Automate several astrophotography tasks, such as equatorial mount, polar alignment and target centering in order to solve certain image problems caused by misalignment of GoTo telescopes.
- AstroTortilla
- Version :0.7.0.0
- License :GPL
- OS :Windows All
- Publisher :Antti Kuntsi
AstroTortilla Description
AstroTortilla is a lightweight CAD application specialized in automating several astrophotography tasks, such as equatorial mount, polar alignment and target centering.
User interface
The GUI is made up of three main panels that integrate configuration settings related to the telescope, camera and solver.
On the downside, the utility does not offer support for a help manual and the configuration parameters are not so easy to tweak, especially if you are a rookie. The current settings can be saved to a file so you can import data in your future projects.
Telescope and camera settings
AstroTortilla gives you the possibility to pick the telescope from a drop-down list, view the current and target positions, pick the camera, as well as set up several camera parameters related to bottom, left, right, and top margin, window class, and window title.
Automatic actions
The tool is able to automatically discover where your telescope is pointed using plate solving options and lets you calibrate your GoTo tracking mount and measure your polar alignment error.
Furthermore, AstroTortilla offers you the freedom to automatically slew to an existing astrophotography location and opt for an automated drift alignment shot.
Images can be imported from FIT, FITS, FTS, JPG, TIFF, or PNM file format. You can check out the log for additional information and possible errors, adjust the log level (e.g. critical, error, debug), and clear log data with just one click.
An overall efficient utility
All in all, AstroTortilla comes with a smart suite of settings for helping you solve several problems which are related to misalignment of GoTo telescopes. On the downside, the GUI cannot be described as highly intuitive, so rookies may need to invest extra time and effort into decoding the program’s features.