The oldest question in astrophotography, answered
A free Windows app that reads tonight’s sky over your site, scores the whole catalogue against your telescope, camera and horizon, and commits to one target — with the honest why.
No account, no sign-up, no trial timer. The decision runs offline at the dark site.
Features
Optimal target
Scores every target against your exact rig — framing, mount limits, field rotation, moon — and commits to one pick with the honest why. Both hemispheres, free for Windows.
GO / MARGINAL / DON'T-BOTHER
The night itself gets a verdict before any target does. GO means shoot. MARGINAL means there's a real window but it's compromised — and the reason is stated. DON'T-BOTHER means rain, cloud or moon have won, and the honest call is to stay inside. A coach that can't say no isn't a coach.
Scored against your rig
Tell it your rig, once. Focal length, camera, mount, your horizon, your sky. It won’t guess any of it — you tell it your site once, and everything from there is deterministic. The engine scores every target for how it frames, reaches and tracks on your equipment — down to what your mount can and can’t do near the zenith. Yours, not someone else’s.
Built for the dark site
No account, no sign-up, no signal. The full decision runs with zero internet at the dark site, and your data stays on your machine.
Your idea, honestly scored
Type any object and it gets the same scoring the hero pick gets — including the NOs: won’t fit your sensor, culminates too low, moon sitting right on it. A second opinion, not a search box.
The sky’s news, in the decision
Comets well placed tonight and supernova alerts as they happen — filtered to what your sky and your scope can actually reach — weighed alongside the deep-sky catalogue. Target-type toggles narrow the decision to the objects you actually shoot — nebulae night, galaxies only, your call. The engine does the maths either way.
The engine decides. The AI only speaks.
Sun, moon and target positions are computed locally from JPL ephemerides via skyfield, for your exact coordinates — the same fundamentals planetariums are built on, pointed at one question. Every altitude, window and framing figure comes from the engine, deterministically. The AI only writes the prose; it never invents the astronomy. Unplug the AI and the decision still stands on its own numbers.
Also in the box, every clear night
The weather, the memory and the voice.
No more washout nights
It reads the forecast for your dark window and calls it: GO, MARGINAL or DON’T-BOTHER. Cloud, wind, dew, humidity. One glance decides.
Your picks never go stale
Shown targets rest 30 days, so the list rotates itself. Pro rests your captures three months and never repeats a finished project.
Your AI coach, every night
Pro’s advanced AI narration briefs your target fresh nightly: why this one, sub length, gain, filter, moon, the plan. Built-in voice free.
Benefits
One Console, Both Hemispheres
This isn't a one-hemisphere app with the other half bolted on. Both skies get the same care: 10,181 objects scored every night across the whole sky, with hand-curated showpieces for each hemisphere — the Magellanic Clouds, 47 Tucanae and Carina in the south; Andromeda, the Veil and the Double Cluster in the north.
No toggle to fiddle with, either. Your site latitude decides your sky, and the console answers the only question that matters: what do I shoot tonight?
Pricing
The full decision — hero pick, shortlist, honest verdict — is free forever.
Founder Lifetime — A$79 once, first 25 supporters only.
Need a direct installer? Download the .exe from GitHub.
Or get it from the Microsoft Store
Same free app — one-click install, automatic updates.