APT (Astro Photography Tool)
APT is open-source software for astrophotography. It interfaces with digital cameras to automate and control the camera during long-exposure astrophotos. Key features include exposure sequencing, autoguiding, plate solving, and image calibration.
APT: Astro Photography Tool
Open-source software for automating and controlling digital cameras during long-exposure astrophotos, featuring exposure sequencing, autoguiding, plate solving, and image calibration.
What is APT (Astro Photography Tool)?
APT (Astro Photography Tool) is an open-source software application designed specifically for astrophotography. It allows astro photographers to automate and control their equipment like digital cameras, mounts, focusers, filter wheels during long-exposure imaging sessions.
Some of the key features of APT include:
- Exposure sequencing - APT makes it easy to program and execute sequences of exposures which is critical for astrophotography. You can define your preferred exposures, filters, ISO settings, delays between exposures etc. and APT will automatically execute the sequence.
- Autoguiding - APT interfaces with your mount and autoguiding camera to provide automatic corrections of tracking errors during exposures using PHD2 guiding software.
- Plate solving - APT can analyze your camera frames to identify the specific area of the night sky being imaged and automatically control the mount to center and frame targets accurately.
- Image calibration - After your imaging sequence is done, APT helps guide and automate calibration frames like darks, flats, and bias for effective post-processing.
With its automation and control capabilities tuned specifically for astrophotography requirements, APT has become quite popular in the amateur astronomy community to simplify and enhance their imagaing results.
APT (Astro Photography Tool) Features
Features
- Exposure sequencing
- Autoguiding
- Plate solving
- Image calibration
- Polar alignment
- Framing
- Focusing
- Filter wheel control
- Scripting
Pricing
- Open Source
Pros
Free and open source
Cross-platform
Supports many cameras and mounts
Powerful automation features
Active community support
Cons
Steep learning curve
Requires additional hardware
Limited documentation
Some features still in development
Official Links
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