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.

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Stack a number of pictures taken by e.g. Video imaging and use image enhancement to remove noise and increase detail. Nebulosity 3 - $80 capture and processing software for Mac/PC. Supports a bunch of Canon DSLRs and astro cams. Supports a bunch of Canon DSLRs and astro cams. MicroObservatory - A piece of software that is meant to be used to process images from MicroObservatory.org, it's not really good for much else, but it does a damned good job of teaching.

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
• Tutorials 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.

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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).

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 next 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, Deepsky 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

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

Tutorials on Image Processing of Astrophotos

Tutorials 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.

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.

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

Astrophotography How-To Books by Jerry Lodriguss

If you like the information you have read here, I have several books that you may find of interest.

If you think there is a lot of information here on these web pages, just wait until you see how much more there is in these books!

Beginner's Guide to DSLR Astrophotography

This HTML book for beginning astrophotographers explains how to take beautiful images with your digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera using simple step-by-step techniques that anyone can learn.

You will see how easy it is to take great pictures with very modest equipment and basic methods that are within everyone's ability.

With this book you will learn how to take amazing images of the night sky with your DSLR camera.

Get Started in DSLR Astrophotography Today!

Beginner's Guide to Astronomical Image Processing

This book written in HTML5 is a digital download. It is for beginning astrophotographers and explains in step-by-step detail how to stack your images in DeepSkyStacker and then process them in Photoshop.

You will learn how to improve the brightness, contrast and color of your deep-sky images to produce beautiful results.

The book also includes 25 video tutorials on each step of image processing.

Get started in Astronomical image processing today!

Advanced Guide to DSLR Astrophotography

This HTML book for more advanced imagers. It explains how digital cameras work in more technical detail and gives step-by-step directions for more advanced imaging techniques.

It also tells you on how to process your images in Photoshop, with step-by-step directions that will produce beautiful results.

The CD-ROM also includes more than 100 minutes of video tutorials on image processing.

Take your astrophotography to the next level!

A Guide to DSLR Planetary Imaging

This HTML book will show you how to take planetary images with your Live-View equipped DSLR. It explains the basics of high-resolution planetary imaging and gives step-by-step directions on how to shoot exciting pictures the Sun and Moon and fascinating planets like Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.

It also tells you on how to process your images in programs like RegiStax and AutoStakkert!, with step-by-step directions that will produce beautiful results.

The CD-ROM also includes more than 100 minutes of video tutorials on image processing.

Get started with planetary photography with your DSLR today!

Astrophotographer's Guide to the Deep Sky

This HTML book will help you answer the question 'what should I shoot tonight?'

It will provide you with detailed information and examples of the many beautiful objects in the deep sky that you can photograph with your own equipment.

A master list of objects includes 500 of the best and most photogenic galaxies, nebulae, supernovae remnants, stars, star clusters and constellations. This list can be sorted by object name, object type, catalog number, constellation, right ascension and focal length.

Images of more than 275 select objects visible from the northern hemisphere are displayed on individual pages with photographic information and details about these objects.

All-sky constellation charts are clickable with links to individual constellation images. These, in turn, have objects plotted on them that link to object pages.

A local sidereal time calculator will tell you when objects are on the meridian where they are highest in the sky and best placed for photography.

Discover the many fantastic targets in the deep sky!

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Photoshop for Film Astrophotographers

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This HTML book is a guide to basic digital correction and advanced enhancement techniques for film astrophotos in Adobe Photoshop image-processing software.

Whether you are a beginning amateur astrophotographer, or a seasoned veteran, you will learn new and exciting techniques.

Use Photoshop to produce visually stunning images!

These books will help you to avoid those bad practices that lead to poor images. I made just about every mistake you could make when I was first starting out and did not know what I was doing. You don't have to make these same mistakes. You too can learn the secrets of deep-sky astrophotography!

Don't waste your long and hard efforts at astrophotography - find out how thousands of others just like you have gotten excellent results by using these books.

You can do it too! What are you waiting for?

Recommendations for your start in imaging on the Mac

There's a few things that need to be covered here as a starting point. I make some assumptions that you’re familiar with Astronomy, possibly already have a first telescope, and are ready to start taking some images. First you have to make a decision as to whether you want to take photos of the planets and Moon, or if you want to take photos of nebula, star clusters, or galaxies. Basically, the decision between planetary, or deep space objects. These things are not exclusive to each other, and can be done with the same telescope but the results might not be optimal for each choice. Your telescope is probably suited to one or the other. (Edit: If you’re just getting into the hobby, have a look at this article on 5 things to consider if you’re interested in astrophotography.)

Planetary imaging on the Mac

Planetary is fairly straight forward. Large aperture scopes like 6' and above are great for this, and you don't need to have an equatorial mount. Any Alt/Az (Altitude Azimuth) mount will work. A high speed web cam or astro camera and Mac laptop are the only additional entry level hardware requirements. Since most planets are relatively small, the larger the scope, the closer/larger they will look, and the more detail you can get out of your images.

Recommended starting software for planetary imaging:

• OACapture - for taking pictures or videos: free

• SiriL - for stacking planetary images: free

• PixInsight - for processing your planetary images to get the most detail out of them: $230 EUR

Unfortunately planetary processing software is a gap right now on the Mac. You need wavelet processing to get the most detail out of your images, and currently PixInsight is the only real option. There are two other apps that might run on older hardware and operating systems (Lynkeos and Keiths Image stacker), but they're not developed any longer, and crash often on modern hardware. They are however, free applications.

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For more advanced options, you might switch out Planetary Imager for FireCapture.

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Deep sky object imaging on the Mac

DSO imaging requires a little more effort. Because this type of imaging focuses on long exposure shots, where tracking your object across the sky accurately is a requirement, you'll need a German Equatorial Mount (GEM). These deep sky objects can vary greatly in size, with a large number of them being bigger than earth's moon in the night sky. Because of this, a large scope isn't a requirement to get started. In fact, it's preferable to start with a smaller scope, like an 80mm refractor. The reason for this is that the larger your scope, the more accurate your tracking needs to be, the better your mount needs to be to handle the weight and accuracy. The difficulty (and cost) goes up exponentially with larger telescopes. So start small. All of the telescopes I use are relatively small (under 6' in size), and all fit on my entry level GEM mount, the Advanced VX by Celestron.

Additional requirements are going to be a guiding camera and guide scope. This is essentially a small telescope mounted on top of your main scope, with a guide camera. This camera's job is to watch the star movement, and send corrections to your GEM mount when the mount isn't moving accurately. For entry level equipment, this is a necessity, as these mounts are far from accurate for long exposure imaging.

You'll also need a main imaging camera, and your options vary widely here. You have the option of using a DSLR (maybe you have one already in your possession), or a dedicated astrophotography camera that can do color or mono. Mono is a black and white camera, that when combined with color filters, can achieve a higher fidelity color image than a regular color camera can but with more effort and expense.

Recommended starting software for deep sky imaging:

• Cloudmakers Astro Imager - for taking pictures with an astronomy camera: $21.99

• Cloudmakers AstroDSLR - for taking pictures with a DSLR camera: $21.99

• PHD2 - Guiding software for your guide scope and camera: Free

• Astro Pixel Processor - Processing software for your images. $50/year, or $125 to purchase outright.

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For more advanced options you might switch out Astro Imager for EKOS. And Astro Pixel Processor for PixInsight, or Star Tools.