (although that doesn’t seem to matter):
http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/config

If you use the -d option you should see this:

To stop ansvr from running you will need to use Ctrl+C (or you can terminate it from the config page)

Thanks,
Jared

14

Since you are doing a new install, the server is not running yet.

The “unable to connect” message is because the server is not running, so you can move on to the next step and start the server.

Andy

15

I offered to do a Teamviewer over on CN. Please send me a PM if you’re still having difficulty.

16

We use astrometry.net 0.38. That is the latest version that runs on cygwin – it’s the version provided by astrotortilla. Some work was done to get newer versions to run on cygwin. Apparently there has been some progress recently, but since 0.38 has been working so well for me I have had no motivation to pursue upgrading it.

So right now there is no easy way to try a newer version of astrometry.net running locally, unless you are willing to get dive in and try building the latest astrometry.net in cygwin and working with the astrometry.net developers to resolve any issues you find.

Andy

17

FINALLY!!! I got the following link to work:

http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/config

I once again uninstalled everything and did the following:

  1. Re-install Cygwin64 using default.settings
  2. Install this *.rar from
    Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life
  3. Open the *.rar with 7-zip
  4. Using 7-zip, carefully highlight all files and directories under:
    C:\Users\your username\Downloads\cygwin.rar\cygwin\cygwin\
  5. Drag the highlighted files and directories to C:\cygwin64. Over write all files already on your computer.
  6. Follow instructions from:
    Ansvr-0.13 - add JNow config option - Plate Solving - Main Sequence Software

After executing ansvr server, you should be able to connect to:

http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/config

If you cannot connect, then there’s something wrong.

What a nightmare but what do you expect from free software.

My next test is to try it out under the dark sky but it’s currently cloudy. Must be a “Finally got it to working” curse.

Peter

18

The local server displayed a bunch of blank boxes for me to fill out. Do I need to fill them out or leave them alone?

Peter

19

Peter, Glad to hear you got it working.

Don’t touch anything there. The default settings should be fine.

You do not need to wait for dark skies to try it out. Open one of your subs in SGP, right-click => Plate Solve => Blind Solve will invoke the local solver (assuming you followed the directions about setting up the blind solver in SGP, the first link in my response to your original post, specifically the part about Equipment Manager.)

Andy

20

That worked!!!

Thanks,
Peter

23

What happened to Chris’s post on installing cygwin & astrometry.net? Worked perfectly for me and I now need to follow it again for a new machine?

24

There is a new installer for ansvr. But I can’t find it on Andy’s site. And the post where he mentioned it is gone. Maybe he can repost it. Makes setup super simple now!

Jared

25

The instructions are at ansvr - Astrometry.net Local Plate solver for Windows
Andy

26

I see a category for “Elbrus Installer”. Why not create a new category dedicated to Astronomy.net? I always have a heck of a time looking for Astronomy.net related threads.

Thanks,
Peter

27

We are permitted to connect with Astrometry servers, but including
instructions beyond how to talk to them is a violation of the terms of
service (because we are now using that technology as a selling point).