ASTRONOMY - FREE SOFTWARE
Downloads of freeware telescope programs.
IF ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE
I WANT TO OPERATE THE TRAP DOOR.
Page links active as of May 21 '10
Homepage and latest software for CCD owners.
An optical raytrace program. Can be used to design telescopes or other optical instruments. Limited to 10 surfaces. (6.3MB)
A ray-tracing program for tilted component telescope design. Mirror designs only. Good program for ATM's. (71KB)
It will calculate field of view, pixel coverage, effective focal lengths, focal ratio, size of chip, approximate size of object on the chip etc. based on telescope setup, printout observing log etc. CCD cameras, telescopes and camera lens are easily selected from drop down lists which include most of the popular cameras and telescopes. (1.6MB)
Newt is a newtonian telescope design program. It ray traces the telescope checking for vignetting, optimizes diagonal size, calculates baffle size and position and more. It allows you to easily and quickly change any of the design parameters of the telescope and to see the results. It says shareware but payment is not required. (71KB)
RONCHI FOR WINDOWS
Ronchi for Windows is a simulation program for Amateur Telescope Makers (ATM's.) It simulates the appearance of a mirror while undergoing the Ronchi Test. (289KB)
The Aberrator generates images that show the effects of several types of aberrations (distortions) that influence the quality of a telescopes performance. Images of this type are documented for instance in "Star testing Astronomical telescopes: a manual for optical evaluation and adjustment " by Harold Suiter. (256KB)
Modern Optical Design and Analysis (MODAS) is a program for quickly evaluating performance of optical systems, such as telescopes built by amateur astronomers. Optical data can be imported from and exported to various file formats. Ray traces and other analyses are performed very quickly, and wavefront plots and similar results can be plotted, saved to file, or stored as image bitmaps. A tutorial is included. The freeware version is limited to just four optical surfaces. (10MB)
For each set of measures, it gives the shape of the mirror and the zones to be polished. All the measures are saved and can be seen at any time in a worksheet to find the good way to polish. It can also calculate the parameters of the Couder Screen using several criteria. (527KB)
Controls many Celestron and Meade "Goto" telescopes to slew directly to the selected object. (650KB)
Optical Design Software. (7MB)
Scope Calculator 2 is a tool for making comparisons between eyepieces when used with a given telescope, returning information such as magnification, true field of view, and exit pupil. The magnification is either blue or red, depending on whether it is below or above the likely maximum magnification of the telescope. (833KB)
To assess & illustrate the key paraxial parameters for an imaging system. (3.2MB)
EQAlign born as a software that assists to align a German Equatorial Mount (GEM) exactly to the Earth polar axis. Today, in adition to polar align feature, EQAlign is a full featured astronomical software. 96.1MB)
Software for optical system design. (97MB)
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Download freeware telescope and ray tracing programs.