Ekos Astrophotography tool for KStars

Overview

Ekos is a tool that aims to provide astronomers using Linux with a single, consistent, and extensible framework to perform astrophotography tasks. This includes polar alignment using drift method, auto-focus & auto-guide capabilities, and capture of single or stack of images with filter wheel support.

Features

• Polar Alignment using drift method.
• Auto and manual focus modes using Half-Flux-Radius (HFR) method.
• Auto guiding based on lin_guider code.
• Batch capture of images with optional prefixes, timestamps, and filter wheel selection.

Questions

• When will Ekos be ready? I want to use it now!
• Can I use my CCD/Telescope/Focuser with Ekos?
• When performing autofocus, what do I set the initial focus step size to?

Answers

When will Ekos be ready? I want to use it now!

Ekos was released in KDE 4.10 and supports all the above features with the exception of the polar alignment drift method. It continues to be improved.

[Up to Questions]

Can I use my CCD/Telescope/Focuser with Ekos?

Any devices that is supported under INDI is automatically supported under Ekos as it uses INDI for device control.

[Up to Questions]

When performing autofocus, what do I set the initial focus step size to?

A general rule of the thumb is to set the step size to a smaller value the closer you are to optimal focus. The autofocus algorithm moves in discreet number of steps to build the V curve in order to converge to the optimal focus point, and adjusts the step size accordingly.

[Up to Questions]

Webmasters: Jasem Mutlaq
Last update: 2013-03-29