Every astrophotographer knows the frustration: you’ve hauled your equipment to a dark site, polar-aligned your mount, and cooled your camera, only to realize your target galaxy has already set behind the trees. Nova DSO Tracker transforms this cosmic guesswork into precise mission planning, providing real-time altitude tracking, moon separation calculations, and visibility forecasts for thousands of deep-sky objects from the comfort of your laptop or Raspberry Pi.
Built on Flask and powered by AstroPy, this application serves as comprehensive mission control for imaging sessions. The Framing Assistant helps plan multi-panel mosaics with CSV export for ASIAIR and N.I.N.A., while the Night Explorer provides visual target galleries prioritizing high-altitude objects. Version 4.7.5 introduces log file analysis for ASIAIR and PHD2, turning your guiding data into actionable insights about session efficiency and environmental conditions. The SQLite backend tracks equipment configurations, project progress, and integration times across multiple sessions.
What sets Nova DSO Tracker apart is its integration philosophy—seamlessly connecting Stellarium planetarium software with SIMBAD astronomical databases while maintaining the flexibility of open-source development. The dark theme preserves night vision during field use, while the yearly heatmap visualization reveals optimal imaging windows months in advance. Whether you’re a weekend warrior chasing Messier objects or a serious imager planning semester-long projects on faint nebulae, this tool bridges the gap between astronomical theory and practical field operations.
⭐ Stars: 18
💻 Language: Python
🔗 Repository: mrantonSG/nova_DSO_tracker