01.Getting Started: Installation
Installation
Prerequisites
There are several python packages are required to run the AstroScheduller are listed below. All those packages are included in a standard Anaconda environment.
numpy
matplotlib
requests
The Astropy Package is not required by the AstroScheduller. However, it is highly recommended, since several AstroScheduller functions are compatible with Astropy objects (such as coordinates and time objects).
Using PyPI
The most recent stable version of AstroScheduller Package is available on PyPI. Using the following command to install the package and the required packages will automatically be installed:
pip install AstroScheduller
If you already have an older version of AstroScheduller installed, as AstroScheduller is currently in active update, we strongly recommend that you often update the package as follows
pip install --upgrade astroscheduller
The AstroScheduller GUI uses a package called Tkinter, which is required since AstroScheduller v1.0.0. **This package will not be able to install automatically by PyPI. **If you are using the Anaconda, the Tkinter Package might be included in the distribution. To check if Tkinter has been already installed, try the following:
Python 3.8.10 | packaged by conda-forge
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import tkinter
If Tkinter is not installed, an exception will be thrown. Then, the Tkinter installation would be as the following:
# For Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install python3-tk
# For MacOS:
## You should first install the Homebrew software, then install the Tkinter.
## Using the command as follows:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)" && brew install python-tk
The Tkinter installation methods that were mentioned above are the fastest way of doing that. Please see Tkinter website for more information.
Plan for the First Observation with AstroScheduller
Congratulations, you have now completed all the installation, and are ready to plan for yourself. First observation with AstroScheduller. There is a quick example that demonstrates how the package works:
import astroscheduller as ash # Import AstroScheduller
# Prepare for an example
ash.example("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xiawenke/AstroScheduller/Dev/tests/psr_list_debug.xml")
obsPlan = ash.scheduller() # Create a new scheduller object
obsPlan.objects.from_xml("./example.xml") # Load the objects from a XML file
obsPlan.get_schedule() # Generate the schedule
obsPlan.stats() # Calculate the statistics
obsPlan.plot().show() # Plot the schedule
obsPlan.schedule.to_table("./example.txt") # Export the schedule to a table
In this example, a pre-prepared XML format file is read and automatically planned. In the end, the planning results are presented in three different formats: some stats, a plot, and a table.
In addition to importing XML format files, AstroScheduller also supports some more flexible ways of importing objects to be observed – it’s much more powerful than this simple demonstration. To go further, please see other examples or later chapters.
Troubleshooting
If reports such as “The pre-build version of the AstroScheduller Module is not available “ and “OSError: /xxx/xxx.so: invalid ELF header “ appear, this means that there is no pre-built AstroScheduller Go Module available for your platform. Since the core part of the AstroScheduller package is developed in Go, even though the project provides several pre-built versions of the modules to support most platforms, there are still some platforms that are not provided with pre-built versions of the modules.
In this case, you will need to build and install the module yourself. You can use the installation script or follow the instruction about how to build the module manually for instructions. If you think this is an error, rather than the platform being incompatible with pre-built modules, feel free to create an issue on issues.