Is Siril Broken? - Forums

I'm having a lot of trouble with Siril. I thought this software was supposed to be good for processing astrophotography images, but I'm having issues. I successfully stacked 400 frames of the Skull Nebula that I captured with Seastar, but when I tried to open the resulting FITS file, Siril gave me an error. What is going on? Is Siril broken? Additionally, when I attempt to perform colour calibration on an image, it claims that the server might be down. This is incredibly frustrating, and it feels like the software isn't functioning properly right now. I'm really fed up with this situation!

I'm guessing it's file corruption

Siril is in excellent shape. Consider downloading the Sirilic Python-based script here: https://gitlab.com/free-astro/sirilic/-/releases.
You will want to create the folders with all the subs within Sirilic and preprocess your image first using sirilic. Then, go to Siril and see if you get a fully functional file to work with.

Siril is fine, I use it every day. It's a corrupted file or something you're doing.

Tony Gondola:
Siril is fine, I use it every day. It's a corrupted file or something you're doing.

Weird, I did that image a month ago.How could it be corrupted? Maybe Siril couldn't recognize the file as a fit file?

If you provide a link to your file, I could try to open it using various software that I have installed. I've been using Siril for over 5 years and never seen a problem like that.

Look at the Console tab when you open the image, this displays Siril's log. it might give you more information about the problem.

If you provide a link to your file, I could try to open it using various software that I have installed. I've been using Siril for over 5 years and never seen a problem like that.

Look at the Console tab when you open the image, this displays Siril's log. It might give you more information about the problem.

This is what it says idk what it means.
Could that be the corruption it saying?
I can't really show the file, though.

Guillermo (Guy) Yanez:
Siril is in excellent shape. Consider downloading the Sirilic Python-based script here: https://gitlab.com/free-astro/sirilic/-/releases.
You will want to create the folders with all the subs within Sirilic and preprocess your image first using Sirilic. Then, go to Siril and see if you get a fully functional file to work with.

Nope still not working even with Syrillic. The script is buildable, but Still can't open it. Do I need to redo the whole image again? Please dont tell.

Szijártó Áron:
This is what it says idk what it means.
Could that be the corruption it saying?
I can't really show the file, though.

I've done a bit of research and found the same error has happened with Pixinsight, so this is not just a Siril problem.

If you don't want to share your file, here's couple of things you could try yourself:

Rename your file to something simple, like test.fit or test.fits and try to open it,

If you don't already have it, use another program, e.g ASTAP https://www.hnsky.org/astap.htm to try to open it and save it as a different file. You only need to download the program installer to do this, the databases are not needed.

Hope this helps,

CS, Tony.

Szijártó Áron:
This is what it says idk what it means.
Could that be the corruption it saying?
I can't really show the file, though.

I've done a bit of research and found the same error has happened with Pixinsight, so this is not just a Siril problem.

If you don't want to share your file, here's couple of things you could try yourself:

Rename your file to something simple, like test.fit or test.fits and try to open it,

If you don't already have it, use another program, e.g ASTAP https://www.hnsky.org/astap.htm to try to open it and save it as a different file. You only need to download the program installer to do this, the databases are not needed.

Hope this helps,

CS, Tony.

Okay, so will the software still recognize it as the final
image? Btw did u understand what the Console saying at the end of the script? Cause I don't get what that means.

That is unreadable in your screen shot.

Tony Gondola:
That is unreadable in your screen shot.

But could it, be the corruption it is talking about? It says something about an extension and failed to open or read the following file. Or at least what it says at the end.

https://discuss.pixls.us/t/script-seestarpreprocessing-execution-error/46829

This person seemed to have a similar problem, and it was due to a certain wide char (the á) in the file path that was causing the issue. You have this same character in your folder name (Áron). Try renaming the folder to something without that character and see if it works. That was the solution for her!

David Foust:
https://discuss.pixls.us/t/script-seestarpreprocessing-execution-error/46829

This person seemed to have a similar problem, and it was due to a certain wide char (the á) in the file path that was causing the issue. You have this same character in your folder name (Áron). Try renaming the folder to something without that character and see if it works. That was the solution for her!

So wait, you can't have a working directory with a folder that has your name? Do u need to create a folder somewhere else? What if there is no certain driver where u can do it because my pc has only one driver, and I can't find a place where I can create the working directory?

Szijártó Áron:
Guillermo (Guy) Yanez:
Siril is in excellent shape. Consider downloading the Sirilic Python-based script here: https://gitlab.com/free-astro/sirilic/-/releases.
You will want to create the folders with all the subs within Sirilic and preprocess your image first using Sirilic. Then, go to Siril and see if you get a fully functional file to work with.

Nope still not working even with Syrillic. The script is buildable, but Still can't open it. Do I need to redo the whole image again? Please dont tell.

Actually yes. But the good thing is that as long as you provide the route to all your frames in sirilic, you simply have to go to the Actions menu and click on step 1, once done, move on to step 2. As simple as that. Once step 2 is done, you are expected to have a fits file you can use in graxpert and Siril.

Szijártó Áron:
David Foust:
https://discuss.pixls.us/t/script-seestarpreprocessing-execution-error/46829

This person seemed to have a similar problem, and it was due to a certain wide char (the á) in the file path that was causing the issue. You have this same character in your folder name (Áron). Try renaming the folder to something without that character and see if it works. That was the solution for her!

So wait, you can't have a working directory with a folder that has your name? Do u need to create a folder somewhere else? What if there is no certain driver where u can do it because my pc has only one driver, and I can't find a place where I can create the working directory?

🤷 I guess if your name has a wide char in it, maybe not! Given that this other person had the exact same issue that you did, I don't think you need to re-stack or anything... Just try renaming the folder or creating a new folder and let us know how it goes. Hopefully that fixes it for you. If it does fix it, perhaps this is a bug that needs reported to the Siril team and they can fix it.

David Foust:
I guess if your name has a wide char in it, maybe not! Given that this other person had the exact same issue that you did, I don't think you need to re-stack or anything... Just Try renaming the folder or creating a new folder and let us know how it goes. Hopefully that fixes it for you. If it does fix it, perhaps this is a big that needs reported to the Siril team and they can fix it.

This is what I searched for: "fits error extension doesn't start with simple or extension keyword site:pixinsight.com" and found several reports of same problem as the OP but using Pixinsight.

The SIMPLE or EXTENSION headers may be missing from the file, so it is possibly corrupted, or not a valid FITS file. I was hoping ASTAP or something like Crafty File Viewer would open the file, so we could see the headers or alternatively upload the file to NASA's FITS tester at: https://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_verify.html

David Foust:
Szijártó Áron:
David Foust:
https://discuss.pixls.us/t/script-seestarpreprocessing-execution-error/46829

This person seemed to have a similar problem, and it was due to a certain wide char (the á) in the file path that was causing the issue. You have this same character in your folder name (Áron). Try renaming the folder to something without that character and see if it works. That was the solution for her!

So wait, you can't have a working directory with a folder that has your name? Do u need to create a folder somewhere else? What if there is no certain driver where u can do it because my pc has only one driver, and I can't find a place where I can create the working directory?

🤷 I guess if your name has a wide char in it, maybe not! Given that this other person had the exact same issue that you did, I don't think you need to re-stack or anything... Just try renaming the folder or creating a new folder and let us know how it goes. Hopefully that fixes it for you. If it does fix it, perhaps this is a bug that needs reported to the Siril team and they can fix it.

Okay, so what u mean is renaming the folder or file with the catalogue names like NGC or ic, etc., instead of giving the folder the actual name of the object.
Previously, when I processed my latest images in Siril, it worked under those folder names, but I had them in a different driver, though.

David Foust:
I guess if your name has a wide char in it, maybe not! Given that this other person had the exact same issue that you did, I don't think you need to re-stack or anything... Just Try renaming the folder or creating a new folder and let us know how it goes. Hopefully that fixes it for you. If it does fix it, perhaps this is a big that needs reported to the Siril team and they can fix it.

This is what I searched for: "fits error extension doesn't start with simple or extension keyword site:pixinsight.com" and found several reports of same problem as the OP but using Pixinsight.

The SIMPLE or EXTENSION headers may be missing from the file, so it is possibly corrupted, or not a valid FITS file. I was hoping ASTAP or something like Crafty File Viewer would open the file, so we could see the headers or alternatively upload the file to NASA's FITS tester at: https://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_verify.html

It can read the file, but I don't see anything unusual in the header.
It does say simply confirm to fit the standard.
Extend fits dataset may contain extensions. Is that should be the problem?

Szijártó Áron:
David Foust:
Szijártó Áron:
David Foust:
https://discuss.pixls.us/t/script-seestarpreprocessing-execution-error/46829

This person seemed to have a similar problem, and it was due to a certain wide char (the á) in the file path that was causing the issue. You have this same character in your folder name (Áron). Try renaming the folder to something without that character and see if it works. That was the solution for her!

So wait, you can't have a working directory with a folder that has your name? Do u need to create a folder somewhere else? What if there is no certain driver where u can do it because my pc has only one driver, and I can't find a place where I can create the working directory?

🤷 I guess if your name has a wide char in it, maybe not! Given that this other person had the exact same issue that you did, I don't think you need to re-stack or anything... Just try renaming the folder or creating a new folder and let us know how it goes. Hopefully that fixes it for you. If it does fix it, perhaps this is a bug that needs reported to the Siril team and they can fix it.

Okay, so what u mean is renaming the folder or file with the catalogue names like NGC or ic, etc., instead of giving the folder the actual name of the object.
Previously, when I processed my latest images in Siril, it worked under those folder names, but I had them in a different driver, though.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous.
I even tried to do a folder in a different place. The error is still pops up. How the hell am I supposed to process my images? Siril is cooked.
You can't can't do anything without a proper working directory place.
Why didn't they make it into the update to avoid failed stacking or anything like that?

Ok so can you confirm that you tried renaming the main file folder from "Áron" to something else? And that didn't work?

Just wanted to check because this was the exact issue that the user had in the link I sent. For some reason Siril didn't like the file path name with the "á" character in it:

The developer of Siril responded to her post and told her to remove the "wide char" in the file path... In her case, it was the word "Imágenes"... she changed the name of the offending folder and had no issues after that. You have this exact same file path name issue:

So I just want to make sure you've tried adjusting this before we move on to other solutions.

David Foust:
Ok so can you confirm that you tried renaming the main file folder from "Áron" to something else? And that didn't work?

Just wanted to check because this was the exact issue that the user had in the link I sent. For some reason Siril didn't like the file path name with the "á" character in it:

The developer of Siril responded to her post and told her to remove the "wide char" in the file path... In her case, it was the word "Imágenes"... she changed the name of the offending folder and had no issues after that. You have this exact same file path name issue:

So I just want to make sure you've tried adjusting this before we move on to other solutions.

I've come to a clear realization: it's essential to create a separate new folder within one of the drives in the user's folder. Siril cannot recognize the stacked file if the files are stored in a folder that includes your name. Therefore, I created a new folder inside the user’s folder and named it 'user.' This allowed Siril to successfully load the FIT file and display the thumbnail. However, I need to be mindful of the drive's capacity since FIT files tend to be large and can consume significant space. However, I still think that they should fix this issue with Siril cause it's unbelievably dumb if you can't store the files in a folder that has your name. Or at least for me, that sounds silly.

Glad you got it working!

David Foust:
Glad you got it working!

Yeah, but it sucks if u cannot work on the folder where u want. Also now I found another issue. It’s still linked to the folder when I try to run a script in Siril within that selected folder. Siril responds, "No, I can't do that here," and the script fails to execute. If I want to work on the stacked image, I have to go back to the desired folder again. This issue wasn't present before when I had 2 drivers, and right now, it's very embarrassing to have to go back and forth.