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Software downloads

Everything that runs at an observatory is installed from the Software tab of the telescope it serves: Organization → Telescopes → your telescope → Software in the Skynet web app.

The tab is visible to members of the owning organization who can view its hardware (the telescope.view_all or telescope.manage_all permission), which is exactly the group that needs it. The installers are deliberately not linked from anywhere public. Please don't repost the links; point colleagues at the tab instead.

Each card shows the current version, when it was published, release notes, and a download for Windows (64-bit). The page reads the same release manifest the apps' own updaters use, so what it offers is always what Check for updates would install. Underneath, the tab lists the SkyNode installations paired with the telescope and the version each last reported, so you can see at a glance which machine is behind.

SkyNode

The telescope control agent: bridges your mount, cameras, enclosure and weather sensors to the Skynet hub, runs the tasks the scheduler assigns, and reports telemetry and images back.

  • Install on the telescope control computer that can reach your hardware drivers (ASCOM on Windows).
  • Updates from inside the app: Settings → General → About → Check for updates, then a second confirmation. Nothing installs on its own.
  • Guide: Installing SkyNode.

SkyCanary

A synthetic weather station. It derives rain, cloud and lightning proximity for your site from public radar and satellite feeds (RainViewer, Open-Meteo, NOAA GOES), so a SkyNode weather-sensor driver can close the enclosure while the rain is still kilometres away — before a physical rain sensor gets wet.

  • Install on any always-on machine at the site (the SkyNode host is fine). It runs in the system tray and serves readings on a local port.
  • Wire it up by adding a weather-sensor device to the observatory that points at the SkyCanary URL; see Weather Sensor and the enclosure's operational constraints.
  • Updates from the system tray menu: Check for updates.

SkyDesk

The remote-support client. When you ask Skynet staff for help with the control computer, SkyDesk is how they see and drive it. It is a build of the open-source RustDesk client pinned to Skynet's own relay server; it never uses RustDesk's public relays.

  • Install on the telescope control computer, alongside SkyNode. Do it before you need it — a machine you can't reach is the one you'll want help with.
  • Access requires the ID and password shown in the SkyDesk window on that machine. Staff can't connect without them, and you can end a session at any time from the tray icon.
  • Coexists with a stock RustDesk install; it uses its own service, settings folder and program directory.
  • Windows SmartScreen will warn on first run because the installer is not code-signed: choose More info → Run anyway. The Software tab shows the installer's SHA-256 so you can verify what you downloaded.
  • Updates: there is no updater. Download the new installer from the Software tab and run it over the old one.

If a card says "unavailable"

The Software tab fetches release information live from Skynet's data host. If a card reports it is unavailable, the download host is unreachable from the web server at that moment; reload in a minute. A card that says no release has been published yet is accurate — that product simply hasn't shipped a build.