StellarMate Feature Tour
StellarMate is a complete observatory control and astrophotography solution. Connect your equipment to StellarMate, and control them from anywhere at any time. Capture spectacular images and discover the cosmos!
Whether you're 10 or 10,000 meters away, you are always in the captain seat
Discover the numerous features that will help you achieve more science with your equipment.
StellarMate Astrophotography Solutions
Embark on your astrophotography journey with ease using the StellarMate X, our entry-level controller tailored for practicality. This compact and fast controller is ideal for mobile setups, boasting the ability to connect up to 4 USB devices (or more using external extenders). Crafted with meticulous precision and innovative design, the StellarMate X caters to both novices and experienced astronomers, facilitating the creation of breathtaking astrophotos effortlessly.
Experience the pinnacle of astrophotography control with StellarMate Pro, an advanced controller seamlessly blending cutting-edge technology with user-centric features, ensuring accessibility across all expertise levels. Its intuitive interface empowers you to seamlessly manage your telescope, camera, mount, and additional devices, guaranteeing meticulous accuracy when capturing celestial marvels. With features including 4x 12V DC outputs, 2x Dew Heaters, 1x Variable voltage, and 6 USB ports, StellarMate Pro is a versatile powerhouse. Enhanced by external GPS and WiFi antennas, it guarantees robust communication bandwidth, catering to all your astronomical requirements.
StellarMate OS is the core technology that drives StellarMate Astrophotography Controllers. For more advanced users that want to roll StellarMate technology to their own device, we offer StellarMate OS images. The images can be downloaded and flashed to your own devices. Currently, Raspberry PI4 and x86_64 Mini PCs are supported
Cross-Platform Support
While you can use StellarMate without any computer, you can remotely control it using KStars desktop planetarium program which is available on Windows, MacOS, and Linux. We truly believe in cross-platform support because we understand you want to remain on your favorite OS!
Mobile Control
Seamlessly control your astrophotography equipment from the convenience of your smartphone or tablet. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced astronomer, the app's intuitive interface empowers you to command your telescope, camera, and mount with ease. Capture breathtaking celestial images, track objects with precision, and even automate complex imaging sequences effortlessly. With wireless connectivity and real-time monitoring, the StellarMate App redefines convenience, putting the power of the cosmos in your hands. StellarMate App is available for both Android and iOS.
Web Control
Discover the future of astrophotography collaboration with EkosLive online portal. Seamlessly connecting astronomers around the world, EkosLive revolutionizes the way enthusiasts and professionals interact with the cosmos. Harness the power of real-time, remote observatory control, enabling you to capture awe-inspiring celestial wonders from the comfort of your own home. It can be accessed via Chrome browser from any platform and a FREE tier gives you a glimpse of the power of online collaboration & workflow. With EkosLive Pro, you can store all your images on the cloud so that you never have to worry again about missing image
Extensive Equipment Support
StellarMate is based on industry-standard Open Astronomical Instrumentation Protocol (INDI) to drive all equipment. INDI is an open source technology and is community driven. Numerous devices are supported including, but not limited to
More drivers are added by the community and manufacturers. With StellarMate, you get all the latest updates as soon as they are released!
Brands
This partnership stands as a testament to our unwavering dedication to innovation, customer-centricity, and the pursuit of unparalleled quality.
Auto HotSpot
StellarMate is based on industry-standard Open Astronomical Instrumentation Protocol (INDI) to drive all equipment. INDI is an open source technology and is community driven. Numerous devices are supported including, but not limited to
When StellarMate cannot find network coverage, it automatically switches back to HotSpot mode so that you never lose connectivity with StellarMate!
In addition to HotSpot and WiFi, StellarMate can be connected to your LAN/WAN via Ethernet.
Modern Planetarium
StellarMate is shipped with KStars, a modern feature-rich planetarium software for all platforms.
It provides an accurate graphical simulation of the night sky, from any location on Earth, at any date and time. The display includes up to 100 million stars, 13,000 deep-sky objects,all 8 planets, the Sun and Moon, and thousands of comets, asteroids, supernovae, and satellites.
Hundreds of full-color catalogs, covering the whole electromagnetic spectrum from radio to gamma rays, can be overlayed directly on the sky map. It supports adjustable simulation speeds in order to view phenomena that happen over long timescales, the KStars Astrocalculator to predict conjunctions, and many common astronomical calculations.
It includes a powerful observation planner, a sky calendar tool, and an FOV editor to calculate field of view of equipment and display them. Find out interesting objects in the "What's up Tonight" tool, plot altitude vs. time graphs for any object, print high-quality sky charts, and gain access to lots of information and resources to help you explore the universe!
Equipment Profiles
Define any number of equipment profiles and load them on the go when you need to operate specific sets of equipment. Both Local and Remote profiles are supported.
Advanced scripting features designed for observatories support custom device startup procedures that allows for remote power up of equipment without any operator intervention.
Versatile FITS Viewer
KStars simple, yet powerful FITS Viewer tool is embedded directly into Ekos and can be opened separately to examine images. It supports monochrome and colors (3D Cube) FITS files in addition to bayered images. PixInsight's XISF format is fully supported along with DSLRs formats (CR2, CR3, ARW..etc)
Additionally, it supports World-Coordinate-System (WCS) that enables additional features such as equatorial grids, object detection, and GOTO to any point in the image.
View and manipulate the histogram, and load up image statistics and FITS header information.
Observation Planner
Find new targets using the Observation Planner. Use the highly-configurable wizard to find objects of interest using numerous parameters.
Download DSS images and view objects in the Altitude vs. Time tool to plan the best time for observation.
You can even simulate how the object might appear within the eye-piece or the camera's Field of View.
Find interesting objects in tonight's sky, and when you are ready, simply command your mount to go to your favorite object.
Powerful Capture Tool
Enjoy one of the most powerful image acquisition capabilities available today. You can simply capture a preview, frame an image, or record a live video stream of planets.
For more complex requirements, the highly-configurable Sequence Queue supports batch capture of images with filter wheel and rotator support. The images can be stored remotely on StellarMate, or downloaded to your computer, or both. For non-parfocal filters, you can set the relative focus filter offsets to adjust focus when switching filters. A wizard can help you to build offsets by capturing images with different filters and measuring the exact offset required automatically
Flat field captures can be automated with the Calibration Assistant. Set the desired ADU and let Ekos calculate the perfect exposure. Dark flats are automatically generated to match the flat exposures.
Video Recording
Capture video from supported astronomy cameras and many webcams.
Select a custom ROI (Region of Interest) to exactly record what you want to reduce video bandwidth and speed up FPS.
Record monochrome and color video streams in industry standard SER format.
Field Rotator Support
Directly control your rotator from Ekos, and select the desired Position Angle for your images
You can preview how a specific orientation affects your final results by adjusting the camera field-of-view (FOV) indicator in real time on the sky map.
And with the full-sky high-resolution DSS overlay, you get to see exactly how your image would appear once imaged. No more guesses!
Dark Library
Reduce noise in your captured frames by building a dark library. Select simple dark subtraction or for noisy un-cooled cameras, construct a defect map to remove unwanted hot and cold pixels
The validity of dark frames can be configured including an expiry date and the temperature threshold at which the frame is not considered valid.
Sharp AutoFocus
Get pin-point stars with the Focus module. Using Half-Flux-Radius (HFR) or FWHM calculations, StellarMate can automatically pick a focus star, subframe it to reduce download times, and adjust focus to get you as close as possible to the Critical Focus Zone.
Use Framing to inspect your images to make any necessary adjustments. If desired, lock the focus process to utilize a specific filter wheel.
Enable In-Sequence focusing to ensure you always get sharp images during the night regardless of temperature or telescope position.
Powerful Guiding Capabilities
Use the built-in Internal guider to lock onto a star and keep it bound during the imaging session. You can toggle directional control per axis, and adjust proportional gain to fine-tune guiding performance. By default, KStars uses multi-star guiding to achieve maximum performance If desired, you may opt to select PHD2 as the external guiding applications as they are fully supported in Ekos. You can monitor guiding performance and export it to a spreadsheet for advanced analysis.
Guiding pulses can be sent either via an ST4 interface, or directly to the mount if supported.
Precision Astrometry
The days of 2 or 3 stars alignment are of the past. Welcome to the world of Astrometry, where captured images are analyzed by StellarSolver, and results are used to correct the mount position to achieve highly accurate GOTOs
Offline and remote astrometry solvers are supported including ASTAP, Astrometry.net,or Watney.
Even if Polaris is not visible, you can still use the tool to figure out the offset. Build a mount pointing model to accomplish repeatable and reliable GOTOs during each session.
Found an image you want to capture yourself? Simply load in the image in Load & Slew and Ekos shall analyze it and slews your mount to the target location so you can capture the same exact field. The camera can even rotate to match the orientation of the target within the image so you end with the exact frame!
Easy Polar Alignment
Measure and correct polar alignment errors with the highly acclaimed Polar Assistant Tool
Ekos automatically captures and solves a number of images to accurately calculate the polar alignment errors. Follow the simple guided steps and make corrections visually until you achieve a satisfactory polar alignment for your GEM.
No need to spend half an hour trying to polar align your mount when it can be done now within a couple of minutes!
Mount Modelling
Use Ekos Mount Modelling tool to train and improve your mount internal or external model. Generate all-sky target points using various options and then command your mount to begin the process.
For mounts such as EQMod, the model is updated after each sync point and once satisfied with the results, you can save your model to be used in subsequent sessions.
Other mounts store the model internally (e.g. 10-Micron) and they can be updated accordingly to achieve superior performance for unguided imaging.
Dome Slaving
Ekos supports operation of domes and roll-off roofs.
For domes, you can slave it to follow the mount as it traverses across the sky. Simply enter the required dome parameters and then let the dome track the mount motions to ensure your OTA ends up dead-center in the dome slit.
Whether the mount is tracking or performing a meridian flip, the dome driver will intelligently command motion to reach the desired position using the shortest path possible.
Analysis Insights
The Analyze Module in KStars serves as a tool for reviewing and analyzing the details of past imaging sessions, offering insights into the sequence of events without direct control over imaging processes. The module encompasses two main graphs: Timeline and Stats, which remain synchronized to display the same time interval from the Ekos session. The Timeline presents key Ekos processes, such as image capture and guiding, with color-coded indication
This feature-rich module enhances users' ability to review and learn from their imaging experiences, aiding in refining their astrophotography techniques.
Robotic Operation
Let StellarMate capture your data while awake or asleep. It covers the whole spectrum from cold startup of the observatory, target evaluation and data acquisition, to safe and secure shutdown in case of unfavorable weather conditions.
Select your target, sequence file, fill in the necessary conditions and constraints and then start the scheduler.
The scheduler can operate the dome, slew to the target, and perform autofocus, autoguide, and image acquisition in a completely robotic fashion without human intervention.
