Astro Programs for Mac

[Rob P]

Hi All,

Looking for some advice.

My PC is dying and will need replacing.

I was considering going with Mac (my wife has one & is enthusiastic about its capabilities); however programs such DSS appear to only run on PC's.

Can Mac users advise if this is the case, that there are only limited astro-programs, or can point me in the right direction?

Many Thanks,

Rob

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

AstroPlanner was originally designed for mac.

[pvelez (Pete)]

The SkyX works on Mac or Windows. Its Camera Add On covers many imaging functions including some guiding and control of ASCOM devices eg focusser and rotator.

I use Pixinsight for processing on my Mac - works very well

Pete

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Hi Rob, couple of options. Check out this site for native astro apps for Mac:
http://www.primordial-light.com/macastronomer.html
Or you can run a Win based VM (virtual machine) on Mac for Win based native apps such as DSS, etc. The options are to go with either open source VM such as Virtual Box (https://www.virtualbox.org/) or VMWare for about $60 or so. I've run both and as long as you have enough dram (memory) in the host machine things run smoothly.
Stark Labs (PHD, Nebulosity, etc) comes in Mac as well as Win. Anyhow, my 2 cents worth

[Wavytone]

Originally Posted by lacad01

Hi Rob, couple of options. Check out this site for native astro apps for Mac:
http://www.primordial-light.com/macastronomer.html
Or you can run a Win based VM (virtual machine) on Mac for Win based native apps such as DSS, etc. The options are to go with either open source VM such as Virtual Box (https://www.virtualbox.org/) or VMWare for about $60 or so. I've run both and as long as you have enough dram (memory) in the host machine things run smoothly.
Stark Labs (PHD, Nebulosity, etc) comes in Mac as well as Win. Anyhow, my 2 cents worth

VMWare, Parallels or Crossover (free). Or use BootCamp (also free) and run Windows natively at full processor speed. My own preference is Parallels after trying all of these.

[Rob P]

Thank you all. Your time and comments are much appreciated.

[Poita (Peter)]

I also run elastix for image alignment, it is a command line tool, works on OSX/Windows/Linux etc. and allows to to register images from different nights. Very handy.

http://elastix.isi.uu.nl/

[DavidTrap (David)]

For full access to the USB ports to drive CCD cameras, mounts, etc, you might have less issues with Bootcamp (which starts your Mac running Windows, not OSX) rather than starting OSX and then using Parallels or Fusion to then run Windows.

DT

[2stroke (Jay)]

Bootcamp for sure, its just less hassle, more stable and reliable. I can't wait for the day when ms dies and we have all unix based os's.

[DannyV (Danny)]

I've found VMware Fusion 5 is great, and far better than Crossover.
Fusion 5 runs all the relevant astro programs in a Windows 7 session and lets you share your mac folders and USB and LAN ports and network shares.
It can be run seamlessly so that I can use TheSkyX or Nebulosity3 yet still use DSS, RegiStax6 or AutoStakkert at the same time.

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Mac astro program's also include -

PHD
Nebulosity
Pixinsight
Equinox
Stellarium
DSLR Shutter
EQMac (like EQMod but for osx)

"Come to the dark side Luke"

Cheers

Andy

[Antlerscreek]

Hi,
"Long time reader, first time poster"
Can anyone recommend a stacking program for Mac, i may later today (the wife) be buying adobe Cs6, and i believe i can do stacking in there? (When she's not looking.)
I dont have a guided scope yet so im thinking my best shot is going to be lots of shorter exposures (1.5" +/-) and stacking them?
I just got a 60Da and all of a sudden nebulas are showing up in my photos like they never have before, all i had was a Nikon D60 before. Childhood dreams coming true - now waiting for falcor to come live with me!

[DannyV (Danny)]

Hi Antlerscreek, try following Adam's primordial link for answers, but certainly Nebulosity 3 will do it.

[tonybarry (Tony)]

I use Nebulosity (stacking), AstroPlanner (ephemeris), and SkySafari Pro (planetarium). I also use AstroIIDC but alas, it is no longer in development.

All for Mac, all excellent.

Regards,
Tony Barry

[Antlerscreek]

Thanks guys,
Downloaded nebulosity spent half the day trying to get it to talk to my camera, and hello clouds and lightning. Hahahaha

[Antlerscreek]

Just incase any other noobs like me need help with nebulosity, i found this pretty helpful,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMhLYg-xPuc