Stellarmate Plus Manual

User Manual
Version 2.3
Released 2023.02.01
Copyright © 2018-2023 by Ikarus Technologies. All Rights Reserved.

The StellarMate Plus Manual
Table of contents
Welcome ........................................................................................................... 5
Warnings .......................................................................................................... 5
Package Contents ............................................................................................... 6
Introduction ...................................................................................................... 7
Quick Startup ................................................................................................ 8
Specifications ................................................................................................. 8
Passwords ..................................................................................................... 8
Learning StellarMate ....................................................................................... 9
StellarMate App ................................................................................................. 9
Registration ................................................................................................... 9
QR Code ................................................................................................. 11
Steps ...................................................................................................... 11
Setup .......................................................................................................... 11
Connecting your devices ........................................................................... 14
Ports ....................................................................................................... 15
Port Selector ............................................................................................ 15
Optical Trains .......................................................................................... 18
Weather Inforrmation ............................................................................... 26
Tour Guide .............................................................................................. 27
DSLR Setup ............................................................................................. 31
Ekos ........................................................................................................... 32
Quick Controls ......................................................................................... 42
Mount ................................................................................................. 43
Camera ............................................................................................... 50
Preview & Framing ........................................................................... 50
Video Recording ............................................................................... 51
Live Stacking ................................................................................... 52
Settings ........................................................................................... 57
Rotator ............................................................................................... 58
Modules .................................................................................................. 59
Focus .................................................................................................. 60
Align .................................................................................................. 67
PAA ................................................................................................ 73
Guide .................................................................................................. 82
Capture ............................................................................................... 86
Dark Library ................................................................................... 102
Mount ............................................................................................... 107
Observatory ....................................................................................... 110
INDI Control Panel ............................................................................. 112
Scheduler .......................................................................................... 115
Settings ......................................................................................... 117
Mosaic Planner ............................................................................... 127
Data acuisition ............................................................................... 129
Data Storage .......................................................................................... 130
Directory Browser ................................................................................... 136
Targets ..................................................................................................... 139
Framing Assistant ................................................................................... 145
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Device ....................................................................................................... 147

Updating StellarMate Software ................................................................. 148
Changing Hotspot WiFi Band .................................................................... 150
View ......................................................................................................... 152
Settings ..................................................................................................... 160
Achievements ........................................................................................ 163
Connection Methods ....................................................................................... 166
Direct HDMI Connection .............................................................................. 167
Connecting your equipment ..................................................................... 168
Connecting from Ekos ............................................................................. 168
Ethernet Connection ................................................................................... 171
StellarMate Address ................................................................................ 172
Downloading Ekos .................................................................................. 172
WiFi Connection ......................................................................................... 172
HotSpot Connection ................................................................................ 173
Infrastructure Connection ........................................................................ 173
StellarMate Address ................................................................................ 175
Downloading Ekos .................................................................................. 175
VNC .......................................................................................................... 176
Connecting from Ekos via Ethernet/WiFi ........................................................ 177
Direct Ethernet ........................................................................................... 180
Connecting Equipment Via Bluetooth ................................................................ 180
Serial Port Assistant Bluetooth Wizard ........................................................... 181
Manual Pairing ........................................................................................... 184
Connecting CCDs ............................................................................................ 185
Connecting DSLRs .......................................................................................... 186
Supported DSLRs ....................................................................................... 187
Canon ................................................................................................... 187
Nikon .................................................................................................... 188
Troubleshooting ......................................................................................... 189
Connecting Mounts ......................................................................................... 189
Mounts ...................................................................................................... 190
Celestron ............................................................................................... 190
SkyWatcher ............................................................................................ 191
Mount Connection Guide ............................................................................. 193
Serial to USB .............................................................................................. 196
Wired Network ........................................................................................... 197
Wireless Connection .................................................................................... 197
Connecting Focusers ....................................................................................... 198
Serial to USB .............................................................................................. 198
Connecting Filter Wheels ................................................................................. 198
USB & Serial to USB .................................................................................... 199
Operating Filter Wheel ................................................................................ 199
Time & Location ............................................................................................. 200
Web Manager ................................................................................................. 203
Web Manager URL ...................................................................................... 204
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Device Information ..................................................................................... 204

Adding New Profile ..................................................................................... 204
Removing Profile ........................................................................................ 205
Auto Start .............................................................................................. 205
Auto Connect ............................................................................................. 205
Starting & Stopping Server .......................................................................... 205
Serial Port Assistant ........................................................................................ 206
USB .......................................................................................................... 206
Network .................................................................................................... 207
StellarMate Serial Assistant .......................................................................... 207
StellarMate Control Panel ................................................................................. 208
Status Bar .................................................................................................. 208
Dashboard ................................................................................................. 210
Hardware .................................................................................................. 211
Software .................................................................................................... 213
Network .................................................................................................... 214
Diagnostics ................................................................................................ 216
Backup and Restore Process ..................................................................... 217
Logs ..................................................................................................... 220
Goto ......................................................................................................... 223
EkosLive ........................................................................................................ 224
How does it work? ...................................................................................... 224
Supported Browsers .................................................................................... 225
Getting Started ........................................................................................... 225
Connecting Ekos to the Cloud .................................................................. 225
Using EkosLive Web Application ............................................................... 226
EkosLive FAQ ............................................................................................. 228
Using GPS ..................................................................................................... 229
Selecting a GPS Dongle ............................................................................... 229
Configuring GPS in StellarMate ..................................................................... 229
Support ......................................................................................................... 230
Index ............................................................................................................ 230
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Welcome
StellarMate Plus Manual
Warnings
WARNING: NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN WITH YOUR TELESCOPE OR

CAMERA WITHOUT APPROPRIATE FILTERS IN PLACE. PERMANENT
AND IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE TO YOUR EYES AND YOUR EQUIPMENT
WILL OCCUR.
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Package Contents
Thank you for purchasing StellarMate! Please follow this guide before you starting using
your StellarMate Gadget.
After unboxing your package, you should have the following items:
1. StellarMate Plus Unit.

2. 1.8m mini HDMI Cable.
3. 3A 5V USB-C Power Supply (Plug type is selected in checkout).
4. 2-meter 12V DC to 5V DC USB-C cable. This can be plugged to any 12V field battery
to power StellarMate.
5. Quick Start Guide.
6. MicroSD Card 32GB U1 or larger depending on checkout selection (already inserted to

StellarMate Plus with SM OS 1.5.3).
7. Optional Mount to USB cable (can be purchased separately on checkout).
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IMPORTANT
A 32GB (or more, depending on your order) MicroSD card is already inserted into
the StellarMate Gadget when it is shipped. It might have moved or detached
during shipping, please make sure it is secured into its designated slot at the
bottom of the unit.
Connect the USB-C power supply cable to StellarMate Plus and then turn power on. You
should initially see a solid red light with occasional flashes of green. Wait for 30 seconds,
your StellarMate Plus is now ready to be used!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/2cOau9jBeJo
Introduction
StellarMate Plus is the Next Generation Internet-of-Things Astrophotography controller! The

principle behind StellarMate is simple:
1. Connect your equipment (Mount, DSLR/CCD, Focuser, Filter Wheel, etc.) to

StellarMate via USB/Bluetooth or Network.
2. Connect to StellarMate from either your Mobile, Tablet, or Laptop/Desktop Computer.
3. Start controlling your observatory and imaging from any major platform (Desktop or
Mobile).
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A complete free astrophotography tool is shipped with StellarMate: Ekos. You can either
use the built-in Ekos Astrophotogoraphy Tool, or download it on your Windows®, Mac®
OS, or Linux® computers to remotely control StellarMate from anywhere!
In addition to Ekos, StellarMate is compatible with many more applications, including
PixInsight, PHD2, Sky Chart, and many more!
From controlling an alone mount in the field to the orchestration of state of the art
observatory, StellarMate is the solution you have been waiting for.
Quick Startup
The following is the quick startup guide to getting StellarMate Plus up and running in a few
minutes using your phone/tablet:
1. Download Stellarmate App from the Android/iOS store.

2. Launch the App and Register an account.
3. Connect the power adapter to StellarMate and turn power on.
4. Open network settings in your phone/tablet and connect to the StellarMate WiFi
hotspot.
5. Open StellarMate App. Go to Setup tab. Click Rescan.
6. After StellarMate is detected, click on it.
7. Start the default Simulators equipment profile or create a new equipment profile.
8. Go to Ekos tab and start using your equipment.
9. Check StellarMate network settings and status from the Device tab.
Specifications
StellarMate Plus is based on Raspberry PI 4B, a proven platform for embedded computers
for many years.
· SoC: Broadcom BCM2711 64-bit SoC

· CPU: Quad core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) @ 1.5GHz
· GPU: Broadcom VideoCore VI
· Memory: 2 GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM
· Real Time Clock (DS3231) with battery.
· Storage: 32GB MicroSD card class 10.
· USB 2 USB 3.0 ports; 2 USB 2.0 ports.
· Network: Gigabit Ethernet, 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz IEEE 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth
5.0, BLE
· Mini HDMI: 1.8m Gold Plated Mini HDMI cable.
· Power: 3A 5V USB-C power supply. Specify which plug type you want on checkout.
· 12v to 5v USB-C 2-meter cable. Power SM Plus on the field from any 12v power
source.
RTC module: StellarMate Plus ships with a Real-Time Clock with battery to keep
StellarMate Plus time accurate even when power is off. A real-time clock is critical for
accurate astronomy & astrophotography work.
Passwords
· The default StellarMate OS password is smate
· The default StellarMate WiFi HotSpot password is stellar@mate
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Learning StellarMate
For new users, using StellarMate effectively can take a bit of a learning curve (like
everything else) especially given the breadth of the features if provides. Here are some
useful resources to get you started:
· First Time Setup tutorial.

· StellarMate Video tutorials.
· Ekos Video Tutorials.
StellarMate App
You can connect to StellarMate Plus Controller in several ways, including:
1. StellarMate Mobile App for Tablets.
2. PC/Mac using KStars.
3. Any Web browser or VNC client.
StellarMate App is the Official App for StellarMate gadget. It is available for both Android
and iOS smartphones and tablets. It is primary designed for tablets in portrait mode. While
it can be used for phones, for the best experience, use it with a tablet/iPad. Download and
install the App on your device before you continue.
StellarMate on the Google Play StellarMate on the App Store
WARNING
The App is required to connect to the unit and configure it for first-time use, so do
this step now and do not skip ahead!
Registration
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When using StellarMate App for the first time, you need to register your device, or sign in
using your existing stellarmate.com credentials:
1. StellarMate Plus and StellarMate Plus: If you purchased an SM+ or SM Pro device,
you need to register the device first before proceeding. Click on the Register button
and then follow the on screen guide.
2. StellarMate OS: If you purchased StellarMate OS, or already have registered the
device before, you can simply sign in using your stellarmate.com username and
password. Beware that you must be connected to the internet for the initial sign in to
proceed. After sign in is successful, no internet connection is required and you can
switch network to StellarMate hotspot if desired.
IMPORTANT
The StellarMate Mobile App requires a QR Code (on the back of StellarMate
Controller) in order to operate the StellarMate Controller. NO registration is
required to use the StellarMate Controller if you intend to use it directly via Web or
via Ekos client on Mac/PC/Linux. This step is only required if you want to use
the StellarMate Mobile App. You can continue to use StellarMate as is, including
accessing the Web Manager and VNC:
Web Manager URL: http://stellarmate.local:8624

Web VNC URL: http://stellarmate.local:6080
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QR Code
If you received the StellarMate Controller, you will find the Device QR Code on the back of
the unit.
If you purchased StellarMate OS, the Device Serial Number is automatically generated for
you.
Steps
Register your controller after downloading the SM App. Make sure your tablet is connected
to the internet.
1. Launch StellarMate App on iOS or Android.

2. Tap on the Register button.
3. Enter registration information to sign up in StellarMate website and then click Next.
4. Scan the QR Code found at the back of the unit.
After registration is successful, you will be logged in automatically. Check your email for
your license and login information.
Setup
Go to your mobile OS WiFi settings and connect to the StellarMate hotspot.
Hotspot: stellarmate
Password: stellar@mate
IMPORTANT
Before using the StellarMate App to configure your unit for the first time, please
use the networking settings in your iOS/Android phone/tablet to connect to the
HotSpot first. Once connected, proceed to run the StellarMate App.
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After connecting to StellarMate, go back to the App:
· Tap on RESCAN to start the scanning process. Discovered devices would be listed on
the left side pane.
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· After StellarMate is detected, tap on it to establish connection. Wait for a few seconds
and the LED would turn green indicating a stable successful connection.
The right side pane should now display the Equipment Profile page. Now you are ready to
connect to your astronomical equipment.
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Connecting your devices

Most astronomical equipment such as telescopes, cameras, filter wheels, and focusers
connect via a USB cable. To add your devices, you need to create a new Equipment
Profile. Tap on the Add (+) icon next to the profiles to start the equipment profile wizard.
You can select the drivers for your devices manually, or you can let StellarMate detect them
automatically by tapping on the Auto Detect button on the top-right corner. You can then
insert each device and wait for a confirmation after it gets detected. Sometimes you need
to confirm the type of device before you can continue. This is especially important when
using serial To USB adapters that are used for mounts and focusers.
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After all drivers are selected, enter the desired profile name and tap Save.
Ports
StellarMate uses a number of ports for different services:
5624: SSH Port
7624: INDI Server Port
8624: INDI Web Manager Port
6080: Web VNC Port
5900: VNC Server Port
80: StellarMate Dashboard
To make StellarMate accessible from internet, some of the ports could be open in the
firewall. However, there is no authentication/authorization portal provided by StellarMate,
so only open portals at your own risk or by providing an additional layer of security. The
minimum required ports that have to be opened to allow using INDI remotely over the
internet are ports 7624 and 8624.
Port Selector
Your equipment profile may contain one or more serial port and/or network-enabled
devices. Before establishing connection to such devices for the first time, StellarMate Port
Selector tool helps you to assign the appropiate ports and addresses for each. Serial
devices may include mounts, focuser, and filter wheels using USB-to-Serial adapters. You
need to know the baud rate for the device as by default it is set to 9600.
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Port Selector is not applicable to pure USB Devices such as Cameras.
For networked devices over Ethernet or WiFi, you need to supply the device hostname or
IP address and the device port. This information is usually supplied by your device
manufacturer. It is important to ensure that all networked devices are within the same
network as StellarMate. For example, if StellarMate is operating in hotspot mode (IP
10.250.250.1) then your network-enabled device must be connected to the same hotspot
network and have an IP address in this range (e.g. 10.250.250.5). On the otherhand, when
StellarMate is operating in infrastrcture mode (i.e. it is connected to an external WiFi
network like Home WiFi), then the other network-enabled devices must be connected to
the same network in order for all devices to talk to each other.
The Port Selector dialog can be accessed as any time by click on the Port Selector button.
When creating an equipment profile for the first time, it is automatically opened so you can
configure the ports before establishing connection to your devices either individually or via
clicking Connect All buton.
You can specify the ports for serial and network devices using the Port Selector.
.
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Connection Status
· Green: device is connected.
· Yellow: connecting to device.
· Red: connecting to device failed.
Connection Mode
· Serial: For mounts, filter wheels, and focusers that are connected via a Serial-to-USB
adapter. To connect to serial devices, you need to select the port and baud rate.
StellarMate provides the detected system ports in a dropdown menu to select from, but
you can also enter your own port manually.
· Network: For any network-enabled device (e.g. Mounts over WiFi like SkyWatcher AZ-
Gti).To connect to networked devices, ensure they are connected to the same network
where StellarMate is connected to. You need to enter the hostname or preferably the IP
address of the device in addition to the connection port and connection type (TCP or
UDP).
Baud Rate: Set the devices baud rate
Connect All: Connects to all the devices and closes the Port Selector
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When connecting a serial device, you can specify the port by selecting from the dropdown
or typing it in the text field
For network devices, you have to specify the hostname or IP of the device and the port.
Also you can choose the network type (TCP/UDP).
Optical Trains
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Optical Trains organize your equipment into separate unique optical paths. Each camera
must have its own optical train. The following elements are specified in each train:
1. Mount: Select which mount to use. Typically, all optical trains in the same profile use
the same mount.
2. Dust Cap: Select a mechanized dust cap if any (e.g. FlipFlat).
3. LightBox: Select a flat field lightbox if any (e.g. FlipFlat).
4. Scope or DSLR Lens: Select the scope or lens used in the optical path. To add,
edit, or delete optical elements, tap the Telescope & Lens button.
5. Reducer / Barlow: Select if any reducer or barlow is used in the train.
a. Reducer: By default it is specified at 1.0 which means that has no effect.
Range is 0.1x to 0.9x.
b. Barlow: If the value specified is over 1.0x, then it is considered a barlow
element (focal length is increased by this factor).
6. Rotator: Select a mechanized rotator if any.
7. Focuser: Select a mechanized focuser if any.
8. Filter Wheel: Select a filter wheel. This must be a standalone filter wheel connected
to Stellarmate via USB. If you have a filter wheel that is embedded in a camera, leave
this field mandatory.
9. Camera: Select imaging camera for this train. Each camera must have its own train.
10. Guider: Select the device that receives the guiding correction pulses. This can be
one of the following devices:
a. Mount: If the Mount can receive guiding correction pulses, then it is best to
select it so that the pulses are directly sent to the mount. This is the
recommended option.
b. ST4: If using an ST4 cable between the guide camera and mount, then you
should select the Guide Camera as the Guider.
c. Dedicated Guider: If using a dedicated guider interface device (like
Shoestring GPUSB) then select it as the Guider.
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If a device provides more than one functionality, then it should be specified in all relative
fields. For example, MoonLite Nightcrawler is a Rotator and Focuser at the same time, so
we select NightCrawler under both Rotator and Focuser fields.
Once the optical trains are configured, specify which trains to use in each Ekos module.
Typically, the Primary optical train is used in Capture, Focus, and Align modules while the
Secondary train is used in Guide.
Tap the help Button to view an external video tutorial on Optical Train.
Tap the edit button and it will open the Optical train modal with the specific settings of a
trian.
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You can now view tooltip for the desciption of some devices as shown in the images below:
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Tapping on Create new to creates a new train with a "New Train" name of previous /
default settings.
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Telescope & Lens:
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Displays Telescope / Lens View. So, you can Add / Update telescope and lens and then
use those in different trains.
Tap on the Add/Edit button next to the telescope to edit the details of the telescope. All
units are in millimeters.You can specify a Telescope and DSLR lens for your trains.
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Similarly, you can add/edit DSLR lens and then use Scope/Lens in different Optical
trains.
You can also access Optical train from the Setup Tab and Camera quick controls.
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Weather Inforrmation
Weather Information are available in the setup page. The weather bar displays current
weather information for the surrounded region. It provides the current state of the weather,
temperature, wind speed, humidity and the Bortle Class. The Bortle Class is a measure of
the brightness and observability of the sky relative to light pollution. Bortle Class 1 is ideal
and 9 is the worst.
The cloud button displays the 3-hour cloud map based on your current location.
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The visibility bar displays the percentage of cloud coverage over the map.
Tour Guide
Tour guide has been added to Stellarmate v2.5.8.
If you would like to take aTour guide, you will see a pop up whether to continue Tour Guide
or later.
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Currently Tour guide is available for few important features i.e Setup, Ekos & Targets.
Tour Guide can be seen in the few images below:
For Setup, you can tap "Next" to proceed to the next tour zones.
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On tap "Finish", the tour guide for specifc tap will be considered as completed. You can
also tap "X" during Tour guide to close it. That will also be considered as completed.
ON tap "Previous" button, to view the previous tour guide zone.
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In Ekos, one line description of modules and Quick controls is explained.
In Targets, the main features are explained as shown in the few images below.
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DSLR Setup
Once your DSLR is connected, it will ask you to setup it.
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After configuring it, you can tap the save button.
Ekos
When an equipment profile is not started, only the Ekos Scheduler module is available for
use. From the scheduler, you may select targets and sequences to create jobs. You may
specify job constraints and observatory startup and shutdown procedures. Once the
scheduler is running, it will select the best targets to image and would automate the rest of
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the workflow without any human intervention.
When an equipment profile is started, the Ekos modules becomes active. In the Ekos
screen, you can capture images, stream video, and create image sequences.
Furthermore, it provides the following facilities:
Canvas on Main Image:
You can center the mount to a specific target in the main image if plate-solving was
successful. From Ekos Align module, Capture and Solve an image. If successful, an
orange align icon is displayed in the Main Image View indicating that solving is successful.
For any subsequent images captured and displayed in the Main Image View, you may now
select the target by tapping on it. A red bullseye animation designates the target.
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Tap and hold the target for approximately one second to command the mount to slew. If
successful, the indicator icon changes to yellow and once motion is complete, it switches to
green. Capture a preview to verify the mount indeed centered the target as desired.
Repeat if necessary. Can also be seen in the below images.
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Hold on your desired target, mount will star moving to that specifc target. Yellow
animation will be appeared while it in in process.
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On success, the animation will turn to green.

On capture new image, the target lock animation will be reset to default.
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· Modules
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1. Focus: Focus your camera either automatically via an electronic focuser, or

manually by adjusting the focus while framing, or by using Bahtinov Mask
Assistant. Create presets for different configurations and set advanced
settings to control the star detection and focusing algorithms.
2. Align: Align your mount to get highly accurate GOTOs and to ensure you
target is always in the center. You can also load an existing image to plate
solve and then command the mount to go to the exact center in the sky.
3. Guide: Guiding enables long-exposure astrophotography by ensuring your
mount tracks accurately with time. It can automatically select and lock a
guide star and send correction pulses to the mount to keep it always
centered.
4. Capture: create, edit, and delete presets, job sequencing, Filter Settings,
Limit Settings, Calibration Settings, File Settings.
5. Mount: tracking on/off, park/unpark, Meridian Flip, Limit Settings (Alt and
HA Limits), and Pier Side.
6. Observatory: park/unpark cap, park/unpark dome, dome goto absolute
position and current angle representation.
7. Scheduler: Schedule your session depending to the targets and on different
timings.
8. INDI Control Panel: INDI Control Panel provides an interface to interact with
the drivers of the devices connected to Stellarmate.
· Quick Controls: Quick Controls are simplified quick-access settings for the
camera, mount, and rotator located on the top-right panel. They can be toggled at
any time. Once toggled, the corresponding control is overlayed on the top of your
existing view where you can quickly and efficiently control your devices.
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1. Mount: park/unpark, tracking on/off, mount speed, GOTO/Sync, and

directional pad control.
2. Camera: preview, loop, video stream, live stacking, and quick settings.
3. Rotator: goto absolute position and CCW/CW step rotation.
· Mount Status Bar
1. Shows the status of the mount if it is parking/unparking, slewing, tracking, etc. as

well as the target. Moreover, the Right Ascension, Declination, Azimuth, Alt-
Azimuth, and Pier Side are also shown in the status bar.
2. Also, Shows the camera information, temperature.
3. Save image icon is also added in status bar. You can now save your captured
images to tablet/Ipad by clicking the Save Icon Button. It will save
· Histogram
When available, clicking the histogram button in the main image view toggles
the non-linear histogram. The histogram is generated for both mono and rgb images.
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Crosshair:
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Use crosshair on captured image, which is appeared on the center of captured image.
Once it is toggled, you can see the crosshair on the image.
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Summary
The summary view includes the gist of your astrophotography workflow so you can always take
a quick look at the most important parameters without navigating to other screens. Depending on
which Ekos modules are active, the information may include the following:
1. Alignment
a. Total deviation error in arcsecs. The deviation is updated when you perform a
capture and solve operation.
b. Position Angle (PA) in degrees East of North.
c. Field of View (FOV) in arcminutes.
2. Guide: Total RMS error in addition to the guide deviation chart.
3. Capture: Current sequence settings and a progress indicator. Two timers are displayed to
the right of the progress indicator when a sequence is running:
a. Top timer: Sequence job timer countdown. This is the countdown until the current
active sequence is complete.
b. Bottom timer: Overall timer countdown. If you have multiple sequences, the timer
indicates the estimated time until all sequences are complete.
4. Focus: Half-flux-radius (HFR) measurement.
5. Mount: Current meridian flip status.
Quick Controls
StellarMate App has a total of three Quick Controls Modules which are used to control
three astronomical instruments as suggested by their names: mounts/telescopes,
cameras, and rotators.
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Mount Quick Controls Camera Quick Controls Rotator Quick Controls
Mount
Mount quick controls allows you to control your mount quickly and easily, it has the following
features:
· Mount Speed
· Park/Unpark
· Tracking On/Off
· Goto/Sync
· Directional Pad Control
· Lock Mount Controls
· Reverse North/South
· Reverse West/East
Unparking Your Mount
To unpark your mount, tap on the green button, it should turn red signifying that the mount
is now UnParked, and the mount status bar shows Idle.
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Tracking On/Off
For mount that support tracking control, you can toggle tracking by clicking on button. If
tracking is engaged, the icon turns to green and the mount status bar will show Tracking.
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Goto or Sync
You can goto or sync by clicking on the GOTO button, a dialog will pop-up where you
can goto or sync to your last target, choose one of your last recently used targets, or select
and category and choose a new target.
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Moving to a specific direction manually
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You can move your mount to a specific direction manually by using the Directional pads on
the left and right side of the screen.
Locking Mount Controls
You can lock mount controls using the Lock button on the bottom-right of the screen.
This will disable all the controls, and can be used to avoid any accidental touches.
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Parking Your Mount
You can park your mount by clicking on the red button, this will turn the button to the
yellow color while Parking your mount. After it is done parking, the button will turn to the
color green, showing Parked status in the mount status bar.
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Reverse Directions:
You can reverse the directions of your mount:

· North/South: Mount directions will be reversed for North/South when enabled.
· West/East: Mouth directions will be reveresed for West/East when enabled.
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Camera
· Camera quick controls allows you to control your camera quickly and easily.
· You can quickly change Settings and capture a Preview image, or start a continuous loop
Framing until explicitly stopped.
· Stream and Record videos if supported by your camera.
· Get amazing pictures with Livestacking
Preview & Framing
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1. You can capture a preview image by tapping on the Camera button.

o An animated circular progress icon will show the progress of the current capture
and will show you when the image is being downloaded to the app by showing a
green cloud download icon.
2. Looping can be done as well by tapping on the Loop button (repeat icon).
3. You can stop the capturing process by tapping on the Stop button anytime while it's
capturing.
Video Recording
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These are the following options in Video Recording:
1. Directory: Path of videos is set using Directory browser.

2. File Name: Set SER video file name. Record files may contain some patterns to make
them dynamic.
o _D_: For the date in YYYY-MM-DD
o _H_: For time in HH:MM:SS.
o _T_: For ISO8601 time stamp.
o _F_: For filter name, if any.
3. Play: Enables the video streaming if supported by the camera.
4. Record / Stop: Starts the recording, if the recording is started. Icon will be changed to
stop icon. So, you can stop the recording.
5. Until stopped: Select one from the predefined video durations or select Until Stopped
to to make the recording continues until explicitly stopped.
6. FPS: Record stream until these many frames are captured
Videos are recorded as lossless SER format. By default, they are saved to the StellarMate
Videos directly which can be accessed via Network share on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Live Stacking
StellarMate App includes support for Live Stacking. Live stacking works by combining data
from multiple images to increase the Signal to Noise ratio. This would reduce the overall
noise in the image and increase the contrast of the objects in the frame. Faint objects like
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galaxies and nebulae should pop up only after a few images are combined. As you
continue to live-stack, the graininess of the image would be substantially reduced resulting
in a crisp and smooth image.
The livestacked images are only as good as the data. Therefore, for Live-stacking to
operate successfully, the following conditions must be met:
1. The image must be well-focused.

2. The image must contain sufficient stars for the algorithm to work. The livestacking
algorithm inspects stars in each captured frame and performs the necessary star-
alignment to compensate for any offsets or rotations among the captured images.
3. For exposures above 30 seconds, you must have guiding activated. Star trails
tend to form with most consumer-grade mounts after usually 30 seconds. The
maximum unguided exposures should be less than 30 seconds, or as appropriate
given the tracking performance of the mount. Good Polar alignment significantly
helps the livestacking performance.
Livestacking can be toggled directly or during the execution of a sequence job in the
Capture module. When no sequence queue is running, the livestacker would trigger a
capture loop using the primary camera in the Quick Controls Settings. For example, if the
exposure duration was set to 5 seconds, then a 5-second capture loop is automatically
started by the livestacker. The capture loop would run indefinitely until stopped by the user.
Alternatively, if a sequence queue is already running, then toggling the liverstacker would
make it wait for the next frame to arrive before processing it.
In either case, the first frame is used to extract the reference stars information, and the
actual stacking begins starting with the second frame.
To toggle live stacking options, tap the LIVE button in the Camera Quick Controls. Tap the
Play button to start the process. Livestacker utilizes a median stacking algorithm and
automatic background extraction followed by contrast adjustments to bring out the details.
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Sigma clipping helps with noise reduction during the stacking process. The mean and
standard deviation are calculated from the first three captures. Subsequent captures are
then sigma-clipped to remove any outliers outside the envelope of acceptable ranges
around the mean.
The diagram below shows how values outside the envelope are masked and not included
in the stacking process. You can control the upper and lower limits of this envelope by
adjusting the slower and supper (default is set to 3) parameters in the app.
The contrast and saturation controls do not affect the stacking process itself, but apply
some cosmetic adjustments to the final image to improve its quality. Some non-nebulae
objects might benefit from the automatic background subtraction controlled by the
Background parameter. Increasing this value would attempt to compensate for sky glow in
the background, but might also result in loss of detail.
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https://pixinsight.com/doc/tools/ImageIntegration/ImageIntegration.html
Auto Dark: Subtract dark frames when applicable.

Plate Solve: Solve each frame and align frames accordingly (beta).
When Livestacked images are received, they are displayed in the main view with a
thumbnail carousel at the bottom. Each image is numbered sequentially. To ensure proper
performance, only the last 10 captured images are available in the carousel. To view a
specific image, simply tap its thumbnail in the carousel. When the livestacking is restarted
again, all images would be cleared.
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All livestacked images are saved as JPG in StellarMate Pictures directory, where they can
be accessed later via the Gallery, StellarMate network share, or FTP.
To save an image in the tablet/phone storage, tab the Disk icon in the camera’s info bar.
Settings
You can quickly take custom preview captures or loop frames by tweaking the settings in
the quick settings bar by tapping on the Quick Settings button. The quick settings
bar can be expanded by tapping on the up expand arrow on the left side of the bar.
Different settings can be changed for a specific camera i.e Frame type, Binning, Exposure,
Temperature, Gain & Offset.
Note: Choosing a temperature will set the temperature immediately.
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Rotator
Rotator quick controls allows you to control your rotator quickly and easily, it has the
following features:
· Display Current Angle (please note all angles are in degrees)
· Goto absolute angle
· 10-step Counter-ClockWise Movement
· 10-step ClockWise Movement
· Abort Motion
Going to absolute angle
You can go to an absolute angle by tapping on the textbox and typing it the angle you want
to go to, then tap on the Goto button next to the textbox on the right. You will be able to
see the angle display view changing along the way to its final angle.
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Going to an angle position by steps
You can rotate the rotator to a different angle using the CW and CCW rotation
buttons, which will change the rotation by 10 steps depending on the direction chosen.
Modules
StellarMate App has a total of six Ekos Modules which are used to control various
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astronomical instruments such as: CCD cameras, DSLR cameras, mounts/telescopes,

dustcaps, domes, roll-off shutters, filter wheels, rotators, focusers, and more.
Focus Align Guide
Capture Mount Observatory
Scheduler
Focus
The Focus module allows you to do focusing using your focuser, it has the following
features:
· Manage / Select Optical trains.
· Goto absolute motor step
· In/Out step movement: can be edited in Mechanics settings.
· Preview
· Loop
· Advanced options (settings, process, mechanics)
· Image viewer
· HFR Plot
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Train
You can Select / Edit a train specifically for Focus module. Each module has it's own train.
Visit Optical trains topic for more.
Auto focusing
You can do auto focusing by either keeping the preset setting as default or choosing an
existing preset and then tapping on Auto Focus. The image viewer will show you the current
image being captured by your camera, with a square around the detected star. An HFR
Plot is also available on the right side of the screen to inform you about the current motor
step and the HFR (Half-Flux-Radius). The blue points are the previous focus points, and the
green point is the latest focus point. The HFR value is displayed under the HFR Plot.
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When the Auto Focusing is done, the status badge above the HFR Plot will turn to green
and say "Complete".
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Settings
You can change lots of settings by going to the Settings: Preset, Process, and/or
Mechanics setting pages.
Preset: Camera settings to adjust binning and Gain.
Advanced setting
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The Settings page has the following options:
· Auto Select Star: Automatically detect and select best star for guiding in the image.
· Subframe: Subframe around the focus star during the autofocus procedure. Enabling
subframing can significantly speed up the focus process.
· Full field: Measure average HFR from all stars combined in a full frame. This method
defaults to the Centroid detection, but can use SEP detection too. Its performance
decreases as the number of stars increases.
· Suspend Guiding: Suspend Guiding while autofocus in progress. If the focus process
can disrupt the guide star (e.g. when using Integrated Guide Port IGP whereas the
guider is physically attached to the primary CCD), then it is recommended to enable
this option. When using Off-Axis guider, then this option is not necessary.
· Dark Frame: Check this option to capture a dark frame if necessary and perform dark-
frame subtraction. This option can be useful in noisy images.
· Box: Sets the box size used to enclose the focus star. Increase if you have very large
stars.
· Annulus: During full field focusing, stars which are inside this percentage of the frame
are filtered out of HFR calculation (default 0%). Detection algorithms may also have an
inherent filter.
· Settle: Sets the amount of seconds to wait before resuming guiding.
Process
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The Process page has the following options:
· Detection: Select star detection algorithm. Each algorithm have its strengths and
weaknesses. It is recommended to keep the default value unless it fails to properly
detect stars.
o SEP: Source Extractor and Photometry, an efficient source detection method
based on Source Extractor (Bertin and Arnouts 1996; Bertin 2016). See SEP:
Source Extractor as a library in the Journal of Open Source Software.
o Centroid: a source detection based on estimating star mass around signal
peaks.
o Gradient: a single source detection based on the Sobel filter. Initial or full-field
analysis will use SEP instead of this method.
o Threshold: a single source detection based on pixel values. Initial or full-field
analysis will use SEP instead of this method.
o Bahtinov: This is useful for users who do not have a motorized focuser and
prefer to focus manually with the aid of a Bahtinov Mask. After capturing an
image in the focus module with the Bahtinov mask algorithm selected, Ekos
would analyze the images and stars within it. If Ekos recognizes the Bahtinov
star pattern, it will draw lines over the star pattern in circles on the center and on
an offset to indicate the focus.
· Threshold: Threshold percentage value is used for star detection using
the Threshold detection algorithm. Increase to restrict the centroid to bright cores.
Decrease to enclose fuzzy stars.
· Effect: Apply filter to image after capture to enhance it for preview purposes. It is highly
advisable to turn off any effects during the focusing process as it may interfere with HFR
calculations.
· Kernel size: This is the gaussian blur kernel size. Used for blurring the image before
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for instance the Bahtinov edge detection.

· Sigma: This is the gaussian blur sigma value. Used for blurring the image before for
instance the Bahtinov edge detection.
· Algorithm: Select the autofocus process algorithm:
o Iterative: Moves focuser by discreet steps initially decided by the step size.
Once a curve slope is calculated, further step sizes are calculated to reach
optimal solution. The algorithm stops when the measured HFR is within
percentage tolerance of the minimum HFR recorded in the procedure.
o Polynomial: Starts with iterative method. Upon crossing to the other side of the
V-Curve, polynomial fitting coefficients along with possible minimum solution are
calculated. This algorithm can be faster than purely iterative approach given a
good data set.
o Linear: Samples focus inward in a regular fashion, using 2 passes. The
algorithm can be slow, but it is more resilient to backlash. Start with the focuser
positioned near good focus. Set Initial Step Size and Max Travel for the desired
sampling interval and range around start focus position. Tolerance should be
around 5%.
· Tolerance: The tolerance percentage values decides when the autofocus process
stops in the Iterative algorithm. During the autofocus process, HFR values are
recorded, and once the focuser is close to optimal position, it starts measuring HFRs
against the minimum recorded HFR in the sessions and stops whenever a measured
HFR value is within % difference of the minimum recorded HFR. Decrease value to
narrow optimal focus point solution radius. Increase to expand dsolution radius.
Caution
Setting the value too low might result in repetitive loop and would most likely
result in a failed autofocus process.
· Average over: Sets the number of frames to capture in order to average the HFR value
at the current focuser position.
· Num. of rows: The number of rows set in this field will be combined in the Bahtinov
max average calculation. Changing this value might help to match the Bahtinov lines on
the star pattern more accurately.
Mechanics
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The Mechanics page has the following options:
· Initial Step size: Initial step size in ticks to cause a noticeable change in HFR value.
For timer based focuser, it is the initial time in milliseconds to move the focuser inward
or outward.
· Max Step size: The maximum single step size the algorithm is allowed to command
as it searches for the critical focus zone. The calculated step size would be limited to
this maximum value.
· Settle: Sets the amount of seconds to wait after moving the focuser before capturing
the next image during Auto Focus.
· Max Travel: Maximum travel in ticks before the autofocus process aborts.
· Backlash: Number of average frames to capture. During each capture, an HFR is
recorded. If the instantaneous HFR value is unreliable, you can average a number of
frames to increase the signal to noise ratio.
· Out Step Multiple: This is the number that is multiplied by initial-step-size to get the
number of outward steps that the Linear Focus algorithm moves away from the initial
position at the start of focusing.
Align
The Align module enables highly accurate GOTOs and dead-center target images by
utilizing plate-solving. The process starts with capturing an image and plate-solving it to get
the exact sky coordinates. Once the coordinates are obtained, the mount is synchronized
and then commanded to slew to the correct target position. This cycle repeats until the
mount is within a few arcsecs from the target.
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It has the following features:

· Three Actions: sync, slew to target or do nothing.
· Polar Alignment Assistance
· Capture & Solve
· Load and Slew
· Image Viewer
· Alignment Plot
Train
You can Select / Edit a train specifically for Align module. Each module has it's own train.
Preset Settings
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Preset settings has the following structure:
1. Exposure
2. Binning
3. Filter
4. Gain/ISO
5. Accuracy: Acceptable difference between reported telescope coordinate and actual
solved coordinates
6. Settle: amount of time to allow mount to settle (in milliseconds)
7. Dark Frame
Rotator control
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1. Rotator Control: Use automatic or manual rotation control when using Load & Slew.
For automatic control, the mechanized rotator is commanded to rotate to match the
desired position angle. For manual control, the user is asked to manually rotate the
camera until the desired position angle is reached.
2. Threshold: Rotator threshold in arc-minutes when using Load & Slew. If the difference
between measured position angle and FITS position angle is below this value, the load
& slew operation is considered successful.
3. Use Scale: Set image scale to speed up solver as it does not have to search index
files of different images scales.
4. Use Position: Set estimated speed to speed up astrometry solver as it does not have
to search in other areas of the sky.
Manual Slew
If the option is enabled, after each capture, the you have to rotate the mount apporixmately
by the specified amount as shown. Once done, press the yellow check button to continue.
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Capture & Solve
To start capturing and solving, just tap on the Capture & Solve button and the StellarMate
will take care of the rest. When it's done, you will be able to see the current Alignment
capture preview, alignment info on the solution bar on the bottom, and the points on the
Alignment plot. The points on the alignment plot have 3 different colors: Red, Yellow and
Green. If a point is red, that means that the error is 1.5 times or more above the accuracy
value, if it's yellow, that means that the error is between 1 times to 1.5 times above the
accuracy value, and finally, if it's green, that means that the error is within the accuracy
value. The accuracy value can be changed in the preset settings.
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Load and Slew
You can start a load and slew action by tapping on Load & Slew and selecting an image
to slew to. StellarSolver is very accurate at this and will be able to slew to object in the
image.
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PAA
Polar Alignment Assistance (PAA)
If your mount supports Polar Alignment, you can use the Polar Alignment Assistant (PAA) to
improve your alignment.
To start the polar alignment process, open the polar alignment assistance by clicking on
PAA button.
Use the Polar Alignment Settings to modify the settings.
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You can adjust the mount direction (1) by selecting West or East rotation. Adjusting the
Mount Speed (2) by opening the speed menu and selecting the preferred rotation speed.
Mount Rotation (3) allows the user to modify the amount of rotation the mount rotates after
every capture. Manual Slew (4), the option to allow the user to manually rotate the mount
after every capture and continue the process manually.
Set the preferred settings and follow the intstructions at each step to complete the process.
Idle
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First Capture
First Rotation
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Second Capture
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Second Rotation
Third Capture
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Select Star
Once all 3 images have been captures, you are shown the correction vectors. You can
select a star to see the correction vectors relative to the selected star.
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The correction vectors and screen will move to the selected position. At this stage you can
use the pinch or spread gesture to use zoom in or out as shown. The zooming and tap
features also works while the image is minimized.
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Select Refresh & Algorithm

In the Refresh Stage, the user can adjust the refresh rate by changing the input on the right
side, pressing Refresh to start the process.
(Note: at this stage, the refresh only starts once Refresh is clicked)
There are two different algorithms you can choose for PAA:
1. Plate Solving: Uses plate solving to track what the corrected alignment error is during
the refresh process . User should try reduce the error in the Updated error line below
and minimize the size of arrows. This is the only scheme that can fully correct an error
larger than the image field-of-view, but depends on reliable plate solving.
.
2. Move Star and Calc error: Like Move Star, but Ekos attempts to track the star being
moved and estimates the current alignment error when it can.
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Refreshing
Refreshing begins and can still be adjusted using the slider. Once done with Polar
Alignment, simply press the Done button.
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Guide
The Guide module manages guiding the mount to ensure targets are locked at the center
during imaging. A dedicated guide camera is required in the secondary optical train. It has
the following features:

· Start guiding
· Preview
· Advanced Settings
· Image viewer
· Guide Plot
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Train
You can Select / Edit a train specifically for Align module. Each module has it's own train.
Guiding
You can start guiding by tapping on the Start button. The guide module will start by
calibrating, and then will start the guiding process. When guiding is in progress, you will be
able to see the Guide plot being populated with lines for the RA drift, DE drift and the Total
RMS. You can also check the values for RA RMS, DE RMS and Total RMS under the plot.
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Guide Advanced Settings
You can edit the directions for guide corrections and the proportional gain in this settings
page. You can also clear the calibration model if you want to restart the calibration process.
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Capture
The Capture module is where you create sequences to capture your targets. In the typical
astrophotography workflow, Capture module is used last after you finished Focusing,
Aligning, and Guiding your target. Let us first define some common terms:
Train
You can Select / Edit the train specifically for Capture module. Each module has it's own
train. Visit Optical trains topic for more.
· Presets: Specific camera and File Settings. This includes:

1. ROI, binning
2. Frame type
3. Format filter (if any) etc.
4. You need to create a preset with your desired settings and give it a descriptive name
(e.g QHY_HA_300 would refer to using QHY camera using HA filter for 300-second)
exposure.
· Sequence: Capture a number of images with the settings specified in a preset.

1. The count field in capture module specify the number of images to capture using that
preset.
2. Delay parameters is used to introduce a delay in seconds between each captured
image and default to zero.
3. A sequence is also referred to as Job
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Creating a sequence
To create a sequence, you should first create a new preset by tapping on the + button next
to the preset dropdown box.
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After filling the preset settings, you need to add a sequence
Once the sequence is added, you have to tap on the Save Icon on the top-right.
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The default directory is under "Pictures". You can go back to previous directories by going
back.
Sequence files are saved in "/home/stellarmate/sequences" path with respect to camera

name.
By selecting the sequence file, you will be able to add a sequence in your sequences and
can capture your images accordingly.
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Capture Presets has the following structure:
1. Preset name
2. Frame Type
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3. Exposure
4. Binning
5. Format
6. Encode
7. Filter
8. Temperature
9. Gain/ISO
10. Offset
After creating your presets, you can now tap on the preset dropdown in order to select the
preset you want, and then tap on Add to Sequence, so the sequence can be added to the
sequence list.
In the below example, you can see that there are 3 different jobs in the sequence list as
shown by the filter in the beginning of each one. (red, green, and blue)
Sequences have the following structure, displayed through icons for simplicity:
· Top row
1. Job Number
2. Job Progress Bar
3. Count Progress
4. Delete Job
· Bottom row
1. Filter
2. Frame Type
3. Binning
4. Exposure
5. Gain/ISO
6. Offset
After adding the sequences, tap on the Play button under the Progress header to start the
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sequence.
During the capture, a soft "ding" sound will be played for each capture (you can turn on
sounds by switching from Ekos Tab to Settings Tab and then toggling sounds on). After the
capture is complete, you will see a notification message that says "CCD capture
completed" and a "complete" sound will be played. In the case of the capturing process
eing aborted for any reason, an "error" sounds will be played, and a notification message
will be shown.
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Delay control:
Delay in seconds between image captures.
Filter Settings
You can edit filters by tapping on the Filter button. The filter settings page will open and
allow you to edit filter settings for each filter of the filter wheel selected in the dropdown
menu.
Configure settings for each filter individually:

· Name: Filter Name
· Exposure: Set exposure time used when performing focus under this filter. By default,
it is set to 1 seconds.
· Offset: Set relative offsets. Ekos will command a focus offset change if there is a
difference between the current and target filter offsets. For example, given the values in
the example image to the right, if the curernt filter is set to Red and next filter is Green,
then Ekos shall command the focuser to Focus In by +300 ticks. Relative positive focus
offsets denote Focus Out while negative values denote Focus In.
· Auto Focus: Check this option to initial AutoFocus process whenever the filter is
changed to this filter.
· Lock Filter: Set which filter should be set and locked when performing autofocus for
this filter.
Let's take an example. Suppose the capture sequence is running and the current filter
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is Green, so the relative already offset is set to +300. The next image in the sequence uses
Hydrogen Alpha (H_Alpha) so before Ekos captures the next frame, the following actions
take place:
· Since Lumonisity is specified as the locked filter and auto-focus is checked, the filter is
changed to Lumonosity
· A focus offset is -300 is applied since the prior filter Green was moved +300 previously.
· Auto Focus process is initiated.
· Once Auto Focus is complete, the filter is changed to H_Alpha.
· A focus offset of -1200 is applied.
· Capture sequence is resumed.
To edit a filter, tap on it on the panel on the right-side of the page. All of its details will be
filled in the panel on the left-side to be edited.
After you edit the filter, tap on the Save button to save the filter settings. The panel on the
right-side will shown the new settings for the filter you just edited.
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Calibration Settings
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Note: You can only edit calibration settings for capture jobs that have the frame type as
Bias (B), Dark (D), or Flat (F).
For Flat Field frames, you can set calibration options in order to automate the process. The
calibration options are designed to facilitate automatic unattended flat field frame capture.
It can also be used for dark and bias frames if desired. If your camera is equipped with a
mechanical shutter, then it is not necessary to set calibration settings unless you want to
close the dust cover to ensure no light at all passes through the optical tube. For flat fields,
you must specify the flat field light source, and then specify the duration of the flat field
frame. The duration can be either manual, or based on ADU calculations.
1. Flat Field Source

o Manual: The flat light source is manual.
o Dust Cover with Built-In Flat Light: If using a dust cover with built-in light
source (e.g. FlipFlat). For dark and bias frames, close the dust cap before
proceeding. For flat frames, close the dust cap and turn on the light source.
o Dust Cover with External Flat Light: If using a dust cover with external flat
light source. For dark and bias frames, close the dust cap before proceeding.
For flat frames, open the dust cap and turn on the light source. The external flat
light source location is presumed to be the parking location.
o Wall: Light source is a panel on the observatory wall. Specify the Azimuth and
Altitude coordinates of the panel and the mount shall slew there before capturing
the flat field frames. If the light panel is controllable from INDI, Ekos shall turn it
on/off as required.
2. Flat Field Duration

o Manual: Duration is as specified in the Sequence Queue.
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o ADU: Duration is variable until specified ADU is met.
Before the calibration capture process is started, you can request Ekos to park the mount
and/or dome. Depending on your flat source selection above, Ekos will use the appropiate
flat light source before starting flat frames capture. If ADU is specified, Ekos begins by
capturing a couple of preview images to establish the curve required to achieve the
desired ADU count. Once an appropiate value is calculated, another capture is taken and
ADU is recounted until a satisfactory value is achived.
Limit Settings
Limit settings are applicable to all the images in the sequence queue. When a limit is
exceeded, Ekos shall command the appropiate action to remedy the situation as explained
below.
· Guiding Deviation: If checked, it enforces a limit of maximum allowable guiding

deviation for the exposure, if autoguiding is used. If the guiding deviation exceeds this
limit in arcseconds, it aborts the exposure sequence. It will automatically resume the
exposure sequence again once the guiding deviation goes below this limit.
· Autofocus if HFR exceeds a value: If autofocus is enabled in the focus module and
at least one autofocus operation was completed successfully, you can set the maximum
acceptable HFR value. If this option is enabled then between consecutive exposures,
the HFR value is recalculated, and if found to exceed the maximum acceptable HFR
value, then an autofocus operation is automatically triggered. If the autofocus operation
is completed successfully, the sequence queue resumes, otherwise the job is aborted.
· Autofocus if change in temperature exceeds a value: If autofocus is enabled in the
focus module and at least one autofocus operation was completed successfully, you
can set the maximum acceptable change in temperature value. If this option is enabled
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then between consecutive exposures, the change in temperature value is recalculated,

and if found to exceed the maximum acceptable change in temperature value, then an
autofocus operation is automatically triggered. If the autofocus operation is completed
successfully, the sequence queue resumes, otherwise the job is aborted.
· Refocus every x minutes: you can set your focuser to refocus every x minutes.
(where x is the amount minutes input by the user)
File Settings
Settings for specifying where captured images are saved to, and how to generate unique
file names.
· Directory: Local directory to save the sequence images to.

· Format: Format is used to define the image file names by the use of placeholder tags.
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· Suffix: Number of digits used to append the sequence number to the filename
· Preview: Path of your filename
You can now also unmount your USB device by pressing "Unmount" button next to your
external storage device.
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You can also set the directory path of your USB device (if attached). If USB device is
connected, then External Storage devices are visible.
By selecting on of them, will set the Directory path of it.
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Limit settings:
Limit settings are application to all the images in the sequence queue. When a limit is
exceeded, Ekos shall command the appropriate action to remedy the situation.
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Dark Library
Dark Library
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The Dark Library is a collection of dark frames captured from your cameras under different
settings. There are basically five primary types of frames:
1. Light Frame: This is the regular image captured by your sensor. It is called light
because it captures the incoming light received at the sensor.
2. Dark Frame: A frame captured with the same settings as the light frame (same
temperature, exposure time, and binning) but with the shutter closed so that no
photons reach the sensor. This is used to record the electronic noise generated by
the sensor without any incident photons. It is used to remove noise from the Light
Frame by means of subtraction since the Light Frame includes signal from both the
incoming photons and electronic noise generated by the sensor.
3. Bias: A very short exposure with the shutter closed.
4. Flat: A frame captured with the same settings as the light frame (same temperature,
exposure time, and binning) but subjected to an illuminated flat field source (such as
an LED panel). This is used to correct for optical aberrations in the imaging train
including dust motes.
5. Dark Flats: Special type of dark frames captured at the same exposure of flat
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frames. This is used to calibrate the flat frames.

Dark Library is used to capture dark images.
Generating a dark library for your equipment profile is highly recommended. When
capturing frames in focus, guide, and align modules, the system searches the dark library
for suitable dark frames. If a suitable match is found, the light frame is calibrated and this
can greatly enhance the performance and accuracy of all Ekos modules.
Note: "Dark Library is not used to calibrate your sequence images, it is only used to
calibrate the Align, Focus, and Guide module frames."
Dark frame calibration can be applied using two methods:

1. Dark Subtraction: The dark frame is simply subtracted from the light frame. This is
the recommended method when using a cooled camera.
2. Defect Maps: For uncooled cameras (e.g. Guide), dark frames may not be suitable
for removing the hot and pixels present in the image. An alternative method
generates a map of bad pixels that should be treated in the light frame. You can
adjust the Hot and Cold pixels sliders to include or exclude pixels. It’s recommended
not to include more than 5,000 pixels as it can become computationally expensive to
correct this many pixels in guide images. Ekos corrects each defective pixel by using
calculating the median value from surrounding pixels.
Preset: Select which capture preset to use. The camera name, gain, and offset are used
from the preset while the exposure and temperature settings (if supported) are configured
in the Create Dark Library window.
Prefer: Select which dark calibration method to utilize for the selected preset. Both
methods are used to remove noise from the light frame:
· Dark: Remove noise by means of dark frame subtraction.
· Defect Maps: Remove noise by means of defect map substitution.
1. Create Darks:
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Create a master dark frame by capturing and averaging a number of individual

dark frames.
1. Select the range of exposures, binning, temperatures and count (if applicable)
required.
2. Each time you change a selection, the Total Frames count is updated to reflect
the required frames.
3. When ready, tap the Play button to start the process.
2. Create Defect Map:
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After creating a master dark, you can create a defect map for your camera. Usually,
defect maps are used when dark frame subtraction does
not improve the quality of the calibration result. This is especially evident when using
uncooled guide cameras that can exhibit hot pixels that are
hard to treat with classical dark frame subtraction methods.
1. Selecting the master dark frame, loads the infomation of the image
2. Then adjust Hot and Cold pixel sliders to include or exclude pixels.
3. Click Generate Map to inspect the results and once satisfied tap the save button
to store the defect map for future use.
3. View Masters:
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Inspect master frames of a specific camera.
Mount
The Mount module allows you to do Meridian Flips and set limits for your Mount, it has the
following features:
· Tracking On/Off
· Mount Park/UnPark
· Meridian Flip
o Flip if HA >: Request a meridian flip if the hour angle exceeds the specified
value. Capture and Guiding will be suspended and resumed after the flip is
complete.
o Pier Side: Shows the pier side direction.
· Limit Settings: You enable Altitude Limits or Hour Angle Limits if you do not wish your
mount to move past a specific limit. The values are expressed in hours. Setting a 1 hour
(HA) limit means your mount is restricted to 15 degrees east and west of the meridian.
Setting it to 3 HA (3*15) means your mount is free to move 45 degrees east and west of
the meridian.
· Auto Park
·
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Train
You can Select / Edit a train specifically for Mount module. Each module has it's own train.
Meridian Flip
You can do a Meridian Flip from the Mount Module.
Equatorial mounts flip after crossing the meridian in order to prevent the imaging
equipment train from hitting the tripod. With Ekos, you can set an hour angle limit which if
exceeded, the mount will be commnded to flip. The mount must begin tracking east of the
meridian in order to the meridian flip to be commanded in Ekos.
When commanding a meridian flip, Ekos will suspend the autoguiding process and waits
until the mount completes the flip. Once the mount begins tracking again post meridian flip,
Ekos will plate-solve and make any necessary slew commands to bring the mount to the
exact location it was tracking prior to the flip.
Next, it will automatically capture a frame and select a suitable guide star, performs
calibration, and resumes autoguiding. If In-Sequence focuing is enabled, it will also capture
and focus a suitable star. It then resumes the capture process form where it left.
All these steps are completely automated and require no user intervention!
So just set when you want the meridian flip to occur at the mount module. Remember that
the setting is in Hour Angle (HA). 1 HA = 15 degrees, therefore 0.1 HA = 1.5 degrees
West of the Meridian.
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Always use a positive value to ensure proper meridian flip takes place. Using zero
could theoretically work but it is at the very edge where the decision to flip or not is made
by the mount, so it's safer to use a slightly higher value like 0.1 HA.
Auto Park
To enable auto park every day, check the Every day box. Otherwise if the desire is only to
park it once, keep it disabled.
Select the time you want to park the mount.
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To start the countdown timer, press start.
Observatory
The Observatory module allows you to control your Dust Cap and Dome/Roll-off roof, it has
the following features:
· Dust Cap Park/UnPark
· Dome Park/UnPark
· Roll-off roof Park/UnPark
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· Abort Dome Motion

· Goto Absolute Dome Angle
Changing Dome settings
To change the settings, click on Parameters:
Going to an absolute angle position
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You can go to an absolute angle position on your dome by tapping on the textbox next to
the Azimuth label and setting the angle value to go to. Now tap on the GO button to go to
that angle position. The dome will now try going to that position, the dome status badge will
show what type of rotation the dome is doing, and a compass preview will show a
representation of the dome angle. After the movement is complete, you will be able to see
the status badge change to "Tracking".
INDI Control Panel

INDI Control Panel provides an interface to interact with the drivers of the devices
connected to Stellarmate. It is a front-end for the INDI controls available on KStars.
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The connected devices are show at the top (1). Selecting one will show it's control groups
(2). Selecting one of the control groups displays it's properties in (3).
Each property (1), can have multiple sub-properties (2). The current value for the sub-
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property is shown at (3). The status of the property (1) would change from gray (idle) to
green (successful), red (failed) or yellow (in-progress) when any changes have been set.
Some properties allow values to be adjusted. They can be changed using text field (and
sometimes a slider for some number properties), and once you are done changing a
property, you press Set (5) to send the new property settings to the corresponding device,
to change the value.
Some properties are read only and cannot be changed.
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Some buttons show the active button (1), and a different button can be set active simply by
pressing it. Other buttons (2) only send the action once pressed and we can tell if it was
successful from the property status (3).
Scheduler
Ekos Scheduler is an indispensable arsenal in building your robotic observatory. A
Robotic observatory is an observatory composed of several subsystems that are
orchestrated together to achieve a set of scientific objectives without direct human
intervention.
It’s recommended to use Ekos Scheduler after you are familiar with using all the Ekos
modules manually first. Fine-tune the settings for each module to suit your particular
equipment setup.
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Ekos Scheduler provides a simple interface to aid the user in setting the conditions and
constraints required for an observation job.
To add a new scheduler task, or job as it is called in Ekos, you need to select the following:
To add a new scheduler task, or job as it is called in Ekos, you need to select the following:
1. Target: Target can be selected directly by tapping on the Select Target button or by
finding a target in the Targets module and then tapping Schedule while Ekos is in
offline mode.
2. Sequence: A sequence file describes the required settings for each batch of
images. Create a sequence file in the Capture module and save it for later.
3. Steps: Each job goes through a sequence of discrete steps. Each step or stage can
be toggled on or off as desired:
a. Track: Mount is commanded to slew to target.
b. Focus: Camera autofocus (if applicable) is started.
c. Align: Plate-solving is performed to ensure the correct location, framing and
orientation of the target is met. If a FITS file is specified in General Settings,
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then this file is first plate-solved and then mount is commanded to to slew to
target solution coordinates. This is followed by another plate-solving process to
ensure we are within tolerance at the target solution coordinates. If the position
angle of the FITS image is different from the current camera orientation, the
camera orientation can be automatically adjusted if a mechanized rotator is
detected. Otherwise, a manual camera rotation is required until the image
position angle is satisfied.
d. Guide: Using a guide camera, the mount tracking is locked to a guide star to
enable long-exposure astrophotography
After the first 4 stages are complete, the sequence file is loaded in the capture module and
batch capture commences. All images are saved to storage and can be accessed in the
View tab. For EkosLive Pro subscribers, all images are also uploaded to the cloud storage
if StellarMate is connected to the internet.
Settings
1. Target name: Target designation is automatically filled. It can be adjusted manually..

2. Target Selector: Search for targets by category and name. Targets can be also
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selected from the Targets tab when Ekos is offline.
3. J2000: RA and DEC are displayed of a specific target.
4. Sequence File: Sequence: A sequence file describes the required settings for each
batch of images. Create a sequence file in the Capture module and save it for later. You
can select the file using Directory browser.
5. Settings: Contains all of the settings of Scheduler module.
o General Settings:
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1. Optional FITS file: If a FITS file is specified, the astrometry solver shall
solve the file and use the central RA/DEC as the target coordinates. You
can select the file using Directory browser.
2. Removes selected FITS file.
3. Profile: Select which equipment profile to utilize when starting Ekos. If
Ekos & INDI are already started and online, this selection is ignored.
4. Steps: Each job goes through a sequence of discrete steps. Each step
or stage can be toggled on or off as desired:
1. Track: Mount is commanded to slew to target.
2. Focus: Camera autofocus (if applicable) is started.
3. Align: Plate-solving is performed to ensure the correct location,
framing and orientation of the target is met. If a FITS file is
specified in General Settings, then this file is first plate-solved and
then mount is commanded to to slew to target solution
coordinates. This is followed by another plate-solving process to
ensure we are within tolerance at the target solution coordinates. If
the position angle of the FITS image is different from the current
camera orientation, the camera orientation can be automatically
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adjusted if a mechanized rotator is detected. Otherwise, a manual

camera rotation is required until the image position angle is
satisfied.
4. Guide: Using a guide camera, the mount tracking is locked to a
guide star to enable long-exposure astrophotography
5. Position Angle: Select the desired Sky Position Angle in degrees (East
of North). Ignore this setting to image using the camera current position
angle. Use Target tab Framing Assistant tool to visually adjust the field
of view until the desired orientation is achieved.on angle: You can also
specify and position angle.
o Job Startup
1. Culmination Offset: Start the observation job when the object reaches
culmination adjusted for the offset value in minutes. By default, the
observation job runs 60 minutes prior to culmination.
2. ON: Start the job on the specified date and time.
3. ASAP: Start the observation job as soon as all the contraints, if any, are
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met. The best candidate target shall be imaged first.

4. Algorithm:
· Classic: Start jobs that meet the constraints by priority and
score.
· Greedy: Always attempt to run a job. It picks the highest
priority job that can run according to its contraints. It will interrupt
running jobs if a higher priority job can run.
o Job Constraints:
1. Alt: The object's altitude must remain equal or higher than the given
value.
2. Moon: The moon separation must remain equal to or higher than the
given value.
3. Weather: Weather conditions must remain safe. When weather
conditions become dangerous, shutdown procedure is initiated.
4. Twilight: The twilight restriction constraints jobs to execute in
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astronomical darkness. Use the dusk and dawn offsets in the Ekos
Scheduler options to adjust the interval.
5. Artificial Horizon: The A.H restriction constrains the attitude of the target
to be above the artifical horizon. If any are defined and enabled. See the
artificial horizon item in the KStars Settings menu.
o Job Completion:
1. Sequence Completion: The observation job is completed when the

sequence is complete.
2. Repeat for: No. of times sequence will repeat.
3. Repeat until teminated: Restrat the sequence job indefinetly.
4. Repeat until: Terminate the job on given date and time.
o Observatory Startup:
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1.
· UnPark dome: Park dome tohome position
· UnPark Mount: Park telescope to home position.
· Uncap: Open dust cover.
2. Script: One time startup procedure to be executed before starting
Ekos. The script is executed before the startup procedures (i.e Unpark
scope), if Selected, are executed.
o Aborted Job:
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1.
· None: Do not reschedule abored jobs.
· Queue: Reschedule aborted jobs as soon as all executable jobs
are either completed or aborted.
· Immediate: Reschedule an aborted job immediately.
2. ReSchedule errors: Treat errors like aborts. (Delay in seconds).
o Observatory shutdown Procedure:
§ For more complex observatory environments, there are usually

predefined custom procedures to be executed to prepare the observatory
for imaging, and another set of procedures on shutdown. The user may
plan to image one or more targets during the night, and expects data to
be ready by morning.
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1.
· Warm CC: Turn off CCD cooler.

· Cap: Close dust cover.
· Park Mount: Park telescope to home position.
· Park Dome: Park dome to home position.
2. Script: One-time shutdown procedure to be executed after all
Scheduler jobs are completed. The script is executed after the
shutdown procedure (i.e Parking), If selected, are completed.
You can also swap the jobs priority by moving the Jobs to Up/Down
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You must select the Target and Sequence before you can add a job to the Scheduler.
When the scheduler starts, it evaluates all jobs in accord to the conditions and constraints
specified and attempts to select the best job to execute. Selection of the job depends on a
simple heuristic algorithm that scores each job given the conditions and constraints, each
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of which is weighted accordingly.
Mosaic Planner
Mosaic planner:
Mosaics can be imported from Telescopius online tool.
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1. Target: Name of the target.

2. CSV: You can copy coordinates from https://telescopius.com/ and paste it here. Makue
sure you include center coordinates and then copy csv.
3. Sequence: Include sequence from the directory browser.
4. Steps: Enable steps to perform.
5: Import Mosaic: Imports mosaic sequences.
Mosaic planner sequences are added here, After importing mosaic.
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Data acuisition
The overall procedure typically utilized in an observatory can be summarized in three
primary stages:
1. Startup
2. Data Acquisition (including preprocessing and storage)
3. Shutdown
Ekos Scheduler only initiates the startup procedure once the startup time for the first
observation job is close (default lead time is 5 minutes before startup time). Once the
startup procedure is completed successfully, the scheduler picks the observation job target
and starts the sequence process. If a startup script is specified, it shall be executed first.
Data aquisition:
Depending the on the user selection, the typical workflow proceeds as following:
· Slew mount to target. If a FITS file was specified, it first solves the files and slew to the
file coordinates.
· Auto-focus target. The autofocus process automatically selects the best star in the
frame and runs the autofocus algorithm against it.
· Perform plate solving, sync mount, and slew to target coordinates.
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· Perform post-alignment focusing since the frame might have moved during the plate
solving process.
· Perform calibration and start auto-guiding: The calibration process automatically
selects the best guide star, performs calibration, and starts the autoguide process.
· Load the sequence file in the Capture module and start the imaging process.
Data Storage
Formats
By default, all captured images are saved as FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) files.
FITS is the standard image format for astronomical images and is supported by all astronomical
image processing software. For DSLR cameras, saving RAW images directly (e.g. CR2) is also
supported by editing the DSLR camera capture preset.
Depending on the camera settings and support, images can be captured as Mono, RAW, or
RGB.
1. Mono:
Monochromatic single channel images store only intensity information in either 8bit or
16bit. Camera sensors generating 10bit or 12bit data are stored as 16bit by padding zeros,
they are not up-scaled or modified.
2. RAW:
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Color cameras with a Bayer filter often support RAW8 or RAW16 formats. The bayer
pattern (e.g. RGGB) depends on the camera model. StellarMate saves the RAW images as is,
but debayers them for display purposes. RAW format is the recommended format for color
cameras.
3. RGB:
Color cameras can export a three channel RGB24 (8 bit per channel) or RGB48 (16 bit
per channel) if supported by the camera sensors. Usually, the RGB output is generated by an
internal debayer mechanism in the camera firmware. Files tend to be larger in size compared to
RAW images but do not require any debayering.
Capture modes:
1. Previews
Preview images captured using Quick Camera Control are not saved to the internal
StellarMate storage.
2. Sequences
· Sequence images captured in the Capture Module are saved to default storage location on
StellarMate internal storage. The default full directory path is /home/stellarmate/Pictures.
· The Pictures directory can be changed in the Capture Module File Settings. If an external
storage (e.g. SSD) is detected, you can select it as the default storage location.
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· All sequence images are saved along with their metadata and can be viewed in the View
tab.
3. Live Stacking
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· Live Stacked images are automatically saved to /home/stellarmate/Pictures/livestacking and

are also available in the View tab.
· If a sequence is already in progress, then live stacking starts when the next sequence
image is captured. When no sequences are in progress, StellarMate starts capturing images
continuously (looping) as per the settings in the Camera Quick Settings.
· After each image is captured, it is then live-stacked and the generated output is displayed
sequentially in the thumbnail carousel.
4. Video
If supported by the camera, video streams can be saved to the internal storage by clicking on
the Video icon in Camera Quick Control. By default, video files are stored
under /home/stellarmate/indi_D where D designates the date.
1. SER
Save streaming images in SER lossless format. Beware that this can consume storage space
very quickly. To view the video, you need to export the SER video file to a PC/Mac and open it
using an SER player.
2. OGV
Ogg Theora is a free and open lossy video compression format that sacrifices image quality to
decrease storage space. To view the video, you need to export it to a PC/Mac and use a
video player with support for Ogg Theora format.
Exporting to Phone/Tablet storage
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Any images displayed in the main image view can be exported to phone/tablet storage by
clicking on the save icon on the camera status bar. It is saved as a time-stamped JPG image.
Exporting to PC/Mac
If you captured images and saved them to StellarMate, then they should be available by
default under /home/stellarmate/Pictures. To access the images over the network, there
are two options:
·On Windows, click on the Network icon in the left pane of File Explorer as illustrated below.
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If you do not see the StellarMate network share, please map the network drive as shown in
this video:
On Linux & MacOS: Use FileZilla to connect to StellarMate via Secure FTP (sftp) using your
username (stellarmate) and password (smate). Remember to set port to 5624.
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Directory Browser
Directory browser:
You can now choose files i.e Script file, Sequence file, fits file etc.
Directory browser will extract the path from Stellarmate dolphin and set it according to the
requirement input.
We are using Directory browser on different places.
1. Scheduler:
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While selecting the sequence file or .fits file for Scheduler, we use Directory browser.
Directory browser is alsi used in Scheduler Settings in order to add script files.
2. Path:
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It is also used to set path for images in File Settings & recording settings using Directory
browser.
You can also create directories via Directory browser.
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Targets
StellarMate Targets is the StellarMate Planning tool to streamline your observation session.
Search from thousands of objects and filter them according to criteria important to every
astrophotographer.
Add objects of interest to a quickly accessible Favorites list, or create and manage lists for
your seasonal targets. Use the almanac info box to find Lunar, Solar, and Twilight times.
Date & Time:
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You can preview the targets available at a different date or time by changing the settings
(This option is disabled if Ekos is running)
Sun/Moon Visibility
1. Moon rise/set times

2. Illumination percentage and lunar phase name
3. Sunset/Sunrise
4. Astronomical Twilight Dusk/Dawn
Filters
1. Minimum object alititude in degrees.

2. Minimum duration in hours where the object must meet the altitude condition above. For
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example, if altitude is 20 degrees, and duration is two hours, then only objects that
remain above 20 degrees for at least two hours are going to be included in the search
results.
3. Minimum Field of View (FOV) in arcminutes. This is only applicable to extended objects
like nebulae and galaxies and not to point sources like stars.
4. Maximum Magnitude. Lower it to limit it to more bright objects.
5. Filter the objects by type.
6. Reset all filters to default value.
7. Filter the objects by their horizontal direction.
Search Results
1. Number of results
2. Filter by object name (only filters currently displayed results)
3. Extended Search: You can search for an object by name only without adjusting any
filters. This would search for ALL objects of all types regardless of filters. If the object is
found, it is then added to the My Searches list.
FOV Profile
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You can overlay a Field-of-View (FOV) indicator on the top of the displayed image. This
aids in target framing. By default, the FOV rectangle color is green with the top marked in
orange. The top coincides with your camera/frame top. Using the overlay helps to
determine exactly how l the target appears in a captured image.
All units are in arcminutes. 1 arcminute is 1/60 of a degree. For reference, the Moon is 30
arcminutes or half a degree across the sky.
When the equipment profile is running, the FOV for each connected camera is
automatically generated. You can simply select it from the dropdown menu to activate it.
Furthermore, you can add your own FOV indicators manually as illustrated below.
In order to use the Framing Assistant, it is necessary to select an FOV profile first.
1. FOV profile dropdown
2. Add | Edit | Delete (FOV profile)
3. Exit list (returns to normal targets browsing)
Adding an FOV profile in (5) opens up the following panel:
After setting the Focal Length, Camera width & height and pixel width & height, the FOV
can be calculated by pressing the Calculate FOV button.
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Lists
It contains Lists dropdown. Add, Edit the list name or Delete the selected list.
Target Info
1. Object designations.
2. Object name.
3. Object Phase:
o Green: Object is rising
o Yellow: Object is transiting the meridian
o Red: Object is sitting
4. Magnitude
5. Object Image and FOV Overlay
6. Altitude vs. Time Plot. The X-Axis designates time starting from 12 PM to 12 AM, with
local Midnight (00:00) at the center of the image. The yellow vertical line indicates the
current time. Next to the current time line are the object’s current Azimuth and Altitude
values in degrees.
7. Add to Favorites
8. Add to custom list
9. Remove from current list
10. Go & Solve: Go to object and plate solve (required to use Framing Assistant)
When Ekos is offline, Targets will be used to schedule the coordinates information to
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Scheduler.
When Ekos is offline, you can also use framing assistant to Schedule the coordinates to
Scheduler.
The border of each target displays it's status:
· Idle: Grey
· Plate-Solving: Yellow
· Skewing to target: Purple
· Plate-solving successful and target is centered: Green
Plate-solving unsuccesful or beyond acceptable accuracy threshold: Red
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Framing Assistant
To open the framing assistant, make sure to have selected an FOV Profile and press Go
& Solve.
StellarMate will command the mount to slew to the target location. This is indicated by a
magenta border around the target. Once Slew is complete, the alignment process begins
which is indicated by a yellow border. A red border indicated alignment error or alignment
is not within threshold. Please wait until the solver iterates to center the target exactly in the
center of the sensor. Once this is done, the border turns to Green. Now that the plate
solving is complete, you may proceed to use the Framing Assistant tool that helps you in
adjustment the orientation of the camera to match your desired orientation either manually
or automatically if a rotator device is detected.
Once the status turns to green (1), press the image (2) to open the Framing Assistant
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1. The Framing Assistant has two modes of operation:

o Automatic: This mode is available if a rotator device (e.g. Nightcrawler) is
coupled with your imaging camera and can rotate it on its axis. With a rotator, no
manual intervention is necessary as StellarMate calculates the exact offset
required to arrive at the target orientation.
o Manual: Using this mode, set the desired target rotation first, then check the
required Angular Offset value. Go to your camera and rotate it manually by hand
using your best judgement. Click Rotate & Capture to measure the new
orientation of the camera. Once plate solving is complete, the new camera
orientation and angular offset are updated. Repeat this process as many times
as necessary until you are satisfied with the result. Your goal is to bring the
Angular Offset down to zero.
2. Adjust the rotation of the desired FOV orientation with the slider. The target FOV
rectangle color is blue with orange designating the top. The green rectangle with
orange on top is your camera's current FOV & orientation in the sky.
3. Rotation offset in degrees between the current (Green) FOV and the target (Blue) FOV.
When manually adjusting the camera, rotate it clockwise or counterclockwise as per the
indicated icon.
4. Displays the correct RA and DE.
5. You can click "GOTO & Rotate" in order to go to the desired location and an image will
be capture of the location depending on selected RA and DE.
6. Reset the set values.
7. Framing target can be seen in the blue color which you can move to different location by
the gesture controls.
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If Ekos is offline, you can Schedule your target coordinates by using framing assistant in
Scheduler module.
Device
The Device tab shows the health and information of your StellarMate. If StellarMate is
connected to the internet, you can also run the software updater, install the latest firmware
updates and also download the Teamviewer Software in your SM device.
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You can perform the following functions:
· Change Name: You can change device name (and its hostname) to another name
without any spaces. For example, if you rename it to myobservatory, the host name
shall be changed to http://myobservatory.local.
· Change Hotspot WiFi band (2.4GHz, 5GHz, or Automatic)
· Connect to WiFi / Forget WiFi
o Connect to Home WiFi: Select a WiFi network as detected by StellarMate and
then supply the password if it is protected. After a successful connection, please
wait up to 2 minutes before using any of the unit functions again.
o Forget WiFi: WiFi network information is removed and StellarMate reverts to
HotSpot mode (IP Address 10.250.250.10). If the Unit is connected to your LAN
via Ethernet, you can still access it via its LAN IP address like before.
· Access Web Manager
· Access VNC Viewer
· Restart Device
· Shutdown Device
Software:
· Switch between Stable and Beta builds
· Update StellarMate Software
Updating StellarMate Software
When there is an update available for StellarMate, an icon will show up on Device tab.
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To update StellarMate, simply click the download button and wait for the the process to
complete.
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Once the update is complete, you will be prompted to restart Stellarmate for the updates to
take effect.
Changing Hotspot WiFi Band
Changing Hotspot WiFi Band
You can change the Hotspot WiFi band by clicking on the settings button next to the
WiFi Band label.
You can now choose the Band you want to switch to, as well as the channel. We
recommend using default if you are not sure which Channel to choose. After choosing the
band you want to switch to, tap on connect to start the switching process.
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An alert will posp-up informing you about what might happen if you proceed with this
operation. Tap on YES to continue with this operation.
WARNING
StellarMate App could be disconnected and channel switching might fail due to
variety of reasons in which case the hotspot will be restored to default settings.
You might have to wait until the hotspot starts broadcasting a Wi-Fi signal again, if it's
successful, you will be able to connect back to StellarMate and find that it shows the band
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you switched to, in the Device tab.

If not, StellarMate will go back to the Automatic band.
View
The View tab displays online images saved on the cloud (requires EkosLive Pro
subscription, refer to Resources section) and offline images captured on StellarMate. All
metadata is preserved so you can sort and search your images at any time. You can toggle
between Cloud or Offline images.
Images are displayed in a grid view, Under each image there are badges for Filter,
exposure duration, and binning. By default, all images are displayed in the grid without any
filtering or sorting. Click on an image to view the full-size version which also provides
further actions such as export and export.
You can filter the images by using the left panel. Changing the Field, allows you to select to
filter using different options based on the chosen condition.
Advanced search is available from the left panel. Select the condition that must be met
from the metadata fields. You may add multiple conditions to further restrict the search.
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StellarMate aggregates images in Virtual Folders based on the selected Virtual Group:
1. Recent Images: Shows 20 latest images captured.
2. Show all Images: Show all directories & images under /home/stellarmate/Pictures.
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3. Target: Group images by each unique target together regardless of where they are
physically located on the device.
4. Directory (Default): This is similar to a traditional File Explorer where images are
grouped by directory on StellarMate.
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You can now also delete the directories. In order to delete a directory, just visit the directory
and you will see the delete icon button beside the directory locatory to delete all images in
a directory.
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5. Frame: Group images by each unique frame type (i.e. Light, Bias..etc).
6. Date:Group images by date whereas images captured on the same day are grouped
together.
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1. Per filter: Images are shown per filter. Those folder directories are Virtual folders.
Images can be further filtered chronologically by tapping on the bottom chrono selector. By
default, images captured at all times are displayed. To filter only recent images, tap the
chrono selector. For example, tapping 1H would only show images captured within the last
hour.
You can view the image in full size by click on a specifc image.
Below the list of images which are in that Directory are shown. On each image click, the
image and it's information will be loaded.
You can also download and delete the selected image on the right side.
To view detailed metadata, tap the top-left Info button, the information of a specific image
is displayed as illustrated below.
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· Sort:
It allows you to sort the images according to different options which includes, Name, date,
Size, frame, Filter and Exposure.
· Delete all:
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Deleting all images will delete all the images exists in the specifc directory.
i.e If you are in Per filters option and RED filter directory. It will only delete your images
within RED directory virtual folder.
Settings
Adjust the SM App options by going to the Settings tab where you can change the
following options:
· Push Notifications (Device)
· Clear Driver Config: In case you face issues with your INDI driver configurations, you
can restore all configuration to default by clicking on the Clear Driver Config. button.
· Reset App
· Language
· High Bandwidth mode (not recommended on slow WiFi connections)
· Transfer images
· App Notifications
· Sounds
· Cloud Storage (requires EkosLive Pro subscription)

·
1. In case the SM App becomes unresponsive, you can wipe all the settings by tapping on
the Reset App button on the settings page. Close the App afterwards then re-launch it.
You can always log back into you account in order to use StellarMate App.
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2. You can clear all of the driver configurations saved.

3. Deletes your account.
Push notifications
Push notifcations are only for the users for have pro subscription.
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· Pro users can enable the Push notifications. If they are enabled, users will be able to
get the notifications on their Tablet device.
· You can also enable nofications for specific categories i.e INDI , Mount, Scheduler etc..
· Notification level: Allow you to get notifications by the level i.e Alert, Info, Warn and
Debug.
Users who are not subscribed to EkosLive Pro will see a pop up as shown below:
In order to subscribe, you can follow the link here.
VNC
Update your VNC Password
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Achievements
You can now completed the tasks and earn points just. Achievements's Dashboard can be
found in the settings.
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Once you complete the Achievement, Achievement earned pop up is displayed. Which
includes the title of the Achievements and it's points. Few of the common achievements
are:
1. Capture a preview:
2. Capture ten sequences:
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Once the Achievement is earned, it is marked as done in the Dashboard. And the points
are added to your total score as shown on the top left.
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Captured messiers are marked here. If all messiers are captured then Achievement is
marked as done
Connection Methods
Depending on how you want to connect to StellarMate, click on any of the following options
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Direct HDMI Connection
Note
You must first complete the First Time Setup guide before proceeding with this
tutorial.
By default, StellarMate operates in HotSpot mode. Even if configured for WiFi connection
or LAN, StellarMate always switches back to HotSpot mode when the other connection
modes become unavailable. This is to enable you to always access the device regardless
of network availability.
StellarMate gadget is shipped with a 1.8 meters HDMI cable. Connect the cable to any
monitor or TV. Make sure the cable is connected to StellarMate before powering on the
unit.
Unless the HDMI connection purpose is for viewing only, you also need a keyboard +
mouse to control to the StellarMate OS. You can use wired or wireless mouse and
keyboards.
StellarMate unit is shipped with a full-featured Linux® Operation System that you can
directly access. The default username and password are:
username: stellarmate
password: smate
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This is the same username and password you will use when accessing the unit over Web
VNC as well. It is highly recommended to change the default password after your first login
to the system.
Connecting your equipment
StellarMate supports connecting to your equipment via WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, or USB.
USB is the primary connection method for most astronomical devices. Make sure all
equipment is sufficiently powered and initialized before connecting them to StellarMate.
For mounts, most mounts need to be already aligned before you connect them to
StellarMate.
The following equipment-specific guides provides the standard methods for connecting
such equipment to StellarMate:
· Mounts
· CCDs
· DSLRs
· Focusers
· Filter Wheels
To learn more about connecting your equipment to StellarMate, find out more in the
detailed equipment connection guide.
Connecting from Ekos
Click on KStars icon on the desktop to launch it. After initial startup, complete the wizard to
set up geographical location and download any extra data (Internet connection required).
Launch Ekos either by press Ctrl+K, or by pressing on the Dome-shaped icon in the
Toolbar
It is recommended to use the Ekos Profile Wizard to set up your first profile. The wizard
automatically starts up the first time you fire Ekos in KStars. To start it again, please the
wizard-wand icon in Ekos summary screen.
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Click Next to proceed to the next screen.
In here you need to select if your equipment is attached to StellarMate or elsewhere. Since
you are directly connected to HDMI, then you select Equipment is attached to this device.
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Next, select your equipment profile name and any additional services you want to run then
proceed to create the profile.
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To connect to your equipment and start using Ekos, simply click the Start button as
illustrated above.A
Ethernet Connection
Note
tutorial.
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StellarMate Address
Whether you are accessing StellarMate from PC, Mac, or Mobile, you can always reach it
by the address stellarmate.local This is the address that should be used in Ekos if you
are using Ekos on a PC/Mac to connect remotely to Ekos. To access StellarMate Web
Manager, type in stellarmate.local:8624
Note
Alternatively, you can find out the StellarMate WiFi IP address from the My Mates
page and then use the IP address directly to access the unit. For example, if the
IP address is 192.168.0.12, you can then enter in the
browser http://192.168.0.12:8624 to access StellarMate Web Manager.
StellarMate.
Downloading Ekos
Ekos is the official astrophotography tool used for StellarMate. It is part of KStars, a
popular planetarium application for Windows®, Mac® OS, and Linux®.
Download and setup KStars on your system before proceeding forward.
Please refer to Connecting from Ekos via Ethernet/WiFi.
WiFi Connection
Note
tutorial.
You can connect to StellarMate wirelessly either via:
· Direct Connection to the StellarMate HotSpot or
· Joining StellarMate to your Home WiFi.
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By default, StellarMate runs in HotSpot Mode. Click on the desired mode of connect to
learn more about connecting StellarMate.
HotSpot Connection
Note
tutorial.
Infrastructure Connection
Note
Infrastructure mode is where StellarMate joins an existing WiFi network. You must
first complete the First Time Setup guide before proceeding with this tutorial.
Connecting to WiFi Network
Use the StellarMate App to connect to your WiFi network. From your mobile OS, connect
first to the StellarMate HotSpot, then launch the StellarMate App and go to Device tab.
Here you can see a few controls to configure StellarMate.
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Click on the Manage WiFi button (orange cogwheel next to green wifi icon). The App
should display a list of detected WiFi networks in the vicinity.
Select the desired WiFi network from the list and press Connect. Enter and double check
the WiFi password. A final confirmation warning popup about switching to WiFi
infrastructure mode is displayed, press Yes to continue. The App will command StellarMate
to join the WiFi network and then begins to scan for StellarMate in the local network. This
assumes your phone/tablet will automatically switch to your home WiFi network since it will
be disconnected from the hotspot and in most cases this causes Android/iOS to fall back
to the next available network. If this does not happen, then go to Network Settings in your
mobile OS and connect to the same WiFi network selected above.
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This process can take up to 2 minutes. If successful, the device IP address is going to
change the new WiFi IP address. Go back to the setup page to make sure the device is
connected. If not, double click on the device to ensure it is connected properly.
Once StellarMate is joined to a WiFi network, it will always try to connect to this network
unless it is out of range. In this case, it will default back to the HotSpot.
StellarMate Address
Whether you are accessing StellarMate from PC, Mac, or Mobile, you can always reach it
by the address stellarmate.local This is the address that should be used in Ekos if you
are using Ekos on a PC/Mac to connect remotely to Ekos. To access StellarMate Web
Manager, type in stellarmate.local:8624
Note
When accessing StellarMate directly via Hotspot (Access Point), the unit IP
address is always 10.250.250.1. Therefore, if you are having an issue accessing
the unit via its hostname, you can simply use the IP address in your browser to
access StellarMate Web Manager (http://10.250.250.1:8624).
StellarMate.
Downloading Ekos
Ekos is the official astrophotography tool used for StellarMate. It is part of KStars, a
popular planetarium application for Windows®, Mac® OS, and Linux®.
Download and setup KStars on your system before proceeding forward.
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Please refer to Connecting from Ekos via Ethernet/WiFi.
VNC
When StellarMate is first started, it shall create a HotSpot (Access Point)
named stellarmate. This is HotSpot SSID and the hostname of the unit. This information is
required when you connect to the unit from browsers. The HotSpot SSID is protected.
HotSpot SSID: stellarmate

HotSpot Password: stellar@mate
To access StellarMate through VNC, you have to first connect to the WiFi Hotspot and then
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open your favorite browser and you can either:
· Go to stellarmate.local:6080 directly, click Connect and then use smate as the

password.
· Go to stellarmate.local, and then click on the button on the bottom-right corner, then
select Desktop, you should be redirected to the VNC portal, click Connect and then
use smate as the password.
Connecting from Ekos via Ethernet/WiFi
When you use Ekos on your PC/Mac, set the profile to Remote and set the Address
to stellarmate.local.
Make sure INDI Web Manager checkbox is checked.
It is recommended to use the Ekos Profile Wizard to set up your first profile. The wizard
automatically starts up the first time you fire Ekos in KStars. To start it again, please click
on the wizard icon in Ekos summary screen.
Click Next to proceed to the next screen.
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In here you need to select if your equipment is attached to StellarMate or elsewhere:
1. If you are running Ekos within StellarMate OS, then select Equipment is attached to
this device.
2. If you are running Ekos on a PC/Mac, then select Equipment is attached to a remote
device.
If you clicked on Equipment is attached to a remote device, this page will show up, click on
StellarMate.
If you clicked on Equipment is attached to a remote device before, this page will show up.
In this page you have a choice to specify the StellarMate Address & Port. These settings
are for advanced usage of StellarMate, so just click the Next.
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Next, select your equipment profile name and any additional services you want to run then
proceed to create the profile.
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To connect to your equipment and start using Ekos, simply click the Start button as
illustrated above.
Direct Ethernet
StellarMate includes a Gigabit (1000Mb/s) Ethernet port. You can connect StellarMate to
your home router. Alternatively, you can also directly connect StellarMate to your PC/Mac.
This can be done using a regular Ethernet cable, at home or in the field. Wired connections
are very fast and highly reliable.
For users who prefer the wired solution, you can follow the video guide below to connect
your StellarMate to PC/Mac.
Video Guide
Connecting Equipment Via Bluetooth
There are two ways to connect your bluetooth device:
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1. Bluetooth Wizard provided in Serial Port Assistant
2. Manually pair your bluetooth device
Serial Port Assistant Bluetooth Wizard

StellarMate allows connecting bluetooth mounts easily through StellarMate Web Manager,
all you have to do is follow these steps:
Connecting to a Bluetooth Device
1. Open StellarMate Web Manager
2. Click on Serial Port Assistant
3. Click on Next.
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4. Check the Bluetooth device checkbox, and then click Next.
5. If you have already paired your device to StellarMate before, you can set it to Auto-
bind on startup by clicking on the Bind button next to the device's details. You will be
met with a dialog that confirms that your device has been binded to StellarMate.
6. If you have not paired your device and would like to add a new device, click on the
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Add New Device button.
7. The Bluetooth Wizard will now scan for available bluetooth devices.
8. If the scanner does not find any devices, click on RESCAN.
9. If you find your device, enter the pin code and then click on the Connect
button. (eg. Shoestring Astronomy HC-06's pin code is 1234, you can find the pin code
number by finding the bluetooth device's documentation made by the manufacturer)
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10. Wait a few seconds until a pop-up dialog shows up to confirm if the pairing and binding
process was successful or not.
Unbinding a Bluetooth Device
To stop a device from being auto-binded on startup, go to the Bluetooth Wizard by following
steps 1-4 and then click on Unbind Previous Device.
A confirmation dialog will be shown to you.

Manual Pairing
Bluetooth dongles are supported. Before you can start communicating with your device
from StellarMate, you need to pair it. In order to pair the device, please log in to StellarMate
OS either via Direct HDMI connection or via VNC Viewer in the StellarMate App.
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After you pair your device, you should have a bluetooth ported assigned to it
(e.g. /dev/rfcomm0). This is the port you should use in INDI when communicating with
your device.
Connecting CCDs
StellarMate Plus supports a broad range of camers (CCD/CMOS). Find out if your camera
is supported in the INDI Camera Portal.
StellarMate Plus includes 2 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports, it natively supports USB
3.0 cameras using full bandwidth. While USB 3.0+ cameras are compatible, if you plug
them in USB 2.0 ports, they will operate with a reduced speed. For applications other than
Electronically-Assisted-Astronomy (EAA) where a high FPS is required, USB 2.0 is
sufficient for most scenarios.
Cameras' power can be either external (AC) or internal (battery) or supplied by the USB
bus connection. They can be either connected directly to StellarMate or to to an external
USB hub.
IMPORTANT
Unreliable & Unstable Power is the primary cause for majority of camera issues.
Ensure the camera is properly powered to avoid instabilities. StellarMate
controller ships with a 3A 5v power adapter. StellarMate OS users should invest in
a similar adapter.
The classes of cameras supported by StellarMate:
· CCD Cameras.
· CMOS Cameras.
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· Web Cameras.
· DSLRs
StellarMate supports cameras with built-in Filter Wheels and ST4 port for pulse-guiding.
Connecting DSLRs
StellarMate supports DSLR cameras using the INDI GPhoto driver based on libgphto2
library. It includes supports for Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax and other DSLR cameras. To
know if your specific model is supported, please check the DSLR Supported Cameras
List. In order to use your camera with StellarMate, it must meet the following requirements:
· It must support USB. Connect a USB cable from the camera to StellarMate. WiFI
cameras are not supported yet.
· It must support BULB/MANUAL mode where the shutter is controlled by an external

program.
Tip: Some modern cameras do not have a Bulb (B) dial. You can set Bulb Mode by
selecting Manual (M) dial and then change the exposure duration until you see BULB in the
camera.
Tip
Some modern cameras do not have a Bulb (B) dial. You can set Bulb Mode by
selecting Manual (M) dial and then change the exposure duration until you see
BULB in the camera.
The shutter control can be either executed internally if supported by the camera, or
externally via an external release cable (e.g. DSUSB). The INDI GPhoto driver
documentation includes all the details on operating DSLR cameras.
The INDI driver requires the camera resolution and pixel size upon first connection. When
the camera is first detected, StellarMate would look up the camera specifications and fill
out the necessary information automatically. Please make sure this information is correct in
the INDI Control Panel → Image Info Tab.
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Tip
Pentax cameras are supported in INDI GPhoto driver and also in INDI Native
Pentax driver. The native driver is experimental but offers more support to Pentax
cameras. It’s recommended to try both drivers to see which is more fit for your
specific camera model.
Captured images are downloaded to StellarMate, and depending on the sensor size and
the quality of the WiFi connection, it can take a few seconds for large frames to transfer.
Live view video streaming is available on most models to aid in focusing the camera.
Selected Canon cameras support focusing operations and can autofocus using the Ekos
Focus module. Manual focus is available via Live View or Bahtinov Mask Assistant Tool.
Supported DSLRs
StellarMate supports a wide selection of DSLR cameras manufactured by popular brands
like Canon, Nikon and several others. The following is a list of the most popular supported
cameras.
Canon
Supported Models
Digital Rebel XT (normal mode) EOS 650D
EOS (WLAN) EOS 6D
EOS 1000D EOS 6d Mark II
EOS 100D EOS 700D
EOS 10D EOS 70D
EOS 10D (PTP mode) EOS 750D
EOS 1100D EOS 760D
EOS 1200D EOS 77D
EOS 1300D EOS 7D
EOS 1500D EOS 7D MarkII
EOS 1D C EOS 800D
EOS 1D Mark II (PTP mode) EOS 80D
EOS 1D Mark III (PTP mode) EOS 90D
EOS 1D Mark IV EOS D30
EOS 1D X EOS D60
EOS 1D X MarkII EOS Digital Rebel (normal mode)
EOS 2000D EOS Digital Rebel (PTP mode)
EOS 200D EOS Digital Rebel XTi (PTP mode)
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EOS 20D (normal mode) EOS Kiss Digital (normal mode)

EOS 20D (PTP mode) EOS Kiss Digital (PTP mode)
EOS 250D EOS Kiss Digital N (normal mode)
EOS 300D (normal mode) EOS Kiss Digital X (PTP mode)
EOS 300D (PTP mode) EOS Kiss X2 (PTP mode)
EOS 30D (PTP mode) EOS Kiss X3
EOS 350D EOS M
EOS 350D (normal mode) EOS M10
EOS 350D (PTP mode) EOS M100
EOS 4000D EOS M2
EOS 500D EOS M6
EOS 50D EOS M6 Mark II
EOS 550D EOS R
EOS 5D (normal mode) EOS R2
EOS 5D (PTP mode) EOS Rebel T1i
EOS 5D Mark II EOS Rebel T6
EOS 5D Mark III EOS Rebel T7i
EOS 5D Mark IV EOS Rebel XSi (PTP mode)
EOS 5DS Rebel T2i
EOS 5DS R Rebel T3
EOS 600D Rebel T3i
EOS 60D Rebel T4i
Nikon
Supported Models
D100 (Sierra Mode) DSC D5100 (PTP mode)
D2H SLR (PTP mode) DSC D5200
D2Hs (PTP mode) DSC D5300
D2X SLR (PTP mode) DSC D5500
D3 (PTP mode) DSC D5600
D50 (PTP mode) DSC D60 (PTP mode)
DSC D100 (PTP mode) DSC D600
DSC D2Xs (PTP mode) DSC D70 (PTP mode)
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DSC D300 (PTP mode) DSC D700 (PTP mode)

DSC D3000 (PTP mode) DSC D7000 (PTP mode)
DSC D300s (PTP mode) DSC D70s (PTP mode)
DSC D3200 DSC D7200
DSC D3300 DSC D750
DSC D3400 DSC D7500
DSC D3500 DSC D80 (PTP mode)
DSC D3s (PTP mode) DSC D800
DSC D3x (PTP mode) DSC D800E
DSC D4 DSC D810
DSC D40 (PTP mode) DSC D810A
DSC D40x (PTP mode) DSC D850
DSC D4s DSC D90 (PTP mode)
DSC D5 DSC Df
DSC D500 DSLR (WLAN)
DSC D5000 (PTP mode)
Troubleshooting
In case the camera fails to connect or capture, please make sure of the following:
· Make sure the battery in the camera is full.
· Make sure the SD card in the camera has enough space.
· Make sure camera is set to Bulb/Manual mode. You might need to rotate the dial to
Bulb or Manual and then adjust camera settings to enable BULB mode.
· Turn off any power-saving feature of the camera that might cause it to hibernate or
sleep. Some cameras support adjustable inactivity timers before automatically turning
off. Set such timers to 15 minutes or more.
· Try a different USB cable.
· Try a different USB port.
· Turn off Noise Reduction settings in the camera.
· Turn off mirror lock in the camera settings.
Connecting Mounts
StellarMate supports a broad range of mounts. For a mount to be connected it must satisfy
the minimum requirements
· It must be a GOTO mount.
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· It must have a serial, USB, Bluetooth, Wired, or Wireless interface to an extermal

device or computer.
The documentation for each mount, including supported connection methods, are included
in the mount-specific documentation on the INDI devices portal.
Mounts
Mounts
Copyright © 2018-2022 by Ikarus Technologies. All Rights Reserved.
Celestron
Before connecting to your mount
1. Ensure the mount firmware is the latest as provided by your manufacturer.
2. Ensure mount has proper and suffcient power to operate. This is often a primary source
of issues connecting to mounts.
3. Read the mount manual and learn about the mount startup or Home Position. This is
the mechanical position the mount must be in before you turn on the power to the
mount. This basically falls under three categories:
o Equatorial Mount: Telescope should be looking at the Celestial Pole (Polaris for the
Northern Hemisphere) with counter-weights down.
o Alt-Az Mount: Telescope should parallel to the ground looking exactly North (for
Northern Hemisphere) or South (for Southern hemisphere).
o Alt-Az Mount on Wedge: Telescope should be looking at Celestial Equator due South
(for Northern Hemisphere) or Celestial Equator Due North (for Southern hemisphere).
4. Decide on how you will connect to the mount. Is it using a cable to the handset? or
cable directly to the mount? WiFi? Bluetooth?
5. If connecting over WiFi, then ensure the device where you are running the INDI driver
(e.g. Raspberry PI4) is on the same network as your mount so they can communicate
with each other. Such mounts can be configured to run in two modes:
o Mount Wireless Hotspot Mode : The mount hotspot acts as the router and you can
connect your devices to the mount's own network (e.g. your Raspberry PI and iPad).
o Mount Wireless Station Mode: The mount joins an existing WiFi network (e.g. your
home WiFi network or StellarMate hotspot). The IP address assigned to the mount is
determined by your router. It is best to know the IP address assigned to the mount so
that you can enter it in the IP address field in the driver Connection tab. However, this is
not strictly necessary since the driver can automatically scan the local network for
mounts, albeit this operation may take a few minutes to complete whereas if the IP
address is known beforehand then the connection is immediate.
Selecting the correct driver
Selecting the appropiate driver for your mount usually depends on two factors:
·Mount model.
·Connection method (AUX Port, PC Port, Handset, WiFI, ..etc).
Mount Driver Connection Method
·Advanced AVX · Celestron GPS · Older Nexstar HCs come wi

·CGEM / CGEM II · Celestron CPC Serial-to-USB adapter cable f
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·CGX / CGX-L · Celestron Nexstar

· Modern Nexstar HCs come wi
·CPC / CPC Deluxe · Celestron AVX
you can connect directly vi
·Nexstar · Celestron CGX device (no serial to USB adapte
·Evolution
· Celestron AUX
· Celestron WiFi
· Advanced AVX WiFi
· Evolution WiFi
· CGEM / CGEM II WiFi
· Evolution WiFi Wedge WiFi (No handset is required).
· CGX / CGX-L WiFi
· CGEM II WiFi
· Evolution WiFi
· CGX WiFi
· Advanced VX WiFi
·Advanced AVX
·CGEM / CGEM II Wired AUX or PC Port (located on
·Celestron AUX
·CGX / CGX-L scope).
·CPC
SkyWatcher
All SkyWatcher & Orion Mounts, including EQMod driver.
Before connecting to your mount
1. Ensure the mount firmware is the latest as provided by your manufacturer.
2. Ensure mount has proper and suffcient power to operate. This is often a primary source
of issues connecting to mounts.
3. Read the mount manual and learn about the mount startup or Home Position. This is
the mechanical position the mount must be in before you turn on the power to the mount.
This basically falls under two categories:
1. Equatorial Mount: Telescope should be looking at the Celestial Pole (Polaris
for the Northern Hemisphere) with counter-weights down.
2. Alt-Az Mount: Telescope should parallel to the ground looking exactly North (for
Northern Hemisphere) or South (for Southern hemisphere).
4. Decide on how you will connect to the mount. Is it using a cable to the handset? or cable
directly to the mount? WiFi? Bluetooth?
5. If connecting over WiFi, then ensure the device where you are running the INDI driver
(e.g. Raspberry PI4) is on the same network as your mount so they can communicate
with each other. Such mounts can be configured to run in two modes:
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1. Mount Wireless Hotspot Mode: The mount hotspot acts as the router and you
can connect your devices to the mount's own network (e.g. your Raspberry PI
and iPad).
2. Mount Wireless Station Mode: The mount joins an existing WiFi network (e.g.
your home WiFi network or StellarMate hotspot). The IP address assigned to the
mount is determined by your router. It is best to know the IP address assigned to
the mount so that you can enter it in the IP address field in the driver Connection
tab. However, this is not strictly necessary since the driver can automatically
scan the local network for mounts, albeit this operation may take a few minutes
to complete whereas if the IP address is known beforehand then the connection
is immediate.
Selecting the correct driver
Selecting the appropiate driver for your mount usually depends on two factors:
· Mount model.
· Connection method (Cable, WiFI, Bluetooth..etc).
Mount Driver Connection Meth
· HEQ5
· EQ6 \ EQ6R Pro
· AZ-EQ5 \ AZ-EQ6 Pro
EQMod Mount EQDirect Cable
· EQ8 \ EQ8 Pro
· EQ3 Pro EQM-35 Pro
· Orion Sirrius \ Orion, Atlas
· HEQ5
· EQ6 \ EQ6R Pro
EQMod Mount Bluetooth
· EQ8 \ EQ8 Pro
· HEQ5
· EQ6 \ EQ6R Pro
EQMod Mount Synscan Wifi Adap
· EQ8 \ EQ8 Pro
· AZ-GTi WiFi (With Equatorial

AZ-GTi Equatorial WiFi WiFi
Wedge)
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· Equatorial Wedge: EQMod

AZ-GTi Wired WIRED cable from
Mount
USB
· Alt-Az: SkyWatcher Alt-Az
·AZ-GTi (Alt-Az)
·All SkyWatcher Dobsonian GOTOs SkyWatcher Alt-Az WiFi WiFi (Native) or Sy
·All Orion Dobsonian GOTOs
· Older Synsca
RJ11 plug. You
adapter ca
PC/Device.
·Any SkyWatcher/Orion with Synscan
Synscan · Modern Synsc
Handset (HC)
USB Type-B
connect direct
your device
adapter is requ
·SkyWatcher Virtuso SkyWatcher Virtuso WiFi
SkyWatcher Star Adventurer 2i

·SkyWatcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro WiFi
WiFi
SkyWatcher Star Adventurer 2i

·SkyWatcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro USB
WiFi
·SkyWatcher Star Adventurer SkyWatcher Star Adventurer NA
Mount Connection Guide

In order to know what connections your mount supports, check the following table:
Manufacturer HC Direct WiFi Ethernet Bluetooth Comment

Meade Yes NA Yes* NA NA WiFi requires external Stella WiFi Adapter
1. Native WiFi support for Evolution Mounts using INDI Celestro
require SkyPortal WiFi Module.
Celestron Yes NA Yes* NA NA*
2. Handsets before 2016 with RJ11 port require StellarMate
Handset have mini USB port that can be connected directly to St
1. Direct connection via StellarMate cables is the best option
mount via INDI EQMod driver.
SkyWatcher / 2. Connecting to Synscan handset is possible but offers limited
Yes Yes Yes* NA Yes*
Orion 3. Some WiFi mounts (e.g. AZ-GTi) offers direct WiFi commu
mounts require external dongle.
4. Bluetooth communication supported with external bluetooth d
1. Most mounts are connected from handset to StellarMate via IK
iOptron Yes Yes* Yes* NA NA 2. Some newer mounts (e.g. CEM70g) support direct connection
3. Native WiFi mounts are supported.
Astrophysics Yes NA NA NA NA
Omegon Yes NA NA NA NA
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Vixen Yes NA NA Yes NA

10Micron Yes NA NA Yes NA
Avalon Yes NA NA NA
StellarMate can control Paramount only via TheSkyX TCP Ser
Paramount NA NA NA Yes* NA driver must connect to TheSkyX server to drive the mount. Bot
must be on the same network.
PMC-8 Yes NA Yes Yes NA
Losmandy G11 Yes NA NA NA NA
Explore
Scientific Yes NA Yes Yes NA
EXOS2
Explore
Scientific Yes NA Yes Yes NA
iEXOS100
Losmandy
Yes NA NA Yes NA
Gemini
Temma
Yes NA NA Yes NA
Takahashi
TeenAstro Yes NA NA Yes NA Ethernet connection is supported (Firmware > v1.1)
SkyWatcher
Yes NA NA NA NA
Virtuso
SkySensor2000
Yes NA NA NA NA
PC
Pulsar2 Yes NA NA NA NA
AOK SkyWalker NA NA Yes Yes NA
OnStep Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Rainbow RS-
Yes NA NA NA NA
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ArgoNavis Yes NA NA NA NA
Digital Setting
Yes NA NA NA NA
Circle
Methods of Connection
The following diagrams illustrates the methods of connection:
· HC (HandSet Controller)
· Direct
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· WiFi
1. HotSpot mode
2. WiFi Infrastructure
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· Bluetooth
Serial to USB
IMPORTANT
In order to connect your mount via Serial to USB, you need to get a mount-specific
Serial to USB cable, which can be bought from Ikarus Technologies.
Most mounts provide an RS232 port (usually located in the handset). An RS232 to USB
cable is required in order connect the mount to StellarMate. StellarMate is equipped with 4
USB ports. However, it is highly recommended to use an external powered USB Hub as it
can reliably support power to your equipment.
WARNING
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Most problems in operating your equipment with StellarMate are related first and
foremost to power problems. Therefore, please invest in reliable power supply for
all your equipment!
For many Mounts & Focusers that use RS232 connectors, you need to purchase a Serial-
To-USB adapter suitable for your Mount/Focuser model from the manufacturer. When you
plug in your Serial-To-USB devices, they are assigned a specific port under StellarMate
(e.g. /dev/ttyUSB0). However, this port is not static. That is, next time you plug in the
same device on another session, it might get assigned another port
(e.g. /dev/ttyUSB1). Since INDI drivers require the port name to communicate with the
device, this could lead to communication issues. With the help of StellarMate Serial Port
Assistant (Web or Ekos versions), you can assign permanent designations for your
devices so that they always get the same port whenever they are connected
Wired Network
Some mounts support wired networked connection via a dedicated Ethernet port.
Depending on the mount manufacturer, the mount can be either connected directly via an
Ethernet cable (StellarMate to Mount direct), or the mount can be connected to a wired
router where it can be accessed over the network. Consult the mount manual to find which
mode it supports and what is the default IP address and port of the mount once it is
connected to the network.
· Direct Ethernet: When connecting a Direct ethernet cable without a router in between,
an automatic IPv4 address is created. The automatic IP address is usually in the form
of 169.254.XXX.XXX. In order for StellarMate to communicate with the mount, the exact
IP address and port must be specified in the INDI Control Panel. StellarMate can also
be configured to any IP address manually in order to communicate with whatever IP
schema used by the mount.
· Ethernet LAN: If the mount can be connected to a router, it should be able to obtain an
IP address automatically from the router. Access your router configuration page and
find the IP address assigned to the mount. Use this IP address in the INDI Control Panel
in order to establish communication with it. The port number should be listed in your
mount manual.
Wireless Connection
Wireless mounts are usually connected either directly (via mount own Hotspot) or they can
be configured in Infrastructure Mode where they can join an existing WiFi network.
· Mount HotSpot: When connecting a mount hotspot, make sure that all devices including
the laptop, tablet, StellarMate..etc are all connected to the mount hotspot. This is to
ensure that all the devices are on the same network talking to each other. You cannot
have half the devices on a different network. Once the devices join the mount HotSpot
network, they should be assigned their own IP addresses. Use the mount hotspot IP
address in INDI Control Panel in order to establish communication with the mount. The
port number should be listed in your mount manual.
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· Mount Infrastructure: Some Wireless mount can be configured in Infrastructure Mode.

This is the mode where the mount does not start its own hotspot but insteads joins an
existing WiFi network. Make sure all the relevant devices (StellarMate, Laptop,
Tablet..etc) are all joined to the same WiFi network so that they can talk to each other.
Find out the mount IP address and enter it in INDI Control Panel in order to establish
communication with the mount. The port number should be listed in your mount manual.
Connecting Focusers
StellarMate supports a broad range of focusers from professional focusers to DYI types.
Most focusers fall in the following two categories:
· Absolute/Relative Focusers: Absolute focusers are usually stepper motors that can
go to a specific step that is remembered across power cycles. This is the recommened
type to use since Auto Focus operations are reliable with this type of focuser.
· DC Focusers: DC Focusers are open loop simple motors in which the program can
control the speed and direction of the focuser, but not its exact position. These exist in
cheap focusers and DSLR cameras. It is generally recommended to avoid such
focusers.
To check if your focuser is supported, please visit the INDI Focuser Portal. Check the
documentation for your focuser before you operate it for the first time.
Serial to USB
Most equipment is connected via USB. StellarMate is equipment with 4 USB ports.
However, it is highly recommended to use an external powered USB Hub as it can reliably
support power to your equipment.
WARNING
all your equipment!
For many Focusers that use RS232 connectors, you need to purchase a Serial-To-USB
adapter suitable for your Focuser model from the manufacturer. When you plug in your
Serial-To-USB devices, they are assigned a specific port under StellarMate
Assistant, you can assign permanent designations for your devices so that they always get
the same port whenever they are connected.
Connecting Filter Wheels
StellarMate supports a broad range of filter wheels. Most filter wheels fall in the following
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two categories:
· Standalone: The filter wheel operates independently from any other device and has its
own USB connection to StellarMate/PC. The filter wheel is operated from a dedicated
INDI driver.
· Internal: Several camera models ship with an internal Color Filter Wheel (CFW) and
therefore operating the filter wheel happens in the INDI camera driver. The INDI control
panel would include an additional Filter tab whereas the filter slots and corresponding
designations can be updated.
To check if your filter wheel is supported, please visit the INDI Filter Wheel Portal. Check
the documentation for your filter wheel before you operate it for the first time.
USB & Serial to USB
WARNING
all your equipment!
Some filter wheels are connected to USB as regular USB devices while others are
connected as Serial-To-USB devices. For the latter case, you need to purchase a Serial-
To-USB adapter suitable for your filter wheel model from the manufacturer. When you plug
in your Serial-To-USB devices, they are assigned a specific port under StellarMate
If your Filter Wheel mode does not uses a Serial-To-USB chip, you will not see any settings
for serial Port settings in the driver and can therefore connect directly.
Operating Filter Wheel
Filter Wheels are relatively simply devices. There are two primary controls for most filter
wheel drivers:
· Filter Slot: This is the current active slot of the filter wheel. It starts from 1 to the
maximum number of slots available. To change the filter, simply change the slot number.
· Filter Names: On first connection, filter names (e.g. Red) are generated by the driver.
Change the filter names to reflect the actual installed filter using the Capture Module in
Ekos (KStars).
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Time & Location
In order to ensure smooth and accurate operation of the astrophotography workflow, both
time and location information must be precise across all devices in the system. Therefore,
the time and location on StellarMate must be in sync with the time and location on all
connected devices, especially mounts.
StellarMate Plus Controller is equipped with a Real Time Clock (RTC). This ensures that
the internal clock keeps ticking even when the power is switched off. When SM Plus is
powered on, it reads the time from the onboard RTC. While this value might drift off by a
few seconds over time, it is critical to minimize any large errors that otherwise would
accumulate over time unchecked.
Note
For users who installed StellarMate OS on their own Raspberry PI4 SBCs, it’s
recommended to invest in installing an DS3231 RTC module or use a GPS
dongle.
While the RTC provides acceptable time tracking, it does not offer location information.
Therefore, GPS is the recommended solution in the long term. The following are the
supported GPS sources:
· Tablet/Mobile GPS: The StellarMate App relays the tablet/mobile time and location
information to StellarMate. Everytime the SM App is connected to SM Plus, it
automatically synchronizes both time and location information accordingly.
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· External GPS Dongle: SM Plus supports a number of dedicated external GPS dongles
connected via USB. Once connected, select the GPSD driver in your equipment profile
in order to utilize the GPS.
· Mount with GPS: Some mount have internal or external GPS adapters. These adapters
cannot be connected directly to StellarMate, they are used to update the time and
location on the mount handset. You can select Mount as the source of data if desired.
Every time the StellarMate Mobile App is connected to StellarMate, it syncs both time and
location information from the tablet/phone GPS. If the SM App is not used (for example,
when using Ekos on a PC/Mac), then StellarMate relies primarily on RTC as the time
source.
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In KStars, it is possible to specify the Time Source. Click on Settings → Configure KStars
→ INDI.
By default, KStars is the source of all time and location information. The KStars time
depends on the system time for StellarMate, and therefore depends on the RTC. If
StellarMate is connected to the internet, the system would also synchronize the time to
online time servers and synchronize the RTC clock accordingly. Now both the internet time
and RTC clock are again in sync to account for any drifts that might build up in the RTC.
After connecting the SM App to StellarMate, the KStars’ location is updated to the
tablet/mobile GPS location. You can also change the KStars location from Settings →
Geographic and then select or add a new location.
Tip
You can use StellarMate App to quickly synchronize StellarMate Plus time and
location. The time and location are automatically set whenever the App
communicates with StellarMate. Afterwards, you may continue to use the SM
App, or use Ekos to setup your astrophotography workflow.
Therefore, in KStars, the time and location information MASTER source can be selected
from the following sources:
· KStars Updates All Devices: KStars time and location is the primary source and all
connected devices (mounts..etc) are synchronized to KStars time and location. When
using SM App, it’s recommended to leave this option as is.
· Mount Updates KStars: The mount time and location are used to update KStars time
and location. Some mounts are equipped with internal or external GPS, KStars does
NOT connect to these mount-specific GPS dongles. Instead, KStars communicates
with the mount via the Handset/WiFi to query time and location information and then
uses them as the source.
· GPS Updates KStars: When using a dedicated externa GPS dongle, select this
option to ensure the GPS dongle is the master source for both time and location. When
Ekos detects a GPS device, it will prompt the user to switch to it as the master time &
location source.
Therefore, you must select which source is the most accurate and reliable for time &
location information. By default, KStars is the master source for time and location data.
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WARNING
Turn off DST / Daylight Saving settings in the handset as this could
interfere with correct time settings.
Web Manager
StellarMate Web Manager is a simple Web Application to manage INDI server and control
StellarMate. It is accessible as long as there is a network connection
(WiFi/Ethernet/Hotspot) between you and StellarMate. For example, if you are in inside the
house with a PC/Mac/Tablet, you could use your browser to remotely manage StellarMate
drivers.
It supports multiple driver profiles along with optional custom remote drivers. It can be used
to start INDI server locally, and also to connect or chain to remote INDI servers. You can use
it to Restart or Shutdown the unit, and to connect to VNC frontend from the web.
Furthermore, the Web Manager provides a RESTful API where you can issue simple calls
to start and stop INDI services over the network.
With the Web Manager, you can access StellarMate Serial Port Assistant and VNC.
Furthermore, you can also restart and shutdown INDI from the interface.
By default, StellarMate is shipped with the Simulator profile. It is composed of the following
drivers:
· Telescope Simulator
· CCD Simulator
· Focuser Simulator
You can run the Simulator profile to test the simulators and connect to them from any client.
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Web Manager URL
You can access the Web Manager from any browser at this url:
http://stellarmate.local:8624
Furthermore, it can be access in the StellarMate App by going to the device tab and click
on Web Manager button.
Note
Interacting with the StellarMate Web Manager is usually not necessary since both
Ekos and the StellarMate App can operate the equipment profiles directly. The
Web Manager is useful when you are not using the StellarMate App and need to
remotely manager the drivers directly.
Device Information
The device information button brings up an information popup to show the following
information:
· StellarMate Unit name.
· StellarMate Unit model.
· StellarMate OS Version.
· List of IP addresses: Connection to StellarMate is usually done via its hostname,

however, you can connect directly via IP address.
Adding New Profile
Before you add a new profile, you need to identify which drivers you need for your
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equipment. You can browse all available devices in the INDI Devices page, or you can
simply scroll through the list of available drivers in the Driver selection dropdown. To add a
new profile:
1. Enter the device name
2. Click the Plus button
3. Once the new device is added, select the appropriate drivers from the list. Please note
that you may need to run some drivers from the Auxiliary class in the following
situations:
o Joystick: If you plan to use a joystick with your mount, select the Joystick driver
from the auxiliary list.
o SkySafari: To monitor and control your mount from SkySafari, select the
SkySafari driver from the auxiliary list.
o WatchDog: This driver is required for secure remote operation of observations.

In the case of communication loss, you can configure the driver to perform a safe
shutdown of your observatory.
4. Click the Save button to save your profile.
5. Click Start to start INDI server. If all goes OK, you should see a message in the
notification area.
Removing Profile
To remove an equipment profile, press the Minus sign next to it. Please note this operation
is permanent.
Auto Start
If you want to automatically start a particular equipment profile whenever StellarMate is
powered on, check the AutoStart checkbox.
Auto Connect
In addition to Auto Starting an equipment profile, you can also connect all equipment which
is equivalent to pressing the connect button for all the drivers. The connection command is
usually sent 2 seconds after starting the profile. To enable auto connection, check the Auto
Connect checkbox.
Starting & Stopping Server
Click Start to establish the INDI server. The list of active drivers running should be
displayed in the info box. Once the server is established, you can connect to StellarMate
from any INDI client.
Note
If you are using Ekos, you do not need to manually start/stop drivers in the web
manager. Simple check INDI Web Manager checkbox in Ekos Profile Editor, and
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Ekos manages starting/stopping INDI drivers transparently.
Serial Port Assistant
StellarMate supports a broad range of astronomical equipment including Mounts, DSLRs,

CCDs, Focusers, Filter Wheels, Domes, Weather Stations, and other Auxiliary devices.
For a complete list, please check INDI Devices Page.
StellarMate Equipment video
All equipment must be powered before you connect them to StellarMate. Most
astronomical devices can be connected to StellarMate via the following methods:
· USB. This includes Serial-To-USB devices.
· Bluetooth
· Network: Wired or Wireless
USB
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WARNING
all your equipment!
For many Mounts & Focusers that use RS232 connectors, you need to purchase a Serial-
To-USB adapter suitable for your Focuser model from the manufacturer. When you plug in
your Serial-To-USB devices, they are assigned a specific port under StellarMate
Network
Some devices can be connected to over the network (TCP/IP). For such devices, the only
requirement is that the device is available on the same subnet as StellarMate. To connect
to a networked device, you need its IP address (or hostname) and its port.
StellarMate Serial Assistant
Serial Port Assistant ensures that your serial device designations are saved permanently.
When you plug your mount, it is assigned a random port (e.g. COM2 or /dev/ttyUSB1).
This port is required in order for INDI to communicate with your mount. Using the assistant,
you can assign a permanent ID to your device (e.g. /dev/mount). Therefore, every time
you plug in your device, it is always assigned a designated port that INDI uses to
communicate with the device.
To use the Serial Port Assistant, go to StellarMate Web Manager either from StellarMate
App or from any browser and click on the Serial Port Assistant Icon at the bottom right.
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Simply follow the instructions in the step-by-step guided wizard to assign permanent
designations to your Serial-To-USB devices.
Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQHUaO5Hmi0
Note
StellarMate Serial Assistant is only applicable to Serial-To-USB devices, for

regular USB devices, do not use it.
StellarMate Control Panel
IMPORTANT
In order to open the StellarMate Control Panel you need to be connected to the
same network as your StellarMate.
If StellarMate is in hotspot mode, you can connect to it by going to your
computer/laptop WiFi settings and connecting to the SSID stellarmate with
the password stellar@mate
Do not open StellarMate Control Panel from StellarMate itself, it is meant to be

opened from your computer/laptop.
StellarMate Control Panel is a web application for StellarMate OS. It provides any functions
such as displaying the connection status of the controller, backup and restore, network and
factory reset, etc.
Status Bar
The Status Bar is available on every page on the top-right corner as it is informative to the
user and has some shortcuts.
The Status Bar has the following features:
· Shows the connection status

· Shortcut to update StellarMate OS build
· Shows the type of connection to StellarMate (Hotspot, WIFi or ethernet)
· Shows the Date and Time
· Allows shutting down or restarting StellarMate
If the connection is spotty and keeps getting disconnected, the status bar will inform you by
showing a yellow exclamation icon.
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To update using the status bar, click on the update icon and a dialog will pop-up, allowing
you to check for an update and install it.
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Dashboard
The home page of the StellarMate Control Panel is the Dashboard, which shows the
following information:
1. RAM Usage
2. Storage Usage
3. CPU Usage
4. Device Temperature
5. Network Graph
6. Weather and Location Information
7. Screen Resolution
Weather Units
Weather units can be toggled from Metric to Imperial and vice-versa.
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Hardware
In this page, you can see all the hardware devices that are connected to StellarMate.
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Clicking on a device will show its information, which can be downloaded by clicking on the
Download button (cloud icon) on the top-right.
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Software
Auto Start
In the software center it is possible to toggle Auto Start for KStars and/or PHD2. If toggled
on, it allows KStars and/or PHD2 to start-up with StellarMate OS.
Installed
Installed applications appear in this section and you can remove/uninstall them by clicking
on the remove button.
Available
Applications that are available for download appear in this section and you can install them
by following these steps:
1. Click on Download
2. Wait for download to complete
3. Click on Install
The application should now be installed on your StellarMate.
Release Type
You can switch between the Stable and Beta releases. The Stable release -as the name
suggests- is stable, has the main features of StellarMate OS and does not contain show-
stopping bugs. The Beta release is not very stable, and it has drivers and new features
such as incomplete drivers for unsupported devices. The new features might've not been
tested completely and can sometimes be buggy since there might be show-stopping bugs
which were not caught by StellarMate developers.
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Network
Wireless
You can connect to StellarMate through a WiFi Router or the broadcasted HotSpot
network.
To connect to StellarMate through a WiFi Router, you have to connect StellarMate to the
WiFi Router first by following these steps:
1. Click on Connect on the WiFi Router card
2. Select your WiFi Router network connection and then put in the password if there is
one, then click on Connect.
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3. Connect to the same WiFi network on your computer/laptop and then refresh the page,
the network page should look like the image below.
You can always switch back to HotSpot mode whenever you want by clicking on the Turn
On button under HotSpot.
Wired
StellarMate can be connected through Router Ethernet or Direct Ethernet
To connect to StellarMate through Router Ethernet, just connected an Ethernet cable to

StellarMate and connected the other end to your Router.
Now connect to the same network on your computer and refresh the page.
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To connect to StellarMate through Direct Ethernet, follow the video tutorial on this page.
Diagnostics
The Diagnostics page contains Backup and Reset functions as well as many important
information to help StellarMate developers fix any issues that StellarMate users face.
Backup and Reset
This section provides the user with the ability to:
· Reset Network: In case you face any persistent problems with the network settings,
you can reset all network settings to default by clicking on the Network Reset button.
Any WiFi networks or manual network settings will now be discarded. StellarMate must
be restart for this change to take effect.
· Reset Factory: In case StellarMate is experiencing unresolved instablities, it is

possible to restore it to Factory Settings by click on the the Factory Reset button. After
the confirmation dialog, you need to enter StellarMate password (default: smate). The
controller name is reset to stellarmate. It must be restarted afterwards.
· Backup: StellarMate settings can be backed up to a file to help in restoring any

settings when either flashing a new StellarMate OS or in case in restoration of
damaged SD card. The settings include all KStars and INDI settings which includes the
profiles and driver-specific options. This creates a backup compressed file that can be
used later to restore your StellarMate configuration.
· Restore: StellarMate settings can be restored through a backup file generated by the
backup function.
Test
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Test your hardware devices such as DSLR. This will tell you if your DSLR is working
correctly with StellarMate or not.
Logs
In order to check the logs, you can

Extract logs for diagnosing an error or an issue that has happened during usage of
StellarMate.
This can be used by StellarMate developers to help fix the issue. StellarMate support may
ask you to attach logs in your support ticket if they need to investigate the issue.
Backup and Restore Process
This is an instructional guide for the Backup and Restore process.
It will be explained step by step in this section of the manual.
Backing up StellarMate configuration
In order to backup your StellarMate configuration, please follow these steps:
1. Click on the Backup button.
2. Wait for the Backup process to generate a backup file, this might take long if you have
lots of images.
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3. Click on the Download button (cloud icon) and select the backup file that has been
generated.
4. You should get a Backup Successful message. You should You now have a backup
file on your computer that you can use later to restore your StellarMate configuration.
Restoring StellarMate configuration
In order to restore your StellarMate configuration, please follow these steps:
1. Click on the Restore button.
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2. Select your backup file and click on Open.
3. Wait for the upload process to complete.
4. You should get a Upload Successful message, which means that the restore was
successful.
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Logs
EkosLive logs should be sent to the Stellar Mate support when there are issues about
EkosLive being down or for issues with Live Stacking.
This is an instructional guide for how to View or Extract Logs.
It will be explained step by step in this section of the manual.
Logs can be viewed and also download from the Icon on top-right side.
1. EkosLive
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2. KStars & INDI:
You can view the logs for kstars and INDI as well. On the left side, you can see
different files for each day
Note: You can also watch the Video on how to enable logging in Kstars from the link given
below:
https://www.indilib.org/individuals/logs-howto.html
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4. Web Manager
5. Network Manager:
6. Device Manager:
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7. Boot:
Goto
In every page of the StellarMate Control Panel, there is a GOTO button on the bottom-right
corner.
Clicking on GOTO opens up a menu that allows you to navigate to 3 different areas.
· Web Manager
· Ekos Live
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· Desktop (VNC)
EkosLive
EkosLive is an online Real Time cloud-based Web Application to remotely control your
equipment from anywhere and at any time. Get notifications about the imaging progress,
watch a live video feed of planets, align your mount, and auto-focus, auto-guide from one
central location. Use it on your phone, tablet, or computer.
The interface is designed to be flexible on whatever platform you prefer. If you're mobile,
you can get the best results by using it on your tablet.
Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc6P9OjYmI0
How does it work?
EkosLive requires an internet connection. A fast and high bandwidth internet connection is
recommended since image transfer depends on your internet speed. A low-bandwidth
internet for device control is sufficient.
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Cloud Storage is available for EkosLive Pro users. Captured images (not preview) may be
saved to the cloud as lossless compressed FITS images (.fits.gz). Users can view the
cloud images and utilize an advanced metadata system to search and categorize their
images.
Supported Browsers
EkosLive is compatible with many modern browsers on desktop & mobile. However, we
highly recommend using Google Chrome on all platforms to get the best experience.
Firefox is unfortunately not supported at the moment since it does not support dual
websocket technology that is employed in EkosLive.
Getting Started
After you subscribe to EkosLive (Basic or Pro plans), you will be redirected to the
EkosLive URL at https://live.stellarmate.com. Bookmark this URL for easy access in the
future.
Connecting Ekos to the Cloud
Before you can use EkosLive Web Application, Ekos must be connected to the cloud. You
can find the Ekos cloud icon on the main screen as illustrated below:
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After successful authentication, the EkosLive cloud icon should turn Green. Now you are
ready to use EkosLive Web Application.
Using EkosLive Web Application
Go to the EkosLive URL and login with your username & password. After login, the
EkosLive Home screen should be displayed:
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In the main toolbar, the following controls/icons are visible:
· Main Menu : Click here to access the following:
o Profiles: Start/Stop Ekos Profiles
o Settings: Change EkosLive Settings such as notifications, sounds, and theme.
· Ekos Status Icon: When Ekos is connected to your equipment, this icon should turn
. When no profile is active and Ekos is not connected to your equipment, this icon
should turn .
· Cloud Status Icon: This icon should remain as long as you are connected to the
internet. If it turns , check your internet connection.
If no Ekos Profile was started before connecting to EkosLive, the Ekos Status Icon should
be Red. You can either start the Ekos Profile directly in Ekos, or by clicking the Menu, and
then selecting Profiles, and then selecting which profile to start. Once the Ekos Profile is
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active, you can start using EkosLive controls.
EkosLive FAQ
Questions on EkosLive Real-Time Web Application for Observatory Control & Monitoring.
1. What is Ekos Live?
2. Is EkosLive a replacement for Ekos?
3. Is EkosLive free?
4. Is EkosLive Secure?
5. Can I access EkosLive Web App from multiple browsers/phones?
6. How do I access EkosLive?
7. Do I need to purchase StellarMate to use EkosLive?
1. What is Ekos Live?
Ekos Live is a real-time web application that can be run from any browser. It allows you to
control many aspects of Ekos right from the browser. It is built around material-ui from
Google, so it is very friendly for mobiles & tablets on any platform.
It supports capture, focus, guiding, alignment, and polar assistant tools. Furthermore, it can
save your images directly to the cloud where they are stored along with a rich metadata
system that enables easy search for images in the future. You can define your own tags to
uniquely identifies images of interest.
Turn on sound notifications on to get audible alerts on tasks such as when an image is
captured and so on. It supports multiple themes (Normal, Dark, and Night) to suit your
seeing preferences.
2. Is EkosLive a replacement for Ekos?
No. EkosLive is a complementary tool to Ekos. It actually requires Ekos in the background.
The benefit of EkosLive is that you can access it at any time you have internet access.
There is no need to use TeamViewer or 3rd party solutions to log in remotely to your PC to
check the observatory status. All of this can be done easily and securely with EkosLive.
Since it was designed with mobile in mind, you'll find its user interface particularily suited
for tablets and phones.
3. Is EkosLive free?
Yes! We offer two tiers of EkosLive subscriptions:
EkosLive Basic: Free.
EkosLive Pro: $4.99/Month subscription.
The EkosLive Pro version differs from Basic in that you get unlimited bandwidth to upload
and view images in addition to cloud storage & video streaming capabilities. But the basic
version of EkosLive is already quite powerful and can perform Capture, Alignment,
Focusing, and Guiding!
228 / 236
4. Is EkosLive Secure?
Absolutely! EkosLive transmits all traffic over SSL and WSL (for Secure Websockets)
using industry-proven encryption at both ends. Your data is securely stored where you are
the only party that can download and view them. No data is shared with any 3rd party.
5. Can I access EkosLive Web App from multiple browsers/phones?
No. Currently, only one connection is permitted to EkosLive. If you try to login from another
login, you will be logged out from your current location.
6. How do I access EkosLive?
You can access EkosLive from this address https://live.stellarmate.com.
7. Do I need to purchase StellarMate to use EkosLive?
No, StellarMate is not required. You just need KStars/Ekos to use EkosLive.
Using GPS
Time and Location settings are critical to the proper operation of StellarMate. This is even
more apparent if you're on the go with a mobile setup. For a fixed-observatory, the only
factor you have to worry about synchronizing is time. On the other hand, a mobile setup
requires both location and time settings to be accurate.
The time & location settings are not only used for KStars, but also to synchronize the mount
and any other devices with time & location dependencies. For example, some weather
drivers depend on location to query and retrieve information about the current weather.
Selecting a GPS Dongle
Any U-Blox based GPS USB dongle would work with StellarMate. Here are a few from
Amazon:
1. Diymall Vk-172
2. Stratux Vk-162
3. USB GPS Receiver
Most of these dongles need to be outdoor to receive any satellite signals. They can be
connected to any USB slot in StellarMate.
Configuring GPS in StellarMate
After plugging the USB dongle for the first time, you need to do the following:
1. Use StellarMate Serial Port Assistant tool assign a permanent designation to the USB
dongle.
2. Configure KStars to mark GPS as the primary source for Location & Time updates.
229 / 236
3. Create an Equipment profile with the GPSD driver selected in one of

the Aux. dropdowns.
The following is a video tutorial that covers all the steps above:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXE5NFC6Vs8
Support
We are proud to offer top-notch support to our customers. Please make sure to check out
first the Frequently Asked Questions. To report any issues with StellarMate or Ekos,
please submit a ticket and our support team should get back to you as soon as possible.
Please make sure to submit the relevant logs to aid in diagnosing and resolving the issue
efficiently.
Index
Index
A
Altitude (see Horizontal Coordinates)

Animated Slewing, Advanced
Astronomical Unit (see Parallax)
Atmospheric Refraction, Advanced
Azimuth (see Horizontal Coordinates)
Blackbody Radiation, Blackbody Radiation

(see also Star Colors and Temperatures)
Catalogs
Deep-Sky Catalogs, Catalogs
Star Catalogs, Catalogs
Catalogs page
Short overview, Catalogs
CCD Video Control
Setup, CCD and Video-Capture Setup
Celestial Coordinate Systems
Ecliptic Coordinates, The Ecliptic Coordinate System
(see also Ecliptic)
Equatorial Coordinates, The Equatorial Coordinate System
(see also Celestial Equator)
(see also Celestial Poles)
230 / 236
(see also Geographic Coordinate System)

Galactic Coordinates, The Galactic Coordinate System
Horizontal Coordinates, The Horizontal Coordinate System
(see also Horizon)
(see also Zenith)
Overview, Celestial Coordinate Systems
Celestial Equator, The Celestial Equator
(see also Equatorial Coordinates)
Celestial Poles, The Celestial Poles
(see also Equatorial Coordinates)
Celestial Sphere, The Celestial Sphere
(see also Celestial Coordinate Systems)
Color Schemes
Customizing, The Configure KStars Window, Colors
Selecting, Customizing the Display
Commands
Keyboard, Keyboard Commands
Menu, Menu Commands
Keyboard Shortcuts, Menu Shortcuts
Mouse, Mouse Commands
Configure
INDI, Configure INDI
Configure KStars window, The Configure KStars Window
Advanced page, The Configure KStars Window, Advanced
Catalogs page, The Configure KStars Window
Colors page, The Configure KStars Window, Colors
FITS page, FITS
Guides page, The Configure KStars Window, Guides
Satellites page, The Configure KStars Window, Satellites
Solar System page, The Configure KStars Window, Solar System
Supernovae page, The Configure KStars Window, Supernovae
Xplanet page, The Configure KStars Window
Cosmic Distance Ladder, Cosmic Distance Ladder
Dark Matter, Dark Matter

Date and Time
Extended range of dates, Setting the Time
Setting, Setting the Time
The simulation clock, Setting the Time
Declination (see Equatorial Coordinates)
Ecliptic, The Ecliptic

(see also Ecliptic Coordinates)
EkosLive, EkosLive
FAQ, EkosLive FAQ
Supported browsers, Supported Browsers
231 / 236
Web application, Using EkosLive Web Application

Elliptical Galaxies, Elliptical Galaxies
Epoch, Epoch
Equinoxes, The Equinoxes
(see also Celestial Equator)
(see also Ecliptic)
Field-of-View Symbols
Customizing, Customizing the Display
Defining New, Customizing the Display
Description, Customizing the Display
Find Object Tool, Finding Objects
Flux, Flux
(see also Luminosity)
Geographic Coordinate System, Geographic Coordinates

Geographic Location Tool
Custom locations, Setting the Geographic Location
Filtering, Setting the Geographic Location
GPS
Dongle, Using GPS
Great Circles, Great Circles
(see also Celestial Sphere)
Horizon, The Horizon

(see also Horizontal Coordinates)
Hour Angle, Hour Angle
(see also Local Meridian)
(see also Sidereal Time)
Image-dump Mode, Command-Line mode for Image Generation

INDI
Setup, INDI Setup, Telescope Setup
INDI Control
Overview, Astronomical Device Control with INDI
Info Boxes
Shading, Customizing the Display
232 / 236
Julian Day, Julian Day
Latitude (see Geographic Coordinate System)

Leap Years, Leap Years
Local Meridian, The Local Meridian
(see also Celestial Sphere)
(see also Hour Angle)
Longitude (see Geographic Coordinate System)
Luminosity, Luminosity
(see also Flux)
Magnitude Scale, Magnitude Scale

(see also Flux)
(see also Star Colors and Temperatures)
Main sequence, Stars: An Introductory FAQ
Milky Way, The Galactic Coordinate System
Navigation Controls
Basics, Have a Look Around
Keyboard, Navigation Keys
Mouse, Mouse Commands
Objects in the Sky

Centering, Mouse Commands
Details, Object Details Window
Finding by Name, Finding Objects
Hiding, Advanced
Identifying, Mouse Commands
Internet Links, The Popup Menu
(see also Popup Menu)
Customizing, Object Details Window
Invoking Popup Menu for, Mouse Commands
Keyboard Actions, Keyboard Actions, Actions for the Selected Object
Labeling
Automatic, Advanced
Overview, Objects in the Sky
Tracking, Centering and Tracking
Operation
Slot, Operating Filter Wheel
Orbit Trails
Attached to centered object, Centering and Tracking
233 / 236
Parallax, Parallax
Parsec (see Parallax)
Planner, Observation Planner
Popup Menu
Description, Popup Menu
Example, The Popup Menu
Port
Bluetooth, Bluetooth, Bluetooth, Bluetooth
Ethernet, Wired Network, Network
Serial
Assistant, StellarMate Serial Assistant
USB, Serial to USB, Serial to USB, USB & Serial to USB, USB
WiFi
HotSpot, Wireless Connection
Precession, Precession
Retrograde Motion, Retrograde Motion

Right Ascension (see Equatorial Coordinates)
Setup Wizard, The Setup Wizard

Sidereal Time, Sidereal Time
(see also Hour Angle)
Spiral Galaxies, Spiral Galaxies
Star Colors and Temperatures, Star Colors and Temperatures
(see also Blackbody Radiation)
(see also Magnitude Scale)
Stars, Stars: An Introductory FAQ
StellarMate
App, Software
Login, Connecting to StellarMate
Register, Registeration
Setup, Connecting your devices using StellarMate App
Connection, Connecting to StellarMate
Ethernet, Ethernet Connection
HDMI, Direct HDMI Connection
HotSpot, HotSpot Connection
Infrastructure, Infrastructure Connection
WiFi, WiFi Connection
FAQ, FAQ
Package
Contents, Package Contents
Passwords, Passwords
Quick Start, Quick Start
234 / 236
Quick Startup, Quick Startup

Specification, Specifications
Support, Support
Tools, StellatMate Tools
Web Manager, Web Manager
Autoconnect, Auto Connect
Autostart, Auto Start
URL, Web Manager URL
Telescope Control
Concepts, INDI Concepts
FAQ, INDI Frequently Asked Questions
Remote Devices, Remote Device Control
Telescopes, Telescopes, Aperture and Focal Ratio, Aberrations, Magnification, Field of
View, Types of Telescopes, Optical Telescopes, Observations in Other
Wavelengths, Space-Based Observations
Time Zones, Time Zones
Toolbars
Tools, KStars Tools
Altitude vs. Time Tool, Altitude vs. Time Tool
Astrocalculator, The Astrocalculator
Angular Distance module, Angular Distance module
Apparent Coordinates module, Apparent Coordinates module
Day Duration module, Day Duration module
Ecliptic Coordinates module, Ecliptic Coordinates module
Equatorial/Galactic Coordinates module, Equatorial/Galactic Coordinates
module
Equinoxes and Solstices module, Equinoxes and Solstices module
Geodetic Coordinates module, Geodetic Coordinates module
Horizontal Coordinates module, Horizontal Coordinates module
Julian Day module, Julian Day module
Planet Coordinates module, Planet Coordinates module
Sidereal Time module, Sidereal Time module
Ekos, Ekos
Align, Align
Capture, Capture
Focus, Focus
Guide, Guide
Logs, Logs
Profile Editor, Profile Editor
Profile Wizard, Profile Wizard
Scheduler, Scheduler
Setup, Ekos Setup
Tutorials, Ekos Tutorials
User Interface, User Interface
FITS Viewer, FITS Viewer Tool
Jupiter Moons Tool, Jupiter Moons Tool
235 / 236
Object Details Window, Object Details Window

Script Builder, The Script Builder Tool
Simulate Eyepiece View, Simulate Eyepiece View
Solar System Viewer, Solar System Viewer
What's Up Tonight? Tool, What's Up Tonight? Tool
Universal Time, Universal Time

(see also Time Zones)
Views
HiPS Progressive Overlay, HiPS Progressive Overlay
Zenith, The Zenith

(see also Horizontal Coordinates)
236 / 236

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Device ....................................................................................................... 147

Device Information ..................................................................................... 204

StellarMate Plus Manual

WARNING: NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN WITH YOUR TELESCOPE OR

1. StellarMate Plus Unit.

3. 3A 5V USB-C Power Supply (Plug type is selected in checkout).

5. Quick Start Guide.

6. MicroSD Card 32GB U1 or larger depending on checkout selection (already inserted to

7. Optional Mount to USB cable (can be purchased separately on checkout).

StellarMate Plus is the Next Generation Internet-of-Things Astrophotography controller! The

1. Connect your equipment (Mount, DSLR/CCD, Focuser, Filter Wheel, etc.) to

1. Download Stellarmate App from the Android/iOS store.

· SoC: Broadcom BCM2711 64-bit SoC

· First Time Setup tutorial.

You can connect to StellarMate Plus Controller in several ways, including:

1. StellarMate Mobile App for Tablets.

2. PC/Mac using KStars.

3. Any Web browser or VNC client.

StellarMate on the Google Play StellarMate on the App Store

Web Manager URL: http://stellarmate.local:8624

1. Launch StellarMate App on iOS or Android.

After connecting to StellarMate, go back to the App:

Connecting your devices

5624: SSH Port

7624: INDI Server Port

8624: INDI Web Manager Port

6080: Web VNC Port

5900: VNC Server Port

80: StellarMate Dashboard

Port Selector is not applicable to pure USB Devices such as Cameras.

Baud Rate: Set the devices baud rate

Telescope & Lens:

Tour Guide can be seen in the few images below:

In Ekos, one line description of modules and Quick controls is explained.

After configuring it, you can tap the save button.

the workflow without any human intervention.

Canvas on Main Image:

On success, the animation will turn to green.

1. Focus: Focus your camera either automatically via an electronic focuser, or

1. Mount: park/unpark, tracking on/off, mount speed, GOTO/Sync, and

· Mount Status Bar

1. Shows the status of the mount if it is parking/unparking, slewing, tracking, etc. as

Once it is toggled, you can see the crosshair on the image.

Mount Quick Controls Camera Quick Controls Rotator Quick Controls

Unparking Your Mount

Moving to a specific direction manually

Locking Mount Controls

Parking Your Mount

You can reverse the directions of your mount:

1. You can capture a preview image by tapping on the Camera button.

These are the following options in Video Recording:

1. Directory: Path of videos is set using Directory browser.

1. The image must be well-focused.

Auto Dark: Subtract dark frames when applicable.

Note: Choosing a temperature will set the temperature immediately.

Going to absolute angle

Going to an angle position by steps