Astro-Snap allows you to take astronomical pictures at low cost with a WEBCAM.
Features:
- Simple image acquisition or real time frame integration (standard or loop frame integration).
- Real time planetary video processing (at capture time)
- Long exposure acquisition with the following cameras (modified following Steve Chambers' design) : Philips Vesta-SC, Toucam-SC, Quickcam Pro3000-SC.
- Image resolution up to 800x600
- Focusing aid based on a star's apparent size (FWHM), along with sound indicator for remote tuning
- Focusing aid on complex objects, along with a sound indicator for remote tuning
- Image stabilization and automatic tracking of the object in the camera's field of view.
- Automatic Dark or Flat-Field processing
- Can let you make pseudo long exposures without tracking needed.
- Automatic image selection based on each frame's quality (planetary imaging).
- Manual or automatic saving of bitmaps.
- Very fast and precise Polar aligning aid using two popular drift align methods : Bigourdan and King.
- Can display a configurable graduated reticle
- Can measure objects in real time.
- Can measure the P.E. (periodic error) of your mount displaying a graph, as well as tracking speed error.
- Can help you determine the declination of a star.
- Motion detection (for shooting stars).
- A new interface for long exposures
- It can now control telescopes (with a software handpad) with the following interfaces : LX200; Achay (serial port ); Bonduelle (parallel port); Kitsr'us kit model 74; ASCOM; Michael Koch's serial port Relay Interfaces
- Autoguiding
- A new self-guiding feature for cameras modified with Steve Chambers' #2 mod.
- You can now also control focusing, if you're using an LX200 telescope with the Meade electric focuser.
- Can do autofocusing with the above configuration.
- It shows Video image information : Saturation, brightness values histogram.
- Can replay captured bitmap sequences as a video, and do light post processing (aligning and stacking).
- A new polar aligning method has been implemented : the KING method
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