DISCLAIMER: This software is provided "as-is" without any warranty. Use it at your own risk. The author is not responsible for any damage to your equipment.
This is a hobby project. If you find it useful and would like to support a good cause, consider donating via betterplace.org—all donations go directly to Doctors Without Borders.
- Live Camera View - Video feed with adjustable exposure and focus.
- Overlay System - Circles and crosshairs with customizable colors and Global Offset for alignment.
- Plugin System - Centroid detection and circle fitting to find the optical center.
- Telescope Profiles - Save and load configurations for different telescopes (Camera + Overlays + Plugins).
- Digital Zoom - Zoom and pan support.
- Settings Persistence - Settings are saved per plugin and profile.
- Dark Mode - Dark UI theme for night use.
Platform Support: pyCol is designed for Windows and Linux.
- Download the latest
pyCol_Setup_x.x.x.exefrom Releases - Run the installer or use the portable
pyCol.exe.
Linux support via AppImage is theoretically possible and an experimental build script exists. However, AppImage builds are currently not available in the releases as the process is not yet fully tested.
For now, please run pyCol from source on Linux (see Technical Info below).
- Select Camera: Choose the device from the dropdown.
- Image Adjustment: Use Contrast, Brightness, and Saturation sliders as needed.
- Flip/Mirror: Adjust the image orientation to match the physical perspective.
- Focus Favorites:
- Save: Right-click on the Focus slider or the gray range bar and select Add position to favorites.
- Jump: Left-click on any star icon on the range bar to move the focus to that stored position.
- Delete: Right-click on a star icon to remove that favorite.
- Note: Favorites are kept between sessions (Global) and can be saved specifically per telescope in a Profile.
- Save: Enter a name and click Save Config. Stores camera settings, overlays, and plugin parameters.
- Load: Select a profile and click Load Selected.
- Default Profile: Click Set Default to load a specific profile automatically on startup.
- Add Overlays: Create Circles, Crosshairs, or Radial patterns.
- Properties: Set Color, Thickness, and Radius per overlay.
- Global Offset: Shift all overlays at once to align the digital center with a physical reference.
- Offset Measurement:
- Enable "Live Detection" and adjust the Threshold.
- Move the spot around the field and click Start Auto-Calibration.
- Collect data points and click Finish & Solve to calculate the center.
Capture the view with burnt-in metadata.
The date and time format can be customized using Python's strftime codes.
| Code | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
%Y |
Year | 2025 |
%m |
Month | 01 |
%d |
Day | 25 |
%H |
Hour | 15 |
%M |
Minute | 30 |
%S |
Second | 00 |
Snapshots can be organized into subfolders based on patterns.
Available Variables:
| Variable | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
{profile} |
Active telescope profile name | Newton 200mm |
%Y-%m-%d |
Date | 2025-01-25 |
%H-%M-%S |
Time | 15-30-00 |
Example Patterns:
{profile}/%Y-%m-%d→...\pyCol\Newton 200mm\2025-01-25\image.png{profile}_%H-%M-%S→Newton 200mm_15-30-00.png
Technical Info: Requirements & Building
pyCol is written in Python 3.10+.
| Package | Version |
|---|---|
| Python | ≥ 3.10 |
| PySide6 | ≥ 6.6.0 |
| OpenCV | ≥ 4.8.0 |
| NumPy | ≥ 2.0.0 |
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/DIYAstro/pyCol.git
cd pyCol
# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt
# Run the application
cd src
python main.pyThe project uses custom scripts to create releases:
build_win_exe.bat: Creates a standalone Windows EXE.build_win_installer.bat: Creates an Inno Setup installer.scripts/build_appimage.sh: (Linux) Packages the app into an AppImage.
Version info is managed centrally in versioninfo.json.
This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.