INDIGO A1 (All-in-one) Mac Astrophotography Software Released

For some time now, the folks over at Cloudmakers.eu have been working to combine all their separate Mac astrophotography applications into one single piece of software. It went through a beta period a month or two ago, and has finally made it into an initial release. This final software suite is called INDIGO A1 or all-in-one.

The software is a paid application ($54.99) which comes at a discount to their previous software which was $24.99 per application (Imaging, Guiding, and Telescope control, INDIGO control panel, and INDIGO script editor. INDIGO A1 can be used standalone running on your Mac connected to your telescope imaging equipment, or, you can install their free INDIGO Sky server application on an inexpensive Raspberry Pi computer at the telescope, and use INDIGO A1 to control it on your Mac from inside your home so long as both your home Mac and the Raspberry Pi are connected to your network.

Here’s the details of the INDIGO A1 system direct from Cloudmakers:

INDIGO A1 is a front end for imaging, guiding, mount and auxiliary devices INDIGO agents. Its purpose is to control main imaging camera, filter wheel and focuser, to allow proper framing, focusing and capturing from a single batch of images to quite complicated series of images with different parameters and settings, to control the guiding camera, its guider port and/or the connected mount and it is a simple planetarium and telescope control application.

It is actually AstroImager, AstroGuider and AstroTelescope bundled together to a single process together with utilities like AUX Panel, INDIGO Control Panel and INDIGO Script Editor, so everything what you can read about these applications applies to INDIGO A1 as well.

It can control many devices supported by built-in INDIGO drivers or it can use any 3rd party remote INDIGO or INDI driver. Out-of-the-box it contains INDIGO drivers for the following devices:

  • CCD, focuser, wheel, rotator, mount, gps and dome simulator drivers,

  • Atik CCD and wheel drivers (Intel only),

  • ZWO ASI CCD, wheel, focuser and guider drivers (doesn't work with non-S ASI120MM/MC, Intel only),

  • IIDC CCD driver (both USB and FireWire cameras),

  • QHY CCD and filter wheel drivers (Intel only),

  • SBIG CCD and filter wheel driver (Intel only),

  • Meade DSI CCD driver,

  • Orion SSAG/QHY5 CCD driver,

  • StarlightXpress CCD, wheel and AO drivers,

  • QSI CCD and wheel driver (Intel only),

  • FLI CCD, wheel and focuser driver,

  • Apogee CCD driver,

  • Moravian Instruments CCD and wheel driver,

  • ToupTek CCD driver (Intel only),

  • AltairAstro CCD driver (Intel only),

  • SVBONY CCD driver (Intel only),

  • UVC (USB Video Class, e.g. SVBONY SV205) CCD driver,

  • PTP-over-USB CCD driver for Canon, Nikon and Sony Alpha cameras,

  • Trutek (TruTech) wheel driver (untested),

  • Brightstar Quantum wheel driver (untested),

  • Xagyl wheel driver (untested),

  • Optec wheel driver (untested),

  • QHY CFW wheel driver added,

  • Manual filter wheel driver,

  • EQMac guider driver (obsoleted on macOS Mojave),

  • CG-USB-ST4 driver,

  • Shoestring GPUSB, FCUSB and DSUSB drivers,

  • Focuser USB v3 driver,

  • WeMacro Rail USB driver,

  • MJKZZ macro rail USB driver,

  • PegasusAstro DMFC, UPB, PPB and FlatMaster drivers,

  • RigelSys nSTEP and nFOCUS drives,

  • MoonLite focuser driver,

  • Optec focuser driver (untested),

  • LakesideAstro focuser driver (untested),

  • Deep Sky Dad AF1, AF2 and AF3 focuser driver,

  • Baader Planetarium SteelDrive II focuser and Classic dome drivers,

  • AstroGadget FocusDreamPro focuser driver,

  • RoboFocus focuser driver,

  • MyPro2 focuser driver,

  • ASTROMECHANICS ASCOM Canon EF Lens Controller focuser driver,

  • Lunatico Limpet/Armadillo/Platypus Focuser/Rotator/Powerbox drivers,

  • PlaneWave/Celestron focuser driver,

  • LX200 mount driver (supports Meade, AvalonGo, Losmandy Gemini, 10micron, EQMac, Astro-Physics GTO and OnStep dialects),

  • NexStar mount driver (supports Celestron and Skywatcher dialects),

  • Takahashi Temma mount driver,

  • iOptron Mount driver,

  • SynScan/EQDir mount driver,

  • ExploreScientific PCM8 mount controller driver,

  • RainbowAstro mount driver,

  • NexStarAUX mount driver (WiFi only),

  • Generic NMEA 0183 GPS driver,

  • GPS Service Daemon (GPSD) client driver,

  • HID Joystick driver,

  • RTS-on-COM shutter driver,

  • Unihedron SQM sky quality meter driver,

  • ASTROMECHANICS PLM aux driver,

  • Artesky flatbox driver,

  • Lacerta Flat Box Controller driver,

  • Optec Flip-Flat driver,

  • Geoptik flat driver,

  • USB_Dewpoint V1 and V2 driver,

  • Lunatico AAG CloudWatcher driver,

  • Lunatico Astronomia Dragonfly Dome and Relay controller drivers,

  • Astromi.ch MGBox v1/v2, MBox, MGPBox and PBox driver,

  • NexDome Dome driver (based on G.Rozema's firmware),

  • NexDome Dome driver (requires firmware v.3.0.0 or newer),

  • Beaver dome driver,

  • Interactive Astronomy SkyRoof and SkyAlert drivers,

  • Modernised 2-m Class Zeiss Telescope Systems (ASCOL).