Plus, DSS offers an easy way to drizzle your images and three different ways to stack images of comets. Next, most of the software for Mac is commercial: from the “top of the class apps” Astro Pixel Processor (APP) and PixInsight (PI) to the more modest like Starry Landscape Stacker (SLS) and Starry Sky Stacker (SSS).Īnd if Deep Sky Stacker (DSS) can be replaced by ASTAP or SIRIL (which to date also offers a basic planetary stacking), it is still the best solution for beginners: easy to use, intuitive, flexible, and fast. Finally, there is nothing in the Mac universe that comes close to Planetary Imaging PreProcessor (PIPP), although a small subset of PIPP functionalities can be found in SER Player. PSS gives often better results in terms of stacking quality than both Lynkeos and Autostakkert!3 (AS!3), but is not the easiest program to install.

It does though use multiple alignment squares, but you have to manually add them. Lynkeos, although it offers some advanced post-processing tools, does not use alignment points. Take planetary astrophotography: on a Mac you are pretty much limited to Lynkeos and Planetary System Stacker (PSS). Many firmware uploaders for astrophotography gear are Windows only Įxpand your array of astrophotography tools you can use ĭude, If You Want Me To Run Windows Stuff On My Mac You Need To Be More Specific Than That! The classic, easy to use, and widely popular freeware software (DSS, PIPP, Autostakkert!, Registax, and Sequator) are Windows only There are several reasons for wanting to run Windows software on a Mac: So, Why Would I Want To Install Windows Software On Your Mac? ZWO ASI Studio: planetary/deep-sky image acquisition software, free įireCapture: planetary image acquisition software, free Īnd more info about using a Mac for astrophotography can be found on the Mac Observatory website. StarTools: for deep-sky astrophotography, commercial PixInsight: for deep-sky astrophotography, commercial Planetary System Stacker: for planetary astrophotography, free Īstro Pixel Processor: for deep-sky astrophotography, commercial SiriL: for deep-sky astrophotography, free ĪSTAP: for deep-sky astrophotography, free Nebulosity: for deep-sky astrophotography, freeware as of November 2021 Starry Landscape Stacker: to stack and mask the sky when doing starry landscapes, commercial with trial period Starry Sky Stacker: for deep-sky astrophotography, commercial with trial period Oa capture / oa live: planetary image acquisition software, free Lynkeos: for planetary astrophotography, free Why Do I Need Windows Software? Isn’t There Software For Mac? The two-week trial period is very welcome and it allows you to test all the software you intend to use.

With CrossOver, the people from CodeWeavers have created a neat and easy way to install and use Wine to run a good number of Windows software on both Intel and M1 Mac computers.Īt 59 euro, I feel it is reasonably priced: it is cheaper than most virtualization software and it spares you from the cost of buying a Windows license. I myself failed to install it on my fresh M1 Macobook PRO 13”: after a few attempts, I gave up (yes, this is also my working computer and didn’t feel to mess around too much with it). WineHQ is free and is often updated, but you may not find it easy to install and set up.

Wine for mac m1