> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://macobservatory.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Growing List of Mac Planetary Imaging and Processing Applications - URL: https://macobservatory.com/mac-planetary-imaging-software/ - Published: 2020-07-30T16:20:45.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-15T16:28:41.000Z - Author: Andrew Burwell - Tags: Software, #planetary ![ Saturn captured on the Celestron EdgeHD 11” with ASICap and a ZWO ASI224MC camera. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8d/3a/8d3ae6c9-185e-49c7-b8a6-36d44545d9f9/content/images/2026/03/saturn-7-9-2020-format-original.webp) Saturn captured on the Celestron EdgeHD 11” with ASICap and a ZWO ASI224MC camera. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8d/3a/8d3ae6c9-185e-49c7-b8a6-36d44545d9f9/content/images/2026/03/macobservatory-ad-format-original.webp)](https://agenaastro.com/?rfsn=7382607.4cfa63&ref=macobservatory.com) AutoStakkert has no Mac version. It never has, and the developer says there are no plans for one: the official download page states the software is Windows only, runs under Wine on Linux and macOS, and that native versions are not coming. So if you searched for "AutoStakkert for Mac" and found a pile of forum threads and Wine tutorials, that is why. What exists instead is a set of Mac applications that do the same job, and as of 2026 several of them run natively on Apple Silicon. I wrote the first version of this page in 2020\. Back then the honest answer was "install Python and run Planetary System Stacker." That answer is out of date. Here is what the Mac actually has now, capture and stacking, with what each one does and where each one still falls short. The short answer There is no Mac build of AutoStakkert, RegiStax, WinJUPOS, or PIPP. On macOS the equivalent work is done by Strata, Planet Stacker X, Planetary System Stacker, LuckyStackWorker, and Lynkeos for stacking and sharpening, and by Laminar, FireCapture, AstroDMx Capture, and ASIStudio for capture. Most of these are free. Several are native Apple Silicon apps that need no emulation layer at all. ## What the Windows tools map to on the Mac Almost every planetary tutorial on YouTube assumes a Windows machine running four separate programs. That chain exists for historical reasons, not because planetary imaging requires four programs. Here is what each one corresponds to if you stay on macOS. Windows to Mac The planetary chain, translated What Mac software covers each step of the standard Windows workflow. FireCapture Capture [Laminar](https://macobservatory.com/laminar-planetary-capture-software) AstroDMx Capture FireCapture also ships a Mac build SharpCap Capture [Laminar](https://macobservatory.com/laminar-planetary-capture-software) AstroDMx Capture No Mac build of SharpCap itself AutoStakkert!4 Stacking [Strata](https://macobservatory.com/strata-planetary-processing) Planet Stacker X Planetary System Stacker Lynkeos RegiStax Wavelet sharpening [Strata](https://macobservatory.com/strata-planetary-processing) LuckyStackWorker Planet Stacker X WinJUPOS Derotation [Strata](https://macobservatory.com/strata-planetary-processing) LuckyStackWorker PIPP Preprocessing [Strata](https://macobservatory.com/strata-planetary-processing) Folded into import and frame analysis Mac Observatory Suite Apple Silicon native Available on Mac The interesting rows are PIPP and WinJUPOS. Preprocessing and derotation were separate programs on Windows because nobody built them into a stacker. On the Mac they are features inside applications rather than applications in their own right. ## Capturing on the Mac Capture is the half of the workflow people forget about when they ask about AutoStakkert. A stacker is only as good as the SER file you feed it, and this is where the Mac has quietly caught up. [Laminar](https://macobservatory.com/laminar-planetary-capture-software) is the Mac Observatory capture app, currently at version 1.7\. It requires macOS 15 and Apple Silicon, which is a real limitation if you are on an older Intel machine. In exchange you get direct vendor SDK support for ZWO ASI, PlayerOne, QHY, ToupTek, SVBONY, Altair, OGMA, Omegon, MallinCam, and RisingCam, plus generic UVC devices including iPhone Continuity Camera. If you have an iPhone and a phone eyepiece holder, that is a quick way to dabble in planetary imaging without buying a dedicated camera. The features I care about most came from testers rather than from a spec. Custom ROI selection, shaped in part by solar imagers running spectroheliographs, where the region you read off the sensor is the instrument. A warning when your capture length is long enough that Jupiter or Mars will visibly rotate during the run, which is the difference between a sharp stack and a smeared one. And continuous disk write speed monitoring: Laminar measures what your drive actually sustains, names the volume, and tells you whether it can keep up, so you find out before the session rather than afterward when frames are missing. FireCapture is still the reference tool for a lot of imagers, and it does have a Mac build at version 2.7.15\. Read the compatibility grid on the FireCapture site carefully though, because the Mac column is shorter than the Windows column. On macOS it covers Altair, OGMA, PlayerOne, QHY, SVBony, ToupTek and Omegon, and ZWO ASI. Basler, FLIR, TIS, LUCID, NexImage, Skyris, and anything going through ASCOM are Windows only. The Mac download is also an x64 build, so on Apple Silicon it runs through Rosetta. AstroDMx Capture deserves more attention than it gets. It is free, actively developed by Nicola Amanda Mackin, currently at 2.17.2, and it has shipped a native Apple Silicon build since version 2.6.3\. It supports a wide spread of cameras including UVC devices and capture cards, and it added INDI mount, camera, focuser, and filter wheel support in the 2.0.2 series. The catch is that it is not notarised by Apple, so macOS reports the app bundle as damaged on first launch. The developer explains this openly on the site: notarisation carries an annual fee that is difficult to justify for free software. If you shoot ZWO exclusively, ASICap inside ASIStudio is the path of least resistance. Note that ZWO's macOS download is version 1.8 and was last updated in April 2023, so the Mac build trails the Windows one. oaCapture is still listed everywhere, including in the 2020 version of this page, but its last release was 1.8.0 in December 2020 and the Mac build is Intel. It works if your gear is older, and the source is on GitHub, but it is no longer where I would send a new imager. Capture software Planetary capture apps on macOS | App | Apple Silicon | Camera families on Mac | Cost | | ----------------------- | ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------- | | Laminar 1.7 | Native, required | ZWO, PlayerOne, QHY, ToupTek, SVBONY, Altair, OGMA, Omegon, MallinCam, RisingCam, UVC and iPhone | Paid, Mac App Store | | FireCapture 2.7.15 | x64 build, Rosetta | ZWO, PlayerOne, QHY, ToupTek and Omegon, SVBony, Altair, OGMA | Free, donationware | | AstroDMx Capture 2.17.2 | Native ARM64 build | Wide vendor range plus UVC, capture cards, and INDI devices | Free, not notarised | | ASIStudio 1.8 (ASICap) | Mac build last updated April 2023 | ZWO only | Free | | oaCapture 1.8.0 | Intel build, last release Dec 2020 | ZWO, QHY, ToupTek, Altair, MallinCam, RisingCam, IIDC, UVC | Free, open source | Camera lists reflect each developer's own published compatibility information at the time of writing. ## Stacking and sharpening on the Mac This is the part people are searching for when they type "AutoStakkert Mac" into Google. The thing AutoStakkert does that simpler stackers do not is local alignment: instead of aligning whole frames, it places a mesh of alignment points across the planet and aligns each patch independently, because atmospheric seeing distorts different parts of the disc differently. Any stacker without that will give you a softer result, no matter how many frames you throw at it. [Strata](https://macobservatory.com/strata-planetary-processing) is the Mac Observatory processing app, at version 1.1.2\. It runs the whole pipeline in one window across seven phases: import, analyze, stack, derotate, sharpen, color, export. Frame quality scoring runs on the GPU with an interactive selection curve, stacking uses local correction with drizzle at 1.5x, 2x, and 3x, sharpening covers wavelets and Wiener deconvolution, and derotation handles multi-capture combination with a separate path for Saturn's rings. It reads SER v2 and v3 at 8 and 16 bit, the uncompressed RAW8 AVI subset that ZWO's ASIAir and ASICap produce, and TIFF, PNG, JPEG, and FITS stills. It needs macOS 14.6 or later. What it deliberately does not do is deep sky work, and it does not assemble mosaics: one capture in, one stacked result out. The colour work is where Strata pulls away from the other Mac stackers. There is a solar palette system with ten built-in palettes drawn from what solar imagers actually use, and you can duplicate any of them and edit the stops yourself, with a background tint on top. Solar Tone sits alongside the wavelets in the sharpen phase. For lunar work there is mineral enhancement, which pulls out the colour differences between titanium-rich and iron-rich terrain that your eye cannot see in the raw stack. And every image, colour or mono, gets a Levels card with draggable black point, midtone, and white point stops on a live GPU histogram, with a clip readout that counts inside the planet disc rather than across the whole frame. Planet Stacker X from Rain City Astro is free on the Mac App Store and is the easiest recommendation I can make to someone who wants to try this tonight without spending anything. It handles SER and RAW AVI, offers automatic or manual frame selection with a sharpness graph, previews alignment live, and includes wavelet sharpening, RGB shift correction, tone curves, noise reduction, and batch processing. The developer's own story is worth reading: he got tired of not being able to stack planetary data on an M1 MacBook Pro without virtualisation, wrote a script, and the script became the app. Planetary System Stacker is the one I recommended in 2020, and it is still algorithmically excellent. Rolf Hempel's own documentation states that test results show at least the same image quality as AutoStakkert!3, and it builds a proper alignment point mesh with per-point frame ranking. The problem is entirely about getting it running. The current PyPI release is 0.9.8.3 from July 2023, and the only macOS wheel published is an Intel one, so on Apple Silicon you are running it under an x86 Python through Rosetta. Nick Kohrn's launcher, which I linked in the original version of this article, still helps, but it is a project from a different era of Mac hardware. LuckyStackWorker changed a lot since I first covered it. Wilco Kasteleijn added derotation and stacking in version 7.0.0, and version 7.1.0 improved derotation reliability and added direct derotation of mono R, G, and B sets. It is not a lucky imaging stacker in the AutoStakkert sense, since it works on image stacks rather than raw video, but the deconvolution, dispersion correction, and batch sharpening are strong and it is free under the MIT licence. There are Mac builds for both Intel and Apple Silicon. Like AstroDMx, it is unsigned, and on Apple Silicon you have to run a quarantine removal script in Terminal before it will open. Lynkeos is the long-running native option. Jean-Etienne Lamiaud has maintained it for close to twenty years, and it does multi-point alignment: the v3.0 release notes from September 2018 record a new multiple points align. SER support arrived in 3.1, a SER exporter in 3.7, and version 3.6 brought a native ARM build. The current release is 3.10 from November 2025, running on Intel and Apple Silicon, macOS 10.13 and later. That deep OS compatibility makes it the obvious choice on hardware the newer apps have left behind. Siril is the other one worth watching. Multi-point registration for planetary video was developed with the support of Rolf Hempel and has been merged into the 1.5 development cycle. In current stable releases the planetary registration methods are single point, which the Siril documentation itself describes as poorly suited to high definition planetary alignment. When 1.5 lands, that changes. Stacking and processing Planetary stackers on macOS | App | How you install it | Local alignment | Derotation | Cost | | ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------- | ------------- | ----------------- | | Strata 1.1.2 | Mac App Store | Yes, GPU | Yes, built in | Paid | | Planet Stacker X | Mac App Store | Not stated by developer | No | Free | | Planetary System Stacker | Python 3 and pip, or a third-party launcher | Yes, alignment point mesh | No | Free | | LuckyStackWorker 7.1.0 | DMG, unsigned, Terminal step on Apple Silicon | Works on stacks, not raw frames | Yes, since v7 | Free, MIT | | Lynkeos 3.10 | Disk image from SourceForge | Yes, since v3.0 | No | Free, open source | | Siril | Installer or Homebrew | In the 1.5 development cycle | No | Free, open source | Version numbers current at the time of writing. Check each developer's release page before downloading. About those "damaged app" warnings Several free Mac astronomy apps are unsigned or unnotarised, and macOS will tell you the app is damaged when it is not. Apple charges an annual developer fee for notarisation, which is hard to justify for software given away for free. Follow the developer's own instructions on their site rather than a random forum post, and only ever run a quarantine removal script you got directly from the project. ## Putting a Mac workflow together If you are starting from nothing and want to spend nothing, capture with AstroDMx Capture or FireCapture depending on your camera, then stack and sharpen in Planet Stacker X. That gets you a real planetary image tonight with no Terminal commands and no Windows. If you want the shortest path with the fewest applications, capture in Laminar and process in Strata, which keeps everything native and hands SER files straight between the two. If you already own a stack you like, Strata reads SER from any capture tool, so nothing forces you to change how you shoot. If you have older Intel hardware, Lynkeos is the most sensible native option, and FireCapture's Mac build will run without Rosetta. What has actually changed since 2020 is not that one great application appeared. It is that the Mac now has several, at different price points, from different developers, and the answer to "can I do planetary imaging on a Mac" stopped requiring an apology. ![ Seven single images processed separately, then combined in Photoshop to make an animated GIF. This was shot on my EdgeHD 11” telescope with ASICap and the ZWO ASI224MC camera. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8d/3a/8d3ae6c9-185e-49c7-b8a6-36d44545d9f9/content/images/2026/03/jupiter-animated-7-09-2020-format-original.gif) Seven single images processed separately, then combined in Photoshop to make an animated GIF. This was shot on my EdgeHD 11” telescope with ASICap and the ZWO ASI224MC camera. Frequently Asked Questions Common questions about planetary imaging software on the Mac. Is there a Mac version of AutoStakkert?+ No. AutoStakkert is Windows only, and the developer's download page states there are no plans for native Mac or Linux versions. It does run under Wine or CrossOver on macOS. Native Mac alternatives that do the same job include Strata, Planet Stacker X, Planetary System Stacker, and Lynkeos. What is the best free planetary stacking software for Mac?+ Planet Stacker X is the easiest free option, since it installs from the Mac App Store and handles SER and RAW AVI with wavelet sharpening built in. Planetary System Stacker is more capable algorithmically but requires a Python installation. Lynkeos is a good native choice, particularly on older Macs. Does FireCapture work on a Mac?+ Yes. FireCapture ships a Mac build alongside the Windows, Linux, and Raspberry Pi versions. The Mac camera support is narrower than on Windows, covering ZWO, PlayerOne, QHY, ToupTek and Omegon, SVBony, Altair, and OGMA. The Mac download is an x64 build, so it runs under Rosetta on Apple Silicon. How do I do WinJUPOS derotation on a Mac?+ WinJUPOS has no Mac build. Two Mac applications handle derotation natively: Strata, where it is a phase in the main processing pipeline, and LuckyStackWorker, which added derotation in version 7.0.0. Why does macOS say a free astronomy app is damaged?+ The app is almost certainly fine. Apple requires notarisation, which carries an annual developer fee that many free and open source astronomy projects choose not to pay. AstroDMx Capture and LuckyStackWorker both document the workaround on their own sites. Follow the developer's instructions rather than advice from a forum. Can I use an iPhone as a planetary camera on a Mac?+ You can, with a phone eyepiece holder to mount the iPhone on the telescope and Laminar capturing from it through Continuity Camera as a generic UVC device. It is a quick way to dabble in planetary imaging before buying a dedicated camera. A dedicated planetary camera will give far better results, mostly because of frame rate, sensor size, and control over exposure and gain. Do I need Apple Silicon for planetary imaging on a Mac?+ Not for everything, but the newest applications increasingly assume it. Laminar requires Apple Silicon and macOS 15\. Strata is optimised for Apple Silicon and supports Intel. Lynkeos runs natively on both and supports macOS 10.13 and later, which makes it the best option on older hardware. Mac observatory Every astronomy app that runs on macOS Planetary is one corner of it. The full directory covers capture, stacking, processing, mount control, and FITS tools. [Mac Astronomy Software →](https://macobservatory.com/mac-astronomy-software) [Deep-Sky Stacking on Mac →](https://macobservatory.com/mac-deep-sky-stacking-software-guide) Astrophotography from the Mac perspective