Linux and astrophotography

Does anyone know of any linux software that will work with a CCD camera?
Including such functionality as guide star control, and scope
interface? I'm beginning to start some astrophotography and the results
obtained with ccd cameras is really appealing.

Thanks.

Kevin Penrose wrote:
Does anyone know of any linux software that will work with a CCD camera?
Including such functionality as guide star control, and scope
interface? I'm beginning to start some astrophotography and the results
obtained with ccd cameras is really appealing.

I suggest you look at IRAF (Image Reduction and Analysis Facility) at
http://iraf.noao.edu/.

Now, how patient are you? Daniel Bisque of Software Bisque recently
wrote in the BisqueMac Yahoo group:

The long term plan is to make all our applications run natively
under Mac OS X (as well as under Windows, and perhaps
*other popular operating systems*).

TheSky will be first, then CCDSoft, then the others.

Please note that it all won't happen overnight...

"Other popular operating systems" has to mean Linux, doesn't it? This
has been in the works for some time; Tom Bisque told me this last April
at NEAF, but a few more details have come out. It is my understanding
that this isn't merely a "port" from Windows, but that Bisque is
re-writing its software from the ground up for /all/ of the OS's it
will support, including Windows. Patience, because there is a /lot/ of
code involved and it's going to take a long time.

Note that that's a "perhaps" on the "other popular OS's." If I were a
Linux-using astronomer* I would round up a bunch of other Linux-using
astronomers and let Bisque know that the interest exists. Since there
is a very recent exchange with Daniel Bisque in the BisqueMac Yahoo
group, you might consider starting with a post there, or e-mail Daniel
Bisque at support2 at-sign bisque dawt cawm.

Davoud

*OK, the truth is, if I were a Linux-using astronomer I would get a
Mac, which can run /natively/ all the great Mac-only software, all the
graphics and other multi-platform software that runs better under Mac
OS than anywhere else, all of Unix, and now, Windows software at full
speed -- no more slow emulation of the Intel processor. But please note
from the body of my reply above that I am /not/ saying this is what
/you/ should do!

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 16:22:06 +0000, Kevin Penrose wrote:


Does anyone know of any linux software that will work with a CCD camera?
Including such functionality as guide star control, and scope
interface? I'm beginning to start some astrophotography and the results
obtained with ccd cameras is really appealing.

Thanks.

FLI appear to be in the process of developing Linux drivers for their
cameras. I recently came across a new to me dealer with a lot of
information on these cameras-see
http://www.opticstar.com/Astro-Softw...9&p=0_10_0_1_0
At the bottom of the page is a reference to a program called ImageJ, a
Java based image editing package, developed initially for medical imaging,
but it seems to be pretty good for astronomical imaging. Have only
recently downloaded it myself and have yet to do more than open and tweak
a few images. There are a lot of extra plugins which will need to be
looked at as the default installation just covers basic image
manipulation and I have not checked to see if there are any
camera/scope interfaces. See http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/index.html

You might want to check out the SBIG site as they have a
comprehensive Linux section see http://www.sbig.com/search/searchpage.htm
and type Linux.

Finally AIPS was recommended to me a while back, it seems to be used by a
lot of the big observatories for image processing. I have not used it
myself, but it may be worth checking out. See
ftp://ftp.cv.nrao.edu/casa/obtaining.html

Hope this is of use
Phil Bishop

Kevin Penrose wrote:
Does anyone know of any linux software that will work with a CCD camera?
Including such functionality as guide star control, and scope
interface? I'm beginning to start some astrophotography and the results
obtained with ccd cameras is really appealing.

Thanks.

KStars has a scope interface and support for a few cameras including
FLI, Apogee PPI, and Meade LPI. I only use KStars as planetarium
software so I can't comment on the functionality of the scope control
and camera interfaces.

On 2006-03-20, Kevin Penrose wrote:

Does anyone know of any linux software that will work with a CCD camera?
Including such functionality as guide star control, and scope
interface? I'm beginning to start some astrophotography and the results
obtained with ccd cameras is really appealing.

There are linux drivers for Apogee and SBIG CCD cameras,
according to their web sites. There are linux drivers for
several webcams (video4linux, etc.) that are useable for
lunar and planetary photography. I guess IRAF is useable
for image processing. It looks a little difficult. Some DOS
and Microsoft Windows image processing software ought to be
functional under dosemu or wine. I've wondered whether
or not the Cookbook CCD Camera programs for DOS will work
under dosemu. Has anyone actually done this?

--
The night is just the shadow of the Earth.

"Kevin Penrose" wrote in message
...

Does anyone know of any linux software that will work with a CCD camera?

As a user looking for a solution, the first thing you should always do, is
select the application that you want to run, and THEN select the system
(OS/Hardware) that it runs on.

/semi-rant on

This apparent putting of the cart (OS/Hardware) before the horse
(application) never ceases to amaze me. I mean it's fine if you're a
developer/hobbyist and you want to create an application. That goes without
saying. But in general there's far too much focus on the OS by far too many
"users". An operating system is nothing more than a computer hardware
resource allocator. Everything else that comes bundled with it, is just
bells and whistles (including the GUI, although Linux is one of the only PC
OS's that can actually be divorced from it).

Now, it's true that there are negatives and positives in each implementation
of the resource allocator, but that's not really the application's problem,
or the hardware's problem, nor is it likely to be noticed by the application
user once the application interface is up and running and making requests of
the OS.

I really hate to say this, but selecting an OS that has fewer available
applications as your *only* OS, is simply a bad investment. Don't limit
yourself. Hardware is cheap.

It simply makes more sense to run a Windows application, whenever a Windows
application is readily available, and feature rich.

/semi-rant off

:-)

-Stephen

*** Free account sponsored by SecureIX.com ***
*** Encrypt your Internet usage with a free VPN account from http://www.SecureIX.com ***

Kevin Penrose asked:
Does anyone know of any linux software that will work with a CCD camera?

Stephen Paul replied:
As a user looking for a solution, the first thing you should always do, is
select the application that you want to run, and THEN select the system
(OS/Hardware) that it runs on.

That's good advice -- for someone who is buying their first computer.
Not so good for someone who has an /established/ /need/ for a computer
running Linux and who decides at some point that in addition to those
things he /must/ do with Linux, he also /wants/ to control a CCD camera
without buying a new computer.

Inceasing numbers of people solve this problem by using computers that
run multiple OS's. /That/ makes sense to me.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

Davoud wrote:
Kevin Penrose asked:

Does anyone know of any linux software that will work with a CCD camera?


Stephen Paul replied:

As a user looking for a solution, the first thing you should always do, is
select the application that you want to run, and THEN select the system
(OS/Hardware) that it runs on.


That's good advice -- for someone who is buying their first computer.
Not so good for someone who has an /established/ /need/ for a computer
running Linux and who decides at some point that in addition to those
things he /must/ do with Linux, he also /wants/ to control a CCD camera
without buying a new computer.

Inceasing numbers of people solve this problem by using computers that
run multiple OS's. /That/ makes sense to me.

Davoud


Indeed, I have (courtesy of VMware) a Windows XP computer inside my
Linux workstation. Its C: disk is actually a partition on my hard
drive, and the rest of the hard drive looks like a network device --
but other than that little quirk, it works just fine.

-- Bill Owen

Bill Owen wrote:
Davoud wrote:

Kevin Penrose asked:

Does anyone know of any linux software that will work with a CCD
camera?



Stephen Paul replied:

As a user looking for a solution, the first thing you should always
do, is select the application that you want to run, and THEN select
the system (OS/Hardware) that it runs on.



That's good advice -- for someone who is buying their first computer.
Not so good for someone who has an /established/ /need/ for a computer
running Linux and who decides at some point that in addition to those
things he /must/ do with Linux, he also /wants/ to control a CCD camera
without buying a new computer.

Inceasing numbers of people solve this problem by using computers that
run multiple OS's. /That/ makes sense to me.

Davoud


Indeed, I have (courtesy of VMware) a Windows XP computer inside my
Linux workstation. Its C: disk is actually a partition on my hard
drive, and the rest of the hard drive looks like a network device --
but other than that little quirk, it works just fine.

-- Bill Owen


Bill, which distribution of Linux are you running. Just curious...
I'm using rhel4.3-i386-ws currently. Thanks.

-Sam

Sam Wormley asked:

which distribution of Linux are you running. Just curious...

I use Slackware on my x86 boxes. Even my laptop.
It just works.

My UltraSPARC boxes run Debian. No Slackware on
SPARC...it all started when I wanted to try Linux on
something other than x86, and the cheapest approach
appeared to be buying an Sun Ultra 5 on EBay.

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..."
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte