Install a SkyNode

A SkyNode is a small camera-plus-Pi that watches the whole sky and feeds your rigs cloud detection over your targets, the absolute clear/overcast verdict, and sky-quality readings. It is not a rig and does not touch your mount — it only looks up.

Installing one is the same five steps as installing a rig. The only thing that differs is the image list URL you give Imager.

If you already run an all-sky camera under other software, you may not need this image at all — ARIS can read the frames your existing setup already produces. See Set Up SkyNode for that path.

What you need

• A Raspberry Pi. A Pi 3A+ or Zero 2 W is enough and is what the image is tuned for; a Pi 4 or 5 also works. This is a small, always-on job — it does not need a fast machine.
• A camera, either a Raspberry Pi HQ camera on the ribbon connector or a ZWO ASI over USB. You do not choose which at install time — see camera detection below. If you are still deciding, see Choosing a Camera for SkyNode.
• An SD card. 16 GB is plenty.
• Power and weather protection. The node runs continuously outdoors under the sky, so it needs a permanent power feed and an enclosure or dome.
• Network: the node and your rigs on the same local network. Wi-Fi is normal for a node, since it usually lives outside.

Write the card

1. Install Raspberry Pi Imager on your Mac, Windows, or Linux machine, version 2.0 or newer, and open it.

2. Point Imager at the ARIS image list. Open Imager's settings and paste this into the OS-list (content repository) field:

   https://downloads.arisastro.com/imager/aris-skynode.json

   You only do this once per computer. Imager remembers it, and both ARIS images appear from then on.

3. Choose OS → ARIS SkyNode OS, then pick the version listed under it.

4. Choose Storage and select your SD card or SSD.

   Caution

   Imager erases the selected drive completely. Check you have the right one.

5. Click Next, then Edit Settings, and fill in:

   • Hostname — skynode becomes the node's address on your network, so it answers at skynode.local. Give each node its own name if you run more than one.
   • Username and password — yours. This is your login account, not anything ARIS runs as.
   • Wi-Fi — your network name and password, unless you are using Ethernet.
   • Services → Enable SSH with password authentication.

   Save, then confirm you want to apply the settings.

6. Write the image and wait for the verify to finish, then move the card to the device and power it on.

Note

First boot takes a few minutes and reboots itself at least once while it expands the filesystem and applies your settings. Leave it alone until it settles — a power cycle in the middle is the one thing that can leave a card half-configured.

Verify it works

From a phone or laptop on the same network, open:

http://<your-hostname>.local:8000

You should see a live frame from the camera. The node starts capturing on its own — there is nothing to start and no exposure to set.

The camera is detected for you

One image serves both cameras. The node looks at what is actually attached and configures itself on first boot, so there is no HQ version and no ZWO version to choose between.

This also survives changing your mind later. Swap an HQ camera for a ZWO — or the other way round — and the node notices on the next boot, corrects its own configuration, and restarts once to apply it. You do not reflash the card, and there is nothing to edit.

Note

A camera swap costs one extra reboot, and only the first boot after the swap. If a node reboots more than once, or keeps rebooting, that is not the camera change settling — see Troubleshooting.

Connect it to your rigs

Your rigs find the node by name on the network, fall back to its last-known address, and as a last resort sweep the local subnet — so it survives router reboots and DHCP changes with no static IP and no router configuration.

Pairing and calibration live in Settings → SkyNode in the app: pair the node with your rig, calibrate the sky view so the fisheye maps to true altitude and azimuth, and tune cloud detection for your site. Two things then build themselves over time — the sky mask learns your trees and rooflines from your own frames, and the clear-sky reference accumulates from your own clear nights.

One node serves every rig on the network, so a multi-rig yard shares a single sky view.