Naughtyblog268

Mac Astronomy and Astrophotography software I currently collect and edit all of my astrophotography images on a PC computer, but what about Mac users? The post-processing side of things is easy, Mac users can use Photoshop, Lightroom, PixInsight, or any other of the premium creative tools. Starry Night 8 - Professional Astronomy Telescope Control Software for Mac/PC. Subscribe below to be added to the Starry Night newsletter and notified of promotions. Improved DeepSky Database. Version 8 includes a 36,000 object, up-to-date, cross-referenced database built from various source catalogs. KStars is free, open source, cross-platform Astronomy Software. It provides an accurate graphical simulation of the night sky, from any location on Earth, at any date and time. The display includes up to 100 million stars, 13,000 deep-sky objects,all 8 planets, the Sun and Moon, and thousands of comets, asteroids, supernovae, and satellites. Starry Night - Desktop planetarium; Astronomical Software For Linux. KStars; INDI; EKOS; StellarMate; Prices on all commercial software are subject to change without notice. Note that you should be able to run any of the Windows programs listed above on your Mac with OS-X and software like Parallels or VMware Fusion.

In astronomy, there is a wide variety of software. In most cases, there are many different versions of software that do a particular thing. The most common reason for this is preference. While I use some of these software titles, I am in no way endorsing one brand over another. All of the software listed here are popular among the amateur astronomer population; in fact, it is common for one person to have several different programs that do about the same thing - the features of one might be missing in another, but that other may excel in something else (if that makes sense). For ease, I will break them down into category. Keep in mind this list is not at all complete. If there is a software that is worth mentioning, please send us the link.

The ASP has releaced a PDF file of astronomy related apps for the iPhone and Android. View or download the file.

Planetarium Software | Specialty Observing Programs | CCD Software | Robotic Software | Other Software

Software for OS X (Apple) | New! iPhone/iPod/iPad Apps | New! Palm PDA Apps

This type of software is used to map the night sky from any location on the Earth. It most cases, the software below can print our star charts for a night of viewing and will have extensive databases with at least the most popular night sky objects.

• The SkyX by Software Bisque is probably the most popular planetarium software available. I also use version 6 of this software. The benefit of using TheSky is their extensive database, ability to remotely control a computerized telescope, and work seamlessly with their other popular product, CCDSoft. Their website also has a Hot Fix section for up to date software updates (you will have to register).
• The power of TheSky has come to OS X in the form of the new version of TheSky X student edition. TheSky X is now available in the The SkyX Serious Astronomer Edition are available for both OS X and Windows. Windows 7 and 64bit OS's are supported. The previous version, The Sky 6 Professional is still a well respected program that does run on 64bit operating systems but is a Windows only program.
• TheSky Pocket Edition provides access to the virtual sky from your Palm or Pocket PC. For the diehard astronomer, you can download and extended version of the SAO catalog as well.
• A free, open-source software called Stellarium is probably a good place to start.
• Another free planetarium software is Celestia. It runs on Windows, Linux and Mac. This software not only shows you the sky from Earth, but also allows you to 'fly' to other locations and view the sky from there.
• Google Earth is no longer limited to great satellite images of Earth, they have created color images of the space as well. They include Hubble images in places where they belong, and a cool feature is that you can switch the view based on where you live.
• Microsoft Research has put together an educational program that is nothing short of a breakthrough. The World Wide Telescope allows the user access to just about every image taken from just about every space probe there is. Better still, the user can change the view from radio through to x-ray (visible included of course). It's Windows only, its free so download it now.
• Keeping with the freeware theme, the third free bit of software is an up-and-coming simple yet capable sky charting program called Asynx Planetarium.
• Starry Night is a software that uses OpenGL and Quick Time to show a photo realistic night sky. It also provides telescope control. Updates for this software are available at their website, but newer versions allow updates through an application installed with the program.
• An old style DOS type software by Project Pluto called Guide 8 is also a pretty capable Windows based software as well. While it does not have the pizzazz associated with the 'modern' planetariums, it does have what I consider one of the best presentations of nebula. Guide updates are also available on the website.
• A specialized planetarium software called AstroMB is also available. I have no experience with this software, but it boasts a pretty impressive set of features - available for viewing at their website.
• SkyMap is another software title I am not familiar with, but it does seem to have a faithful following.
• Redshift is a program that used to be Macintosh only, and doesn't seem to want to go away. I used it many years ago and found it capable although I have no idea how the newer versions are compared to what is currently available.
• Sky Tools by CapellaSoft is a bit different from other planetarium software as it has an integrated notepad to store observing notes during observation. While I have no personal experience with this software, this also seems to have a faithful following.
• SkyChart III by Southern Stars is a planetarium software that is for both Windows and Macintosh.
• Voyager 4 by Carina Software - a Windows and OS X platform planetarium software, this provides the standard features expected in virtual sky and telescope control.
• Stellaris — A shareware program for the amateur astronomer
• Cartes du Ciel/SkyChart - a planetarium program boasting 16 different catalogs boasting its completeness over other software with the same feature. Supports Windows, Mac and Linux and has a few more catalog add-ons available.
• CyberSky 5 is a run of the mill planetarium program. It offers the standard features in that the night sky can be viewed at any date in time. While not the prettiest program out there, this serves two main purposes: it keeps the price down and speeds up the program. Most new programs use Open GL for that real sky look but comes at the ex pence of computer processor usage, graphics usage and memory usage. I tested this program and found it does what it is supposed to do. It is Windows only program but will run om XP, Vista, and 7 in both 32 bit and 64 bit modes.
• Planetensuche is a free program collection of astronomy software (database, formula collection, simulation, bioastronomy - the genesis of life, quiz and a distance calculator). Mainly Planetensuche engage about exoplanets - therefore the name (Planetensuche = planet search).

Back to Main Page | Back to Top

These programs are not full featured planetariums, but specialize in specific objects.

• DeepSky 2011 - I had a chance to use this software and it does a lot. While not as smooth or cohesive as TheSky, it does do several things well. With a bit of a learning curve, one gets a list of available targets for the evening so a plan can be made. An image of the object is available so you have an idea what the target is; so when ready, you can view its location on their built-in chart, send the target info to your goto system and enjoy. From the, note of what you see can also be performed. It keeps a detailed log, and you can share online. Be sure to give it a go!
• Seeker by Bisque - a 3D immersive tool for traveling through our Solar System
• VRMars - A virtual reality program that lets you see through the eyes of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit (The Opportunity MER version is in the works).
• Night Sky Observer has a program called LunarPhase Pro that is a very capable Lunar observing program. It has imbedded maps, listings of major Lunar features, and Lunar time tables for anything you want to know.
• Night Sky Observer also has a very nice program called JupSat Pro. It's a program designed to provide information on the four Galilean moons of Jupiter - and does it well.
• Heavenscape software has a nice program called Satellite Tracker. This program allows full control of a Meade or Celestron computer controlled telescope to track the orbiting satellites - like the International Space Station and various communication satellites.
• Google Earth is no longer limited to great satellite images of Earth, they have created color images of the space as well. They include Hubble images in places where they belong, and a cool feature is that you can switch the view based on where you live.
• Microsoft Research has put together an educational program that is nothing short of a breakthrough. The World Wide Telescope allows the user access to just about every image taken from just about every space probe there is. Better still, the user can change the view from radio through to x-ray (visible included of course). It's Windows only, its free so download it now.
• Halley - Electronic Catalog of Comets. This is a Windows program that maintains a current list of by database. It includes a fast search and export to ECS format.
• MAXCLOCK - This is a free, highly accurate clock dedicated to astronomy. It provides accurate UT as well as Sun and Moon rise and set time and much more.
• AstroClockFX - An astronomy clock that displays the current local & UTC date & time, a calendar, local & Greenwich sidereal times, and the Julian day. The program includes the current sun, moon, eclipses and ephemerides for all the planets, minor planets and comets.
• DeepSky - This program is a large and useful program. A quick setup to tell the program where you live will allow it to list available DeepSky objects in view for the evening. There is also an observers log and an optional add-on for telescope control. Click on an object of interest and you are presented with a DSS image. You can view a Moon map and create custom star charts.

Back to Main Page | Back to Top

This will be the longest list as there are many of these types of programs available. I will keep the descriptions short for this list.

• CCDSoft - works in concert with TheSky for full camera and telescope control. Also provides the necessary image reduction, processing and stacking
• Mira Pro and Mira AP - professional level CCD software
• MaxImDL - a popular choice that offers CCD control and processing
• AIP4WIN - a popular choice that is really a book with included software
• Santa Barbara Instrument Groups software page - CCD software updates
• IRIS - a free and capable program for CCD control and processing
• Registar - specialized image stacking program
• RegiStax - free image stacking program, used mostly for planets
• K3CCDTools - provides video image stacking and image processing
• Fits4Win - Windows program to view FITS files
• AstroVideo - specialized video stacking program
• RC-Astro Console - Russell Croman's add-in for enhanced MaxImDL functionality
• SigmaReject - Another Russell Croman plug-in for MaxImDL
• RGB Weight Calculator - Specialized program that assists in determining ideal exposure time for various filtered images
• AstroArt 3.0 - 96bit image processing software
• ImagePlus - image converter and processor, useful for Digital SLR cameras
• Adobe PhotoShop - need I say more? The de-facto standard for the 'digital darkroom'
• Grain Surgery - clean up those messy images
• PixInsight - image enhancement
• NEAT Image - digital filter for noise reduction
• FitsPlug - FITS file plug-in for PhotoShop
• Irfanview - free image reader and basic processing, reads just about everything
• FITS Liberator - a free PhotoShop plugin by the folks from the ESA/ESO and NASA

Back to Main Page | Back to Top

This next batch of software specializes in telescope control - either from another room or across the globe.

Free Astronomy Software For Mac Download

• TheSky with CCDSoft provide robotic control from a computer nearby.
• Want to improve your telescopes pointing accuracy? T-Point is a software that models your mounts accuracy and uses this model to improve pointing accuracy.
• Orchestrate is a software to automate imaging sessions - so you can get some sleep.
• For those with motorized domes, AutomaDome adds the ability to control the dome as well - moving the dome with the scope as well as opening and closing.
• Users of the Paramount can improve accuracy with PrecisionPEC.
• Have your cake and eat it too - the complete Bisque Observatory Software Suite.
• DC-3 Dreams - full suite of robotic observatory control, software updates available in their support pages
• PoleAlignMax - software to assist your computer control telescope to point to the north
• ASCOM - the communications standard for interface control in astronomy
• CCDWare - a new software company providing a variety of products used to assist in tracking accuracy and automatic control (with links to other software as well), imaging stacking, session planning and CCD inspection.
• SN Finder - This software automates supernova searches, designed by an amateur astronomer for amateur astronomers.

Back to Main Page | Back to Top

The following software doesn't really fit in the above categories.

• Aberrator - software to assist in star testing a telescope
• Microsoft Service Packs - a nice website to know, has all current service packs for Microsoft products
• MSDN .Net Updates - for those Visual Studio .Net programmers, this is a valuable resource
• Astro Image Frame Maker - a utility designed to add borders and titles to astro images
• The KDE Education Project has a program called KStars that runs on Linux
• GlobularClusters - it can be very useful to amateur astronomers to better understand the effects of gravity in a star cluster and to make experiments “at home” by changing fundamental parameters such as concentration and diameter of a cluster or mass and velocity of individual stars.
• SpaceEngine - a free space simulation program that lets you explore the universe in three dimensions, from planet Earth to the most distant galaxies. Areas of the known universe are represented using actual astronomical data, while regions uncharted by astronomy are generated procedurally. Millions of galaxies, trillions of stars, countless planets - all available for exploration. You can land any planet, moon or asteroid and watch alien landscapes and celestial phenomena. You can even pilot starships and atmospheric shuttles.
• Starblinker - allows you to easily search for new stars in your astronomical photos written by Marco Lorrai.
• Astromagic - The software allows the user to extract highly accurate astrometric measurements of sources from FITS images. In particular, its capabilities extend to frames exposed with non-sidereal tracking, and to images on which the target detection is elongated or trailed by Dott. David J. Tholen, Gianpaolo Pizzetti and Dr. Marco Micheli.
• PRISM - A powerful all-in-one software designed to offer you the most power in a compact package, from capture to publishing

Software for OS X (Apple):

• The power of TheSky has come to OS X in the form of TheSky X student edition. TheSky X is now available in the Serious Astronomer Edition as well as the Professional Edition - available for both OS X and Windows. What a wonderful thing!
• Seeker by Bisque - a 3D immersive tool for traveling through our Solar System - its available for OS X as well.
• Google Earth is no longer limited to great satellite images of Earth, they have created color images of the space as well. They include Hubble images in places where they belong, and a cool feature is that you can switch the view based on where you live.
• SkyChart III by Southern Stars is a planetarium software that is for both Windows and Macintosh.
• The only Mac OS X only planetarium software is Voyager 4 by Carina Software. While I have not seen it in action, it promises to be a very powerful program that also offers telescope control.
• Cosmographia - A beautiful Solar System simulator for the Mac available from the App Store
• Stark Labs - providers of Nebulosity (CCD control), PHD (guiding), DSLR Shutter control and a few others.
• Microsoft Research has put together an educational program that is nothing short of a breakthrough. The World Wide Telescope allows the user access to just about every image taken from just about every space probe there is. Better still, the user can change the view from radio through to x-ray (visible included of course). The program is Windows only, but Mac users can use the online version for free.
• NRAO Astronomical Image Processing System (AIPS) - process radio images from the NRAO
• IRAF for Macintosh - Maciraf - allowing Mac users to use the absolute standard in professional astronomy
• Spitzer Science Center - Spot and Leopard (tools for planning and archiving)
• ESO's Scisoft - Data Reduction and Analysis
• SAOImage DS9 - FITS viewer
• MIIPS (Multipurpose Interactive Image Processing System) - image display, image analysis, plotting, and function fitting
• AstroGrav - Gravity Simulator
• OSXplanet - Solar System Desktop (real time data)
• LaTeXiT - LaTeX Typesetting Utilities
• SBIG (Santa Barbara Instrument Group) - drivers and software
• Equinox 6 - Planetarium, Telescopes and Camera Control that is geared towards SBIG CCD Cameras
• AstroYacker - Image Stacker
• Macam - Webcam Software
• AstroPlanner - Plan your observations, does logging too
• Astro IIDC - Camera Control for Firewire Cameras
• iAstroPhoto - Digital SLR Camera Control
• Astrostack - Image Stacker
• ESA/ESO/NASA FITS Liberator - PhotoShop plugin
• Lynkeos - Webcam Image Processing
• ScopeDriver - Telescope Control
• Newton's Aquarium - Interactive Visualization of Newton's Law of Gravity
• FITS Liberator - a free PhotoShop plugin by the folks from the ESA/ESO and NASA
• INDI - Open source and free INDI server with easy to use and handsome graphical user interface.

Software for the iPhone/iPod/iPad - otherwise known as Apps:

This list is by no means complete. These just happen to be the apps I use, have used or seen. If you know of any that should be listed here, please let me know.

• SkySafari Pro - planetarium and telescope control, huge database
• Star Walk - a best seller. It's a planetarium, can show you the area you are pointing your device as long as you have GPS, and offers some news and basic Solar System data
• Redshift - planetarium software
• Sky Master - planetarium software
• Solar Walk - from the makers of Star Walk. Solar System simulator
• Gas Giants - by Bisque. A virtual view of Jupiter and Saturn with real-time positions of their major moons
• Solar System -The Photographic Journey - image gallery of objects in our Solar System
• Mars Atlas - a map of Mars
• Moon Atlas - a map of our Moon
• Mercury Atlas - a map of Mercury
• Venus Atlas - a map of Venus
• Jupiter Atlas - a sort of map of Jupiter
• Saturn Atlas - a sort of map of Saturn
• 3D Sun - view 3D images of our Sun and receive alerts of real time Solar data such as sunspot activity and Solar storms
• AstronomyCalc - a calculator for basic conversions, date and time, coordinate conversions and Solar calculations
• Astronomy - a cool app that is an image gallery, lists past, current and future space missions, a history of Astronomy and a list of Stars and Constellations with basic visibility data
• NASA - of course NASA must have an app, and its a list of their missions, image gallery, news and NASA TV
• Go Star Gaze - a part of the Night Sky Network it offers a list of clubs and events, all up to date with updates when the program starts
• Sky View - an app that uses your devices camera to superimpose the constellations. Relies on GPS.
• Cosmic Clock - an app for Julian Date and Swatch Internet Time (beat time)
• APODViewer - view the Astronomy Photo of the Day as well as browse past entries
• Sky Week - by Sky and Telescope shows a list of interesting things to look at for each morning and evening
• Buzz Aldrin - an information packed app of myths and mysteries, the Space Race, exploration of the Moon and Mars and covers the Hubble. You do know who Buzz Aldrin is, right?
• Solar Monitor - an app that displays current Solar 'weather' and offers a forecast of Solar Winds for those who love to watch the Aurora
• Galaxy Zoo - have you heard of the SETI@Home screensaver? In the same vein, this allows the user to view images of very distant galaxies from the Hubble Deep Field (HDF) and assist in identifying galaxy type through a step-by-step category
• Exoplanet - a great app that is a database of known exoplanets. It also graphs out orbital position and distance from host star as well as how the discovery was made
• Kepler - just like Exoplanet with the database of exoplanets, but limits the list to discoveries made by the Kepler probe
• HubbleZoom - An image gallery of Hubble Space Telescope images, though not the best interface
• Gravilux - advertised as a game, this program is interesting as it uses the n-body equations to simulate a galaxy merger
• iCSC - the Clear Sky Chart for IOS
• iNEO - a list of asteroids closest to Earth
• Cosmic - The American Museum of Natural History app displaying a zoomable mosaic of Saturn comprised of hundred's of images
• Nebulae - an image gallery of nebula
• Our Solar System - an image gallery of Solar System images
• GoSkyWatch - planetarium software that uses GPS
• SkyQ - planetarium app by Celestron. Also includes planet rise and set times, Moon phases and the positions of the major moons of Saturn and Jupiter
• Distant Suns 3 - planetarium software with very nice database
• INDI - the mobile control panel for the remote INDI servers for iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. It offers the same functionality as INDI Control Panel for OS X with iOS look & feel. The only limitation is, that it doesn't support BLOB transfer.
• Cosmic Watch - It's a clock which displays the Sun, Moon and Planets positions and can be used to demonstrate the apparent movements of the sky.

Software for the Palm PDA:

• Planetarium - the name says it all. It provides Sun, Moon and planet data as well as all ther constellations. It's database has 2.5 million stars, the 110 Messier objects, the Caldwell 110, 280 double-stars, the Herschel 400 and an additional 1000 deep space objects. And it has telescope control via serial port. Comets and asteroids are also available on the expandable database.

Back to Main Page | Back to Top

You don't really need a computer and software at the telescope to shoot astrophotos. When you first start out it is much easier to skip the computer. You can focus with Live View, and then take test exposures to determine the correct exposure and framing of the object you want to shoot.

I shot without a computer at the telescope for 20 years back in the days of film before digital cameras. I didn't even have a Go To mount, I just used setting circles and star charts.

Once you get a little more advanced, using a laptop at the scope can make pointing and camera control a little bit easier and also allow more advanced techniques such autoguiding, and dithering. Dithering is changing the scope pointing a small amount between exposures to help deal with noise and hot pixels in the images. The price to be paid for this, however, is additional complexity, powering a laptop computer at the scope at a dark-sky remote observing location, dealing with USB connection issues, and cable routing.

Camera control software will allow almost complete control of the camera while you sit at the laptop computer. You can use software metrics to help you focus as well as program in a series of long exposures and pauses between them. You'll also be able to see your images at a larger size on your computer screen compared to the LCD on the back of the camera.

Planetarium programs will allow you to control and point your Go To mount. Simply click on an object in your planetarium program and tell the mount to point the scope at it.

Once you have shot your images, you will need to process them to make them look their best. Usually we shoot multiple images and align and stack them to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in the images. Then additional contrast and color corrections are also applied to make them look their best.

• Camera Control
  • BackYardEOS ($ Free / $35 / $50) Highly recommended
  • AstroPhotography Tool ($ Free / $20) Highly recommended
• Mount Control
  • Cartes du Ciel ($ Free) Highly recommended
• Image Processing
  • Deep SkyStacker ($ Free) - Stacking and Aligning
  • Photoshop Creative Cloud ($10/month subscription) - Processing
  • Images Plus ($200) - Stacking, Aligning, Processing

Add:

• NINA
• Sequence Generator Pro
• Sequator
• Starry Landscape Stacker
• Starry Sky Stacker
• Astro Pixel Processor
• Lynkeos
• SiriL
• PixInsight
• SharpCap SharpCap is an easy-to-use and powerful astronomy camera capture tool. It can be used with dedicated astronomy cameras, webcams and USB frame grabbers. A wide range of features makes SharpCap suitable for many types of astro-imaging including Planetary, Lunar, Solar, Deep Sky and EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy).

The line is becoming blurred between DSLR and Mirrorless digital cameras such as those by Sony, Nikon and Canon, and CMOS sensors used in dedicated astronomical cameras such as those by ZWO and QHY.

Best Free Astronomy Software For Mac

There are many different types of software that may help you astrophotography:

• Camera Control
• Software-Assisted Focusing
• Image Acquisition Automation
• Plate Solving
• Image Calibration, Aligning and Stacking
• Image Correction and Enhancement
• Autoguiding Software
• Photo Utilities
• Photoshop Filters and Actions
• Articles on Image Processing of Astrophotos
• Planetarium Programs and Atlases

DSLR Camera Control

With camera control software, you can use your computer to control all of the functions and settings of your camera, such as setting the ISO, opening the shutter, and shooting multiple frames for stacking.

With the current generation of Canon EOS DSLR cameras software by the camera manufacturer will control all functions of the camera. This is accomplished through a single USB-2 Cable and includes control of the bulb setting for exposures longer than 30 seconds. This software also allows viewing of the Live-view real-time image on the computer and focusing.

With previous camera generations of Canon DSLRs and Nikon DSLR cameras, the camera manufacturer's software could control all camera functions except one critical one for astrophotography: the ability to shoot exposures longer than 30 seconds with the bulb setting. This major drawback necessitated the use of third-party software to control the camera and access bulb exposures longer than 30 seconds through the use of a serial to bulb port cable. For old cameras, two cables were necessary for astrophotography: one USB cable to control camera functions and one serial to bulb port cable for long exposures.

Software-Assisted Focusing

The latest generation cameras allow focusing through the camera manufacturer's software. This can be done by manual focusing and visual inspection of the Live-view image on the computer, or by autofocus if the camera is shooting through an autofocus lens.

For previous generation cameras without Live-View, an image had to be downloaded to the computer and then visually examined for focus accuracy. Programs will download an image and then examine a star and give a readout of the star's diameter or brightness. This metric-assisted focusing is objective and did not rely on any visual interpretation to determine focus.

Through a process of manual trial and error, accurate focus could be achieved through software-assisted focusing.

The latest DSLR camera manufacturer's software can make focusing very easy with Live-view, and some, like BackYardEOS, BackYardNIKON and AstroPhotography Tool use metric-assisted focusing for astrophotography.

If you have a mototized focuser, you can use software-assisted focusing to autofocus your telescope.

Image Acquisition Automation

Serious deep-sky astrophotography requires shooting many short exposures. This can be done manually, but it is very tedious. For example, faint deep-sky objects may require several hours worth of 5 minute exposures that are later stacked or combined in subsequent image processing.

Software such as Images Plus or MaxDSLR can automate this process. You simply specify in the software that you want the camera to shoot, say, 25 exposures of 5 minutes each at ISO 1600 with a pause of 10 seconds between frames (to give the system time to download each image).

Free Astronomy Programs Windows 10

The latest software provided by Nikon and Canon also provides the functionality for this type of automated image acquisition with the latest generation of DSLR cameras.

Plate Solving

There are several free pieces of software that will take an image (a short exposure) and 'plate solve' it for you. That means it examines patterns of stars in the image to determine the exact center of the field of view of your camera and scope. Once this is determined, the software can send these coordinates to your mount so the mount knows exactly where it is pointing to improve accuracy of GoTo's.

Plate solving is also useful if you shoot the same object over several nights. You can then solve an image from the first night, and store it. Then the > time out, you can just use that solve to frame your object for that night.

Image Calibration, Aligning and Stacking

Advanced astronomical imaging requires the 'calibration' of the raw original images. Calibration means removing unwanted fixed signals (such as thermal current and bias), and correction for signal modifications (such as vignetting) so that the raw image accurately represents the intensity of light incident on the sensor during the exposure. We will discuss these topics in detail in future sections, but right now lets just talk briefly about the software required for image calibration.

Both Canon and Nikon usually include image processing software with their cameras, but this software is for processing normal daytime images. You can not use it for image calibration, aligning, or stacking at all.

To calibrate your original raw astronomical images, you will require some type of special astronomical image processing software, such as Images Plus, MaxDSLR, AIP (Astronomical Image Processing), AstroArt, IRIS, Deep Sky Stacker or Regim.

'Stacking' means combining many individual short exposures into a master image by any of several mathematical processes such as averaging, or addition. The term originates in the days of film astrophotography where images were literally stacked on top of one another to improve contrast and color.

You will also need to align your images so that the stars in them line up perfectly.

Whatever software you use for image calibration will almost certainly also do aligning and image stacking. It is possible to align and stack images in Photoshop, but for more than a couple of frames, the process is extremely tedious and not as accurate as with a dedicated astronomical image processing program.

Image Correction and Enhancement

Once your images are calibrated, aligned and stacked, you will want to correct for things such as color balance, and increase the contrast to make faint details more visible. You will probably also want to apply some type of noise reduction, and you may want to apply more sophisticated enhancement techniques.

These processes can be done in the previously mentioned astronomical image processing programs such as Images Plus, MaxDSLR, AIP (Astronomical Image Processing), AstroArt, and IRIS.

However, at this stage of image processing, many astrophotographers prefer to switch to a general image processing program such as Photoshop.

Autoguiding Software

For long-exposure deep-sky astrophotography, guiding during the exposure can be very useful in producing higher quality images. By manually or automatically following a star by making corrections in right ascension and declination higher tracking accuracy is obtained.

Autoguiding involves using a separate CCD or Webcam to monitor a stars position and then send corrections to the telescope's mounting to guide or follow the star with high accuracy to compensate for inaccuracies in the mount's tracking.

SBIG used to make the ST-4 and ST-V which were stand alone autoguiders which did not require a computer. These units have been discontinued but can be found used on Astromart.

CCD cameras and webcams can be also be used as autoguiders, but software, such as GuideDog and PHD, is required to run on a computer that interfaces between the autoguider and mount.

Photo Utilities

These programs perform useful functions like allowing you to open FITS format files, perform noise reduction, and create thumbnails for indexing and archiving.

Photoshop Filters and Actions

These filters and actions work inside of Photoshop and perform specialty functions for astronomy, such as gradient and noise reduction.

Articles on Image Processing of Astrophotos

Articles in book and video format teach you how to do astrophotography, and use programs such as Images Plus for image calibration and Photoshop for image correction and enhancement.

Planetarium Programs and Atlases

Planetarium programs and atlases let you find out what is up in the sky, and plan your observing and astrophotography session.

Free Astronomy Software For Mac 2020

Astronomical Software For the PC

• DSLR Camera Control

  • IRIS $Free - DSLR control, image acquisition automation
  • PalmDSLR $Free - DSLR control with a Palm computer
  • APT (Astro Photography Tool) - Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation
  • BackyardEOS Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation, drift alignment assist
  • BackyardNIKON Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation, drift alignment assist
  • Nebulosity Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation, image calibration, image processing
  • Images Plus Camera Control DSLR control, focusing, image acquisition automation
  • AstroArt DSLR and CCD control and image processing
  • Maxim DL DSLR control and image processing

• Software-Assisted Focusing

  • Focus Max $Free - Focusing software that automates focusing if you have a motorized focuser that works with Maxim DL or CCD Soft
  • APT (Astro Photography Tool) - Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation
  • BackyardEOS Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation, drift alignment assist
  • Nebulosity Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation, image calibration, image processing
  • Images Plus Camera Control DSLR control, focusing, image acquisition automation
  • AstroArt DSLR and CCD control and image processing
  • Maxim DSLR DSLR control and image processing

• Image Acquisition Automation

  • DSLR Shutter $Free - image acquisition automation
  • APT (Astro Photography Tool) - Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation
  • BackyardEOS - Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation, drift alignment assist
  • Nebulosity - Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation, image calibration, image processing
  • Images Plus Camera Control - DSLR control, focusing, image acquisition automation
  • AstroArt - DSLR and CCD control and image processing
  • Maxim DSLR - DSLR control and image processing

• Plate Solving

• Image Calibration, Aligning and Stacking

  • Deep Sky Stacker $Free - Image calibration, alignment, stacking
  • Regim $Free - Image calibration, alignment, stacking
  • IRIS $Free - DSLR control, image acquisition automation
  • RegiStax $Free - for stacking planetary images shot with webcams
  • Nebulosity - Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation, image calibration, image processing
  • AIP (Astronomical Image Processing) - Image calibration, correction, enhancement
  • Images Plus - Image calibration, correction, enhancement
  • AstroArt - DSLR and CCD control and image processing
  • PixInsight - Image calibration, correction, enhancement
  • Maxim DSLR - DSLR control and image processing

• Image Correction and Enhancement

  • IRIS $Free
  • GIMPshop $Free

• Autoguiding Software

  • GuideDog $Free
  • PHD (Push Here Dummy) $Free
  • Metaguide $Free
  • Guidemaster $Free

• Photo Utilities

  • Dark Library $Free - Sort Dark frames by EXIF temperature data
  • EXIF Reader $Free - Reads EXIF data, such as shutter speed, ISO, aperture, date and time of photo that is stored in the image file. Also a thumbnail and image viewer
  • FITS Liberator $Free - FITS file format image handling software
  • Noiseware Community Edition $Free - Noise Reduction software
  • Background Subtraction Toolkit $Free - Remove gradients and vignetting
  • IrfanView $Free - Image viewer
  • Picassa $Free - Thumbnail and Image Viewer and database
  • ThumbsPlus $90 - Thumbnail viewer and database
  • StarTrails - $Free - Stack individual frames to creat a star-trail image
  • StarStax $Free - Stack individual frames to creat a star-trail image
  • StarMax $Free - Stack individual frames to creat a star-trail image

• Photoshop Filters and Actions

  • Astronomy Tools - Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions for various astrophoto techniques
  • Annie's Astro Actions - Astrophotography specific Photoshop actions
  • Noise Ninja - Noise Reduction filter
  • GradientXTerminator - Removes vignetting and gradients

• Articles on Image Processing of Astrophotos

  • PixInsight Articles $Free
  • A Guide to Film Astrophotography $25 (Download version)
  • A Guide to Astrophotography with Digital SLR Cameras $40 (Book on book)
  • IP4AP Warren Keller
  • EZ-CCD-DVD - Tony Hallas Video Articles on DVD

• Planetarium Programs and Atlases

  • Stellarium $Free
  • Cartes du Ciel $Free
  • Virtual Moon Atlas $Free

Astronomical Software For the Mac

• DSLR Camera Control and Focusing

  • DSLR Shutter $Free - image acquisition automation
  • Nebulosity - Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation, image calibration, image processing
  • iAstrophoto $Free - Digital camera focus and control software for Canon astrophotography using Macintosh OS X
  • Astro IIDC - primarily for planetary imaging

• Astronomical Image Processing Programs

  • Keith's Image Stacker - For stacking planetary images
  • Lykenos $Free - Planetary image stacking and processing
  • Astrostack - Image stacking and processing
  • Nebulosity - Camera control, focus, image acquisition automation, image calibration, image processing

• General Image Processing Programs

  • GIMPshop $Free

• Photo Utilities

  • FITS Liberator $Free - FITS file format image handling software
  • iPhoto Bundled with New Macs, or available as part of iLife ) - image viewer, database, and image editing
  • StarStax $Free - Stack individual frames for a star trail image

• Photoshop Filters and Actions

  • Astronomy Tools - Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions for various astrophoto techniques
  • Annie's Astro Actions - Astrophotography specific Photoshop actions
  • Noise Ninja $80 Noise Reduction filter

• Articles on Image Processing of Astrophotos

  • A Guide to Film Astrophotography $25 (download)
  • A Guide to Astrophotography with Digital SLR Cameras $40 (Book on book)

• Planetarium Programs, Atlases, Etc.

  • Stellarium $Free - Desktop planetarium and space simulation
  • Celestia $Free - Desktop planetarium and space simulation
  • AstroPlanner - Planning, logging, telescope control
  • Equinox6 - Desktop planetarium, telescope, webcam and focuser control
  • AstroImage Browser - Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) front end, astrophotography planning, and ability to overlay your own images on DSS images for comparison
  • The SkyX - Desktop Planetarium
  • Starry Night - Desktop planetarium

Astronomical Software For Linux

Prices on all commercial software are subject to change without notice.

Note that you should be able to run any of the Windows programs listed above on your Mac with OS-X and software like Parallels or VMware Fusion.

Best Astronomy Software Pc

Midnightkite also has a nice collection of links to lots of other astronomical related software for a variety of operating systems.

Software That I Use

• Planning
• Weather Evaluation
• Polar Aligning
• Plate Solving and Target Acquisition
  • AstroPhotography Tool with
    • Astrometric STAcking Program (ASTAP) and
• Software-Assisted Focusing
• Camera Control
  • BackYardEOS or
• Autoguiding Software
• Image Acquisition Automation
  • BackYardEOS or
• Image Calibration, Aligning and Stacking
• Image Correction and Enhancement
• Photoshop Filters and Actions