Astrophotography on the Apple Mac
Software, hardware and workflows for imaging the night sky with a Mac, from an astrophotographer who does it every clear night.
What do you want to shoot?
Software you'll need
Made here
Laminar captures the steady seconds. Strata stacks them into one sharp planet.
See Laminar and StrataSoftware you'll need
Made here
Meridian keeps every night you've imaged in one place, and knows what fits tonight.
See MeridianRead first
People ask: Does DeepSkyStacker run on a Mac? AutoStakkert on a Mac? Is PixInsight native on Apple Silicon? Browse the Mac software directory
Native Mac Apps for Planetary Imaging
Made here by an astrophotographer who uses them every clear night. Transit tells you when the planets, Moon and Sun are worth imaging, Laminar captures them, and Strata stacks them into one sharp image. Meridian keeps your whole imaging archive: it's built around deep sky, and it handles planetary sessions too.
Transit, astronomical events
Know when to look up.
- An hourly weather score for the night ahead
- Planets, the Moon, eclipses and satellite passes
- Alerts that stay quiet when it's overcast, plus widgets and a menu bar
Laminar, planetary capture
Catch the steady seconds.
- Planetary, lunar and solar capture with live frame quality
- Tracks the disc and runs filter wheels, focusers and LRGB sequences
- Records straight to disk without dropping a frame, even on a MacBook Neo
Strata, planetary stacking
Thousands of frames. One perfect planet.
- Grades every capture and shows you the best of the night
- Strata Warp alignment, drizzle, wavelets and deconvolution
- Batches thousands of videos unattended, from one video to a whole season
Meridian, deep-sky archive
Every night you've imaged. In one place.
- Identifies every target automatically, from 41,731 objects in 19 catalogs
- Hours by filter, session and rig, and what still fits tonight
- Finds any target from Spotlight, and never edits a file
All four apps in one bundle: Laminar, Strata, and Meridian at a discount, with Transit free.
Ephemeris: read your PHD2 guide logs natively on your Mac.
Find where last night's guiding went wrong: the guide chart, calibration and periodic error, a library of every night your rig has recorded, and 25 observations that say what to check next.
Tonight from Houston
Plan the shot before you set up
Two free calculators that work like Mac apps in your browser, best run full screen. Enter your telescope and camera once and both tools use them. Every number updates as you type, and a copied link brings back your exact setup.
Latest from Mac Observatory
Deep dives into the software, hardware, and techniques that make astrophotography work on the Mac.
Laminar 1.9.0 Adds Filter Wheels, Focusers, and Automated LRGB Sequences
Laminar 1.9.0 adds direct filter wheel and focuser control through INDIGO, plus sequences that automate LRGB captures.
Strata 1.3 Adds Warp+, and Here's What I Measured
Warp+ picks the sharpest frames separately at every alignment point. On a 799-frame Moon capture it gained about 14% local contrast at the median tile, at 2x to 3x the stacking time.
Why I Shipped Laminar's Interval Capture as a Shortcut Instead of a Feature
Two App Intents, a bundled shortcut, and the interface work that isn't ready yet.
Software
Mac-compatible astronomy & astrophotography apps
Reviews
Hands-on equipment evaluations & first lights
Tutorials
Step-by-step guides for technique & processing
News
Software releases & ecosystem updates
Imaging
Astrophotography images with acquisition details
Field Notes
Personal stories from behind the eyepiece
From the observatory
All images
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