Astrometry.net under the new Win10 subsystem for Linux

[Han K]

With the new Win10 Creators edition, it possible to install a Windows subsystem for Linux:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10

I have installed the Ubuntu version and Astrometry.net 0.67 and can run it from Windows 10 as follows:

C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe -c "solve-field /mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image.fit --overwrite --downsample 4"

The c: disk is indicated as /mnt/c

Program solve-field is executed and downsampling  is also done, however it reports "failed to open index directory". They are proper defined in astrometry.cfg. If I enter the same command in the Bash Shell, also  failed to "open index directory". Within a Linux environment or under Cygwin it works without problems. Does anybody have a solution for "failed to open index directory"?? They are there and can be read with a text editor such as JED but astrometry.net can't find them.


C:\Users\H>C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe -c "solve-field /mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image.fit --overwrite --downsample 4"
Reading input file 1 of 1: "/mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image.fit"...
Header has 500 cards
Found an existing WCS header, will try to verify it.
Extracting sources...
Downsampling by 4...
simplexy: found 1290 sources.
Solving...
"arning: failed to open index directory: "/usr/share/astrometry
"arning: failed to open index directory: "/usr/share/astrometry/data2/data
"arning: failed to open index directory: "/mnt/c/temp/astrometry/data


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

See http://astrometry.net/use.html about how to get some index files.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

solve-field.c:518:run_engine engine failed.  Command that failed was:
  /usr/bin/astrometry-engine /mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image.axy
 ioutils.c:567:run_command_get_outputs Command failed: return value 255

[Dustin Lang]

You're sure that the files exist in the linux view of the world?  Can you do the equivalent of

ls -ld /usr/share/astrometry
ls -l /usr/share/astrometry
ls -l /usr/share/astrometry/data2/data

ls -ld /usr/share/astrometry/data2/data
ls -ld /mnt/c/temp/astrometry/data

ls -l/mnt/c/temp/astrometry/data

cheers,
--dustin

[Han K]

I tried.

dir  --> files are there
ls -l   --> files are there

I changed the attributes to 777
Tried sudo

If I do something like
    C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe -c "ls -l /usr/share/astrometry/data2/data"
All files are displayed.

[Dustin Lang]

Okay, could you please copy-and-paste the actual output?

I just pushed a change to the astrometry.net repository on github so that it will also print the error from the system call, so that you at least get a little more detail on what the error is.  If you are able to use the github master version, please try that.
https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net

Another thing you can try: it opens the directory if you use the "autoindex" command in the config file.  Another thing you can do is list the filename exactly -- so, rather than, eg,

add_path /Users/dstn/astrometry/data
autoindex

make it

add_path /Users/dstn/astrometry/data
index index-4217

thanks,
--dustin

[Han K]

Hello Dustin,

Thanks for this quick reply. Here the three answers. I will try to install the github version now.

Regards, Han

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
astrometry.cfg:

# In which directories should we search for indices?
add_path /usr/share/astrometry/data
add_path /mnt/c/temp/astrometry/data

# Load any indices found in the directories listed above.
autoindex

## Or... explicitly list the indices to load.

index /usr/share/astrometry/data/index-4219.fits
#index index-219
#index index-218
#index index-217

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C:\Users\H>C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe -c "ls -ld /usr/share/astrometry/data"
drwxr-xr-x 0 root root 512 Dec 14 18:38 /usr/share/astrometry/data
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C:\Users\H>C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe -c "ls -l /usr/share/astrometry/data"
total 641420
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   518344 Dec 14 18:38 ic2000_pos.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27354240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4206-00.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27354240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4206-01.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27354240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4206-02.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27354240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4206-03.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27354240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4206-04.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27354240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4206-05.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27354240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4206-06.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27354240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4206-07.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27354240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4206-08.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27354240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4206-09.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27354240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4206-10.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27354240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4206-11.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13786560 Dec 14 18:38 index-4207-00.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13786560 Dec 14 18:38 index-4207-01.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13786560 Dec 14 18:38 index-4207-02.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13786560 Dec 14 18:38 index-4207-03.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13786560 Dec 14 18:38 index-4207-04.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13786560 Dec 14 18:38 index-4207-05.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13786560 Dec 14 18:38 index-4207-06.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13786560 Dec 14 18:38 index-4207-07.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13786560 Dec 14 18:38 index-4207-08.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13786560 Dec 14 18:38 index-4207-09.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13786560 Dec 14 18:38 index-4207-10.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13786560 Dec 14 18:38 index-4207-11.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 81835200 Dec 14 18:38 index-4208.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 41178240 Dec 14 18:38 index-4209.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 20517120 Dec 14 18:38 index-4210.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  8017920 Dec 14 18:38 index-4211.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  4167360 Dec 14 18:38 index-4212.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  2157120 Dec 14 18:38 index-4213.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  1100160 Dec 14 18:38 index-4214.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   596160 Dec 14 18:38 index-4215.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   339840 Dec 14 18:38 index-4216.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   213120 Dec 14 18:38 index-4217.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   164160 Dec 14 18:38 index-4218.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   132480 Dec 14 18:38 index-4219.fits
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  1282922 Dec 14 18:38 ngc2000.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    10187 Dec 14 18:38 ngc2000names.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   767926 Dec 14 18:38 ngc2000_pos.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    16360 Dec 14 18:38 ngc2000-readme.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    25571 Dec 14 18:38 README.txt

[Han K]

Hello Dustin,

I looked to Github and see the c file you changed. I'm not sure if I can compile it in the Linux subsystem of  Win10. The current version is just installed from Ubuntu with sudo apt ..... I did compile v0.73 in Lubuntu a week ago but this is unfamiliar territory for me. I will first do it in my Lubuntu virtual machine.
 

[Dustin Lang]

Afraid I won't be much help... I haven't touched a windows machine since the XP era!

[Han K]

Well I copied your code in my astrometry.net v0.73 and managed to make and make install it.

First I removed v0.67 by
    sudo apt-get uninstall  astrometry.net

then in source directory astrometry.net-073
   sudo make
   sudo make install
copied the index files to the new default directory /usr/local/astrometry/data
checked astrometry.cfg in /usr/local/astrometry/etc

Get the following error:

C:\Users\H>C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe -c "/usr/local/astrometry/bin/solve-field /mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image.fit --overwrite --downsample 4"

Reading input file 1 of 1: "/mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_

image.fit"...
Usage: image2pnm [options]

image2pnm: error: no such option: --mydir
augment-xylist.c:589:backtick Failed to run command: /usr/local/astrometry/bin/image2pnm --infile /mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image.fit --uncompressed-outfile /tmp/tmp.uncompressed.znKtyS --outfile /tmp/tmp.ppm.75T3cE --ppm --mydir /usr/local/astrometry/bin/solve-field
 ioutils.c:567:run_command_get_outputs Command failed: return value 2


Maybe I had to do also:

make extra

I checked image2pnm -h, so below. This option --mydir is not existing.

h@han:~$ /usr/local/astrometry/bin/image2pnm -h
Usage: image2pnm [options]

Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i FILE, --infile=FILE
                        input image FILE
  -u FILE, --uncompressed-outfile=FILE
                        uncompressed temporary FILE
  -s FILE, --sanitized-fits-outfile=FILE
                        sanitized temporary fits FILE
  -o FILE, --outfile=FILE
                        output pnm image FILE
  -p, --ppm             convert the output to PPM
  -e EXTENSION, --extension=EXTENSION
                        FITS extension to read
  -2, --no-fits2fits    don't sanitize FITS files
  -S, --fix-sdss        fix SDSS idR files
  -v, --verbose         be chatty

[Dustin Lang]

image2pnm should be installed by 'make install'.  It looks like you have an old version of it, though....  the --mydir option definitely exists in 0.73
(https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/blob/0.73/util/image2pnm.py#L262)
One hint: image2pnm is a script that loads the python module astrometry.util.image2pnm, so if your PYTHONPATH points to an old version of the code, then that will be found...

cheers,
--dustin

[Han K]

You have to help me here. Linux is not my natural environment. I have a second small problem. I have to use sudo for solve-field:

h@han:~$ solve-field
-bash: /usr/bin/solve-field: Permission denied

Regards, Han

[Han K]

The path below is also wrong. I installed it at at the default:

 /usr/local/astrometry/bin

[Dustin Lang]

Maybe the uninstall of the ubuntu version didn't work.

[Han K]

I think so,  /usr/bin/solve-field is still there. Need a more powerful command :)

[Dustin Lang]

make install INSTALL_DIR=/usr

would install it in /usr rather than /usr/local...

[Ole Streicher]

sudo apt remove solve-field

Cheers

Ole

[Ole Streicher]

Hi,

I am the Debian (resp. Ubuntu) maintainer of astrometry.net.

Han K <ha...@hnsky.org> writes:
> With the new Win10 Creation edition, it possible to install a Windows

> subsystem for Linux:
>
> https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
>
> I have installed the Ubuntu version and Astrometry.net 0.67 and can
> run it from Windows 10 as follows:
>
> C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe -c "solve-field
> /mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image.fit --overwrite --downsample 4"

I tried it with my standard test image, and it worked.

Could you try

sudo apt install astrometry.net
sudo apt install astrometry-data-tycho2-10-19
wget https://sources.debian.org/data/main/a/astrometry.net/0.73+dfsg-1/debian/tests/hs-2009-25-n-web.jpg
solve-field hs-2009-25-n-web.jpg

to see that it works? At least, this does it for me :-)

If it does not, I would suspect something in the config file.

Cheers

Ole

[Ole Streicher]

sudo apt remove astrometry.net

[Han K]

Did that but now it won't execute. Will start from zero. Uninstall the linux subsystem That is easier and I can document a guideline for other users. I will drink a beer will installation is running. Will take some time.

Oops, new messages. will try......

[Han K]

Ole,

Tried both. Didn't work. Same --mydir problem.  Will start from from zero and install the modification from Dustin. Will take some time. Thanks all for the help up to now.

Han

[Han K]

Success. :)
Updated guideline below. Started clean. Executed the copy command for the index files in Linux. Maybe that made the difference. I tried so many things including using the Windows explorer.
What I don't understand why you can't start with "sudo apt install astrometry.net". It can't locate astrometry.net First I have to enter sudo apt update I don't understand.

Anyhow with steps below it works.

Thanks for the assistance, Han
:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Installation guideline (2017-12-16) local version of Astrometry.net v0.67 in a Linux sub system of Win10.

# With the Win10-Creators edition, it possible to install a Linux subsystem in Win10:
# https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
# Install the Ubuntu installer (OpenSuse and Sles are also available) as indicated in above webpage.

#   open the Ubuntu window or open a Windows cmd window and enter bash.

#   execute the following Linux commands (the update is required to allow astrometry.net to be installled):

sudo apt udate
sudo apt install astrometry.net

#   Download the index files up to 10% of your image scale, so up to 22 arcmin (-08-19, -07) or 16 arc min  ((-08-19, -07, -06)

sudo apt install astrometry.net astrometry-data-2mass-08-19

sudo apt install astrometry.net astrometry-data-2mass-07

sudo apt install astrometry.net astrometry-data-2mass-06

#   Check if the index files (index....fits) are available by entering the Linux command:
dir /usr/share/astrometry
#   test the solver using a fits file on the Windows system .e.g. image at c:\astap.fpc\_M95_test_image.fit
#   Open a Windows cmd window and enter:

C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe -c "solve-field /mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image.fit --overwrite --downsample 4"

or
bash -c "solve-field /mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image.fit --overwrite --downsample 4"

Additional information:

# Note that your Linux home folder is at something like: C:\Users\H\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc\LocalState\rootfs\home
# where "H" is the Windows user name.

# Case is important in the Linux command. Drive C: is lowercase /mnt/c

#  Alternatively you can also download the index files in windows and place them in the Windows system (c:\temp\ast\astrometry)
#  Copy the index files to Ubuntu subsystem (/usr/share/astrometry) by entering the Linux command:

sudo cp  /mnt/c/temp/ast/astrometry/*.* /usr/share/astrometry

#   The directory /usr/share/astrometry, is specified in /etc/astrometry.cfg but can be altered 

# To download the data files for markup of the produced png files do in the Linux subsystem:

cd /usr/share/astrometry
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/raw/master/catalogs/ngc2000names.dat/ngc2000names.dat
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/raw/master/catalogs/ngc2000names.dat/ngc2000_pos.txt
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/raw/master/catalogs/ngc2000names.dat/ngc2000.dat
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/raw/master/catalogs/ngc2000names.dat/ngc2000-readme.txt
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/raw/master/catalogs/ngc2000names.dat/ic2000_pos.txt

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Ole Streicher]

Hi Han,

Han K <ha...@hnsky.org> writes:

> Success. :)
> Guideline below. Started clean. Executed the copy command for the

> index files in Linux. Maybe that made the difference. I tried so many
> things including using the Windows explorer.

Yes, as far as I know, you shouldn't touch anything inside Linux from
the Windows side. The Linux subsystem maintains some hidden files about
the file system, which is not updated if you use the Windows explorer.

> What I don't understand why you can't start with "sudo apt install

> astometry.net". It can't locate astrometry.net

For me, it worked. What was the exact error message?

> First some other libraries needs to be installed. I don't understand.
> What also is strange, I have to use the cp -R option ??? Otherwise
> omitted directory error. Anyhow with steps below it works.

Small "r". And it is needed since you don't want to copy just files, but
also directories.

> # Download the index files and place them in the Windows system
> (c:\temp\ast\astrometry)
> # Copy to Ubuntu subsystem (/usr/share/astrometry) by (note the
> unusual path!!):

The path ist the standard Linux path for files that are not system
dependent.

> sudo cp -r /mnt/c/temp/ast/astrometry /usr/share
> # Check if the index files (index-4219.fits......) are available by
> entering in Linux

Note that there are two sets of index files packaged for Ubuntu/Debian:
Tycho2, and 2MASS. If you want the 2MASS files, you can just do a

sudo apt install astrometry-data-2mass

and it will download the files for you and install them in the correct
directory.

In principle, it should work just like this:

sudo apt install astrometry.net astrometry-data-2mass

and you should be ready to start solving. If not, please let me know so
that I can fix it.

Best regards

Ole

[Han K]

Hello Ole,

I started clean again (and getting routine in installing the Linux subsystem). The error message I get is as follows:

h@han:~$ sudo apt install astrometry.net

[sudo] password for h:

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree

Reading state information... Done

E: Unable to locate package astrometry.net

E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'astrometry.net'

E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'astrometry.net'

h@han:~$

 

I did some testing and it is fixed by one command I didn't mention this morning (thought it was not important). This fixes the problem:

h@han:~$ sudo apt update

Hit:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease

Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease [102 kB]

Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease [102 kB]

Get:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [102 kB]

Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/universe amd64 Packages [7,532 kB]

Get:6 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/universe Translation-en [4,354 kB]

Get:7 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/multiverse amd64 Packages [144 kB]

Get:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/multiverse Translation-en [106 kB]

Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 Packages [681 kB]

Get:10 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main Translation-en [285 kB]

Get:11 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/restricted amd64 Packages [8,072 B]

Get:12 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/restricted Translation-en [2,672 B]

Get:13 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/universe amd64 Packages [565 kB]

Get:14 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/universe Translation-en [229 kB]

Get:15 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/multiverse amd64 Packages [16.2 kB]

Get:16 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/multiverse Translation-en [8,052 B]

Get:17 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/main amd64 Packages [4,860 B]

Get:18 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/main Translation-en [3,220 B]

Get:19 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/universe amd64 Packages [6,616 B]

Get:20 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/universe Translation-en [3,768 B]

Get:21 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 Packages [408 kB]

Get:22 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main Translation-en [179 kB]

Get:23 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/restricted amd64 Packages [7,472 B]

Get:24 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/restricted Translation-en [2,412 B]

Get:25 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/universe amd64 Packages [190 kB]

Get:26 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/universe Translation-en [99.0 kB]

Get:27 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/multiverse amd64 Packages [3,208 B]

Get:28 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/multiverse Translation-en [1,408 B]

Fetched 15.1 MB in 14s (1,059 kB/s)

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree

Reading state information... Done

73 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.

 

 Then the sudo apt install astrometry.net works.

 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The correct copy command is :

sudo cp  /mnt/c/temp/ast/astrometry/*.* /usr/share/astrometry

Download 2-mass is 32 gbyte. Needs some selection:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

h@han:~$ sudo apt install astrometry.net astrometry-data-2mass

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree

Reading state information... Done

astrometry.net is already the newest version (0.67+dfsg-1).

The following additional packages will be installed:

  astrometry-data-2mass-00 astrometry-data-2mass-01 astrometry-data-2mass-02 astrometry-data-2mass-03

  astrometry-data-2mass-04 astrometry-data-2mass-05 astrometry-data-2mass-06 astrometry-data-2mass-07

  astrometry-data-2mass-08-19

The following NEW packages will be installed:

  astrometry-data-2mass astrometry-data-2mass-00 astrometry-data-2mass-01 astrometry-data-2mass-02

  astrometry-data-2mass-03 astrometry-data-2mass-04 astrometry-data-2mass-05 astrometry-data-2mass-06

  astrometry-data-2mass-07 astrometry-data-2mass-08-19

0 upgraded, 10 newly installed, 0 to remove and 71 not upgraded.

Need to get 32.0 kB of archives.

After this operation, 33.8 GB of additional disk space will be used.

Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

 

This is too much (33.2gb) . You need the index files down to about 10% of your image dimensions (http://astrometry.net/doc/readme.html). So typically

Range of the three files below:

2000-30 arcmin

30-22    arcmin

22-16    arcmin

sudo apt install astrometry.net astrometry-data-2mass-08-19

sudo apt install astrometry.net astrometry-data-2mass-07

sudo apt install astrometry.net astrometry-data-2mass-06

 

 I will update my previous message with this information.

 

 

[Han K]

Hello Ole, Dustin,

Last request, how can I download in the Linux environment the following files:

ngc2000names.dat
ngc2000_pos.txt
ngc2000.dat
ngc2000-readme.txt
ic2000_pos.txt

They are used to produce the markup png files.They are included/downloaded using the Astrotortilla and ANSVR tool for Astrometry.net v0.38.

Regards, Han

[Dustin Lang]

They are in the astrometry.net source code releases, or you can grab them from
https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/tree/master/catalogs

cheers,
--dustin

[Han K]

Thanks,

So I will do it like this:
cd /usr/share/astrometry
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/tree/master/catalogs/ngc2000names.dat
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/tree/master/catalogs/ngc2000_pos.txt
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/tree/master/catalogs/ngc2000.dat
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/tree/master/catalogs/ngc2000-readme.txt
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/tree/master/catalogs/ic2000_pos.txt

Regards, Han

[Dustin Lang]

I think you need to use the "Raw" button link; like
https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/raw/master/catalogs/ngc2000names.dat

otherwise it will download the HTML page.

--dstn

[Han K]

Thanks Dustin, That makes a big difference in the file size and preserves the binary contents. I have corrected the guideline above accordingly.

The only unimportant thing,. I don't understand is why the "sudo apt install astrometry.net" is only working after a "sudo apt update" command.

The Win10 Linux subsystem will make newer versions of  the local version of Astrometry.net available to Windows users. I think that is a plus since up to now, only an Astrometry.net v0.38 under Cygwin from 2010 was available. Will the user see an significant improvement in using the v0.67 version?

Han

[Han K]

In addition, I made a little interface program. It will accept a command line from any program executing the Cygwin bash.exe, convert it and execute the c:\windows\system32\bash.exe with the converted command line.

http://www.hnsky.org/linux_subsyst.htm

Compiled executable and FPC source code.

[Han K]

Today I have tried to make the annotation working but there are no annotation on the resulting  PNG file. I tried also to copy the required files from a CYGWIN version but no result. Under CYGWIN (Astrometry.net v0.38) the files are at:

/usr/share/astrometry/data

The messages are as follows:

Field rotation angle: up is 179.542 degrees E of N
Creating new FITS file "/mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image.new"...
Creating index object overlay plot...
Creating annotation plot...

But no deepsky objects are mentioned as in a working Astrometry.net under Cywin. The Astrometry.net version is 0.67 installed in December 2017.

Questions:

- What is the correct location of the IC and NGC2000 files?

- Any idea how to fix this? 

Han

[Dustin Lang]

If you run solve-field with the "-v" option, you will see the command-line it is using to run the plot-constellations program.  This might give you more details.

The NGC/IC catalogs are compiled in to the plot-constellations program -- you do not need any data files.

You can also try using the "plotann.py" python

[han]

Thanks for the quick reply. See remarks below. 0 NGC/IC objects.

An other user is facing the same problem:

With 0.67 and 0.70 from Debian packages, under Linux Mint, I get annotation of stars but not NGC objects.  This is the case even after putting the five NGC files in place as described above (in /usr/share/astrometry).  Am I doing it wrong, or using defective files, or something?  See my earlier posting.

On 02/11/2018 16:24, Dustin Lang wrote:

If you run solve-field with the "-v" option, you will see the command-line it is using to run the plot-constellations program.  This might give you more details.

Creating annotation plot...
Running:
  /usr/bin/plot-constellations -v -w /mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image.wcs -i /tmp/tmp.ppm.VFs1QF -N -B -C -o /mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image-ngc.png
Trying to parse SIP/TAN header from /mnt/c/astap.fpc/_M95_test_image.wcs...
Got SIP header.
Checking 88 constellations.
done constellations.
Checking 5023 bright stars.
Checking 0 NGC/IC objects.
Deleting temp file /tmp/tmp.ppm.VFs1QF

The NGC/IC catalogs are compiled in to the plot-constellations program -- you do not need any data files.

I have installed the Astrometry.net version 0.67 from Ubuntu rep.

You can also try using the "plotann.py" python

How do I do that?

[Dustin Lang]

Ahhh, I bet this is a Debian packaging issue.

It says it is checking 0 NGC/IC objects.

The NGC/IC catalog we use has licensing that the Debian people do not like, so I bet they removed the NGC/IC catalog from their package.

If that is the case, you can always try building the Astrometry.net code from source, rather than using the Debian package.

cheers,

--dustin

[han]

Yes but the files are installed manually. Is this correct location?:

/usr/share/astrometry/data

I have either:

sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/raw/master/catalogs/ngc2000names.dat
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/raw/master/catalogs/ngc2000_pos.txt
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/raw/master/catalogs/ngc2000.dat
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/raw/master/catalogs/ngc2000-readme.txt
sudo wget https://github.com/dstndstn/astrometry.net/raw/master/catalogs/ic2000_pos.txt

or older versions from a Cygwin installation.

Kind regards, Han

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[Dustin Lang]

The plot-constellations program called from solve-field does *NOT* read external files to plot the NGC/IC objects.  The NGC/IC catalogs are compiled in.  You cannot fix this problem by putting files somewhere.

cheers,

--dustin

[han]

Clear, from which version was this changed? I have Astrometry.net v0.67

Regards, Han

[Dustin Lang]

It has always been this way, but only in the Debian package.