Hello AB!!
About a year ago, I had early hands-on time with what was then called Astro Station. I made a YouTube video and a few forum posts about it here and there…
At that point, it was obvious what they were trying to build: an open, brand-agnostic alternative to the ZWO ASIAIR, but it also wasn’t hard to see that it simply wasn’t ready. The concept was solid, the execution wasn’t. Since then, Astro Station has effectively been retired and reborn as Stellavita, and after hearing a lot of quiet chatter about recent updates, I decided it was worth revisiting properly and making an updated post and video. I will link to it at the end of this write-up. The main selling point of Stellavita isn’t that it’s “better” than ASIAIR in every category, it isn’t, but that it doesn’t care what brand you use. During my testing, I ran mixed equipment without friction, and that alone will matter a lot to a certain segment of imagers. This is the full setup I used:
ZWO AM5N
ToupTek ATR2600M
ToupTek 7×2" filter wheel
GPM462M guide camera
Compared to my first experience a year ago, the app is almost unrecognizable. At power up, you are greeted with a screen very reminiscent of the ASIAIR UI:
If you click on the connection tab at the top right of the screen, it will prompt you to choose your equipment. In my case, it detected all my connected devices. When it didn’t, it was due to the DC outputs not yet being turned on. You can simply click Connect All, and it will connect to your devices seamlessly.
On the left side of the screen, Stellavita displays real-time imaging overlays. These include the guide graph, the histogram, and a crosshair, all of which can be individually toggled on or off to keep the screen as clean or as data rich as you prefer. There is also an option to detect stars in the image.
On the right, you’ll find the camera capture controls, including gain, exposure time, and the capture button for taking single frames or starting sequences. From here, you can also swipe left to access quick settings and controls for all your gear. If you want to access the full settings for your equipment, you can click the gear icon in the bottom right corner instead.
The bottom left corner is dedicated to equipment control modules. From here, you can open panels for the mount and focuser functions.
This is also where you select between Single Capture, Record Mode, and Plan Mode, depending on whether you’re testing, capturing manually, or running an automated session. You can also access the Sky Atlas by clicking on the constellation icon.
Here you can also open the full guider module:
Within the Sky Atlas, you can search for targets, manually point at one, slew and center, toggle the horizon line, enable or disable equatorial coordinates, access the compass, and use the framing and rotation tools to match a desired camera angle. I tested all of these functions successfully with very few issues.
I was able to autofocus with default settings, polar align, configure a plan to capture two separate targets consecutively, and guide without much of an issue. Here are some screenshots:
Autofocus
Polar Alignment
Capture Plan
Plan Progress
Functions like guide on start, autofocus at a given time interval or on filter change, and slew and center between targets all worked seamlessly.
Here is where I did encounter issues, however. There is still no automated flat exposure calculation, no automatic flat-panel support, and no rotator support. ToupTek has informed me that they are actively working on adding these features, as well as continuing optimizations across the rest of the app.
There are also still issues with the connection. The WiFi signal is very weak, even when very close to the device. I experienced one instance where the signal dropped when the telescope slewed and the device moved out of direct line of sight. On my video, ToupTek commented with a suggestion to use a stronger WiFi dongle, such as the AC1300. I believe I have one somewhere and will be testing that, but it will still take up one precious USB port. The new app is also not yet available for iOS, but hopefully that will change soon.
I am happy to answer any questions, and I hope you found this useful. You can watch my video here if you’d like.
https://youtu.be/kvuNpBUgBeQ?si=Rq6OlRGig5Gd4apT
Clear skies,
Ali (AstraPharma)
