mh_astro_tools — Astrophotography Tool Suite (Windows)

mh_astro_tools is a small suite of night-vision-friendly utilities for astrophotography and astronomy. All tools use a black-and-red interface to reduce glare and help preserve dark adaptation during an imaging session.

To make launches more comfortable in the dark, each application includes a short fade-from-black on startup to soften any brief flashes that can occur when Windows creates a new window.

Download the latest release to install:
https://github.com/MHeigan/mh_Astro_Tools/releases/tag/mh_astro_tools_v1_2_0_1

What’s included

Tools appear in the Launcher in this order:

Exposure Calculator Calculates recommended exposure time for deep-sky imaging using telescope/lens parameters, sensor specs, sky quality (Bortle), binning, and filter bandwidth. Includes planning estimates such as field of view, pixel scale, and limiting magnitude.

UTC / GPS / Weather Displays local time and UTC, supports location entry (manual or online fetch), and provides useful planning data for sessions (timing, basic observing conditions, etc.).

500 Rule Calculator Estimates the maximum shutter speed for tripod-based nightscape photography before star trailing becomes noticeable, using focal length and sensor crop factor.

Night Vision Red Screen (Overlay) A red-tinted click-through overlay with adjustable contrast/black level, red intensity/brightness, and opacity—useful across the entire desktop.

Night Vision Scientific Calculator A night-mode calculator with Regular and Scientific modes plus a memory panel for quick reuse of results.

Installation (Windows)

This release is distributed via an Inno Setup installer:

mh_Astro_Tools_Suite_Setup_1.1.0.3.exe

Run the installer and follow the on-screen steps.

Shortcuts created

The installer creates shortcuts for:

Astro Tools Launcher

Astro Tools Manuals

The suite is also added to the Start Menu (under “Astro Tools Suite”).

Quick start

Launch Astro Tools Launcher

(Recommended) Start Night Vision Screen at the beginning of your session

Open the tools you need for planning, timing, and calculations

Open Astro Tools Manuals for the PDF documentation

💡 Tip: Launching the Night Vision Screen first also helps when Windows dialogs (Browse… / Save As…) appear, because those dialogs may not follow your night theme and can be bright.

Documentation

PDF manuals are included with the suite in the Astro Tools Manuals folder, including the START HERE launcher guide.

License

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 — Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International See License_Agreement.pdf.

Changelog (v1.1.0.3)

Added a unified Inno Setup installer for the full suite (mh_Astro_Tools_Suite_Setup_1.1.0.3.exe).

Installer now creates Desktop shortcuts and Start Menu entries (Launcher + Manuals).

Manuals standardized to a consistent STYLED2 layout (Calibri Headings + blue #0372C1), including a “START HERE” launcher guide.

Suite-wide focus on night-vision usability, including a fade-from-black startup approach to reduce brief launch flashes.

Changelog — from v1.1.0.3 to v1.2.0.1

Astrophotography Exposure Calculator

• Updated the physics model used for exposure and limiting magnitude estimates.
• UI updated to fit 1920×1080 laptop screens: fixed‑width layout, narrower results panel, and a Notes field.
• Improved behaviour/readability: focus border fix, and exposure time now also shows minutes + seconds.
• Output interpretation clarified: the exposure recommendation is per‑sub (per‑light frame), not total integration time.

UTC / GPS / Astronomy Data & Weather

• Reworked UI into a two‑panel layout (Astronomy Data & Weather moved to the right).
• Added pressure (hPa) and a pressure trend indicator.
• Added a seeing estimate (best‑effort; may show N/A when unavailable).
• Added right‑panel actions: Refresh, Save Data (timestamped .txt snapshot), and Copy Data (clipboard).
• Restored startup behaviour: auto‑load saved location.json (if present), otherwise auto‑fetch an approximate IP location as a starting point.
• Background loading to keep startup smooth, plus auto‑refresh of the right panel (every ~10 minutes).
• Fixed right panel width from resizing when live data replaces N/A (prevents UI “jump”).

Night Vision Screen Overlay

• Improved “always‑on‑top” behaviour so the red overlay remains above minimised app tile bars (reduced flicker).

Suite / Installer / Manuals

• Suite release naming standardised to include platform + version + architecture (..._Win_..._x64).
• Manuals continue to ship as PDFs via the installer build (and install to the manuals shortcut location).