looks like I found gold... One stop place to download astronomy related software for linux (well it's a whole linux distribution) .. How good is that
http://www.distroastro.org/features/
some points
Astrophotography
Distro Astro includes tools for astrophotography. Capture software wxAstroCapture was written specifically with astronomy in mind. Image tools such as GCX Astro-Image Processor, Iris, and Registax are installed by default. Lastly, tools like iMerge and the Gimp are included for post-processing.
Future versions will include Ekos, a tool that provides autoguiding, autofocus, polar alignment by drift method, and capture of single or a stack of images with filter wheel support.
Observatories
The INDI Library built into Distro Astro provides telescope control for common telescopes from Meade, Celestron, Orion, and other major telescope brands. It also provides observatory dome control for commercial domes such as Sirius Observatories, and support for devices like focusers, filter wheels, and a cloud sensor.
It also includes support for a large set of imagers from SBIG, Apogee, Starlight Xpress and Finger Lakes, and common amateur astronomy webcams such as the Philips ToUCam, Mead LPI, and Celestron NexImage. See the full list of
hardware support.
Access to the INDI library is provided by supported clients such as KStars, XEphem, and Cartes du Ciel, all of which are built into the distribution.