Monday, February 28, 2005

Freeware & Shareware for Astronomy on MacOS X

I have been searching for freeware, shareware and open source Astronomy software that I find useful on MacOS X (my computing platform of choice) and I though I would share what I have found with you. This post will get updated as I find new software that is useful to me.

Planetarium, telescope and camera control:


Astroplanner observing session planner and scope control software
License: freeware, commercial version with extra features
Platforms: MacOS X, Windows

Equinox planetarium, telescope and cameral (SBIG) control software
License: Shareware
Platforms: MacOS X

Stellarium Excellent simple to use planetarium software.
License: GPL, freeware
Platforms: Linux/Unix, Windows and MacOSX

XEphem Planetarium, skycharting, telescope, camera and observatory control, many additional features.
License: Custom open source freeware license and commercial version
Platforms: Linux, FreeBSD, MacOS X, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Windows (using Cygwin)

iCCD software to control a Starlight CCD camera in MacOS X
License: freeware
Platforms: MacOS X

Image processing and stacking software:


Lynkeos Image stacking, flatfield and darkfield correction
License: GPL, freeware
Platforms: MacOS X

Kieth's Image Stacker Image processing for webcam astrophotography
License: Uncrippled shareware
Platforms: MacOS 8,9,X

Astroyacker Image stacking software
License: freeware
Platforms: MacOS X

Graphic ConverterThe king of shareware! The best image format conversion program alive, also good image manipulation abilities. A must have!

Professional image analysis software


IRAF Image reduction and analysis facility. Professional astronomical image analysis software
Category: License: open source, freeware, custom liscense
Platforms: Unix, Linux, MacOS X, Solaris

Starlink Meta collection of professions image reduction and analysis software and utilities. Also see this page on Starlink and MacOS X
License: mixed, freeware
Platforms: Unix, Linux, MacOS X

Scisoft another integrated package of professional image reduction and analysis softwares
License: mixed, freeware
Platforms: Unix, Linux, MacOS X

Miscellaneous programs of interest:


APOD grabber Little app that grabs the astronomy picture of the day from NASA.
License: freeware
Platforms: MacOS X

DarkAdapted control the screen gamma to retain dark adapted eyesight when observing
License: freeware
Platforms: MacOS 8,9,X, Windows

Celestia Universe simulator, highly flexible many add-ons
License: GPL, freeware
Platforms: Windows, MacOS X, Linux, Unix

Cosmic Debris menu item to predict Arorae Borealis events
License: donationware
Platforms: MacOS X

MoonMenu Menuitem with information on current and future moon phases
License: shareware
Platforms: MacOS 8,9,X, Windows

Mars24 A graphical mars sunclock app that shows the sun relative to the MER rover positions.
License: freeware
Platforms: Linux, MacOS X, Windows

Stargazer's Delight planetarium software
License: shareware
Platforms: MacOS 8,9,X

Scope Calculator calculate FOV, magnification and more
License: freeware
Platforms: MacOS X

Last and certainly not least:

Midnight Mars Browser downloads, manages and creates color images and anaglyphs from the MER rover imagery.
License: freeware
Platforms: MacOS X, Windows

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