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SIPS is a free software. The installation packages can be downloaded from this website.
The installation of the SIPS system is accompanied by a
comprehensive user guide (a list of updates and bug fixes listed here
is also included in the guide as Appendix C). The user guide can also
be downloaded from this server.
Version 4.2.8
Released September 15th, 2025
Updates:
New procedures were added to the SPL native program
image:
Sum creates sum of two images. Difference creates difference between
two images. Add increases all pixels of an image by
a defined integer value. Subtract decreases all pixels of an
image by a defined integer value. Multiply multiplies all pixels of an
image by a defined real value. Divide divides all pixels of an image by
a defined real value. The SPL version was advanced to 10. A new button, which sets the telescope mount
New R.A. and New Dec. coordinates the
with the coordinates of the selected star, was added to the
Astrometry tool.
Version 4.2.7
Released September 9th, 2025
Updates:
The image native program procedures
Rotate90, Rotate180,
Rotate270, Rotate,
FlipHorizontal, FlipVertical,
Bin, Resample, and Crop
were extended with CreateNew boolean input
parameter and NewImageName string output parameter,
allowing to optionally create new image instead of performing of
the image transformation on the existing image. The SPL version was advanced to 9. The Context camera window remains visible
(despite its settings cannot be modified) even if the SPL script
is running. Also the Astrometry tool can display the
g’-r’ color index, based on the Sloan color
system. The behavior of the Tools and
Devices ribbon buttons was slightly
updated: The Switches tool sets analog input controls
to the actual values read from the device upon startup. Controls displayed in the tabs (e.g. Imaging
camera, Telescope, etc.) now respond to the
<Tab> and <Shift><Tab> keys by selecting of
the following or previous control, the same way like in the
non-tabbed dialog boxes.
Bug fixes:
The text editor in the Program Editor
tool fixed bugs:
The text is properly colored (color-highlighted
keywords, different color for number and string literals
etc.) even if the currently displayed portion if the text
contains selected text block. This was the case after the
Find command, which scrolled text to the found
string as well as selected (and highlighted) the found
string to the text block. The Find and Replace dialog
windows adjust themselves properly to the Hi-DPI
displays. Running of the SPL program no longer creates
a new image folders for each day, even if the option is selected
in the Web Server Configuration. Device drivers based on serial-line (COM port) connection
(meade, nexstar, mmfocuser, and mmswitches) could skip sending
of some commands to the respective device, providing the command
was issued prior to finishing of the currently executed command
(this bug was introduced in the SIPS v4.2.1).
Version 4.2.6
Released August 13th, 2025
Updates:
The Photometry tool can display the new
g’-r’ color index in the Star Sheet,
based on the Sloan color system. Of course, a catalog containing
the Sloan magnitudes must be used for astrometry processing
(e.g. the UCAC4 catalog).
Bug fixes:
The Program Editor tool in the
Text mode properly colors the
remark .. end_remark source text section when
the cursor appears in the middle of the remark keyword while
rolling the text. The SPL compiler fixed evaluation of the
logical operators (and, or,
xor, not) applied on integer
numbers. The SPL compiler fixed termination of the
program upon the Stop Program button clicks.
Previously the current instruction block (e.g. one pass of the
loop or the then or else
block of the if instruction etc.) was finished
prior to breaking of the program. The GetObservatoryParameters procedure of
the SPL native program sips returned swapped values
of the longitude and latitude geographic coordinates.
Version 4.2.5
Released August 1st, 2025
Updates:
The set and get blocks of the
SPL call instruction, as well as the
set block of functions invoked within expressions,
now support shortened parameter passing syntax. This means that
if both left and right sides of the assignments are the same, it
is enough to write just single identifier without :=
delimiter and once more repeated identifier. So, for instance,
if the call: call sun.Position set( JD := JD )
get( RA := RA; Dec := Dec );can be written
just: call sun.Position set( JD )
get( RA; Dec );The Program Editor Options dialog box allows
to define if the SPL source code, generated from the Graph
representation, will use shortened assignment syntax or
not. The REST API „v1/telescope“ was extended with
find_object command The REST API “v1/imager” was extended with
autofocus related commands:
focus_state autofocus_start autofocus_active_frame autofocus_stop The SPL native program jd added
functions:
ToDateString DateToDateString The SPL native program sips was
extended with:
Constants for undefined values (undefined RA,
undefined magnitude, …) GetObservatoryParameters
procedure The SPL native program image added
procedures: The SPL version was advanced to 8 The CxUSB camera driver reads the sensor line time on
every time-stamp read, not only on the very first time one. This
ensures the line time value is always kept on actual value for
the case the more precise time is available over time (e.g. when
more satellites are acquired and the 1PPS time is provided with
even higher precision).
Bug fixes:
The Program Editor tool ensures the number
literals of type real are always generated with
decimal point (even if the number has no fraction part, the .0
is still added to its representation in the source text), so its
type is properly maintained during compilation. The Program Editor tool properly opens
imported program with error and places the cursor on the error
location instead of creating of a new tab with empty
program. The Color Definition dialog box is
displayed properly on Hi-DPI displays (>
100%).
Version 4.2.4
Released June 2nd, 2025
Updates:
The SPL language was extended with elsif
condition branches, in addition to already existing
then and else ones. The single
nested if statement in the else
branch, like for instance: if number < 0 then
return -1;
else
if number = 0 then
return 0;
else
return 1;
end_if;
end_if;can be now written in a more concise way: if number < 0 then
return -1;
elsif number = 0 then
return 0;
else
return 1;
end_if; The SPL version was increased to 7. The Settings ribbon pane introduced the
Observatory Setup dialog box, which allows to
define observatory name, location, telescope parameters
etc. The New FITS Headers dialog box is newly
capable to use information defined in the Observatory
Setup dialog box to automatically fill FITS headers
(FOCALLEN, OBSERVAT, INSTRUME, LAT—OBS, LONG-OBS, ELEV-OBS). The
ability to read location from connected devices was removed from
the New FITS Headers dialog box and moved to the
Observatory Setup dialog, which newly functions as
the single universal place to define observatory
location. The Telescope tool uses the location defined
in the Observatory Setup dialog box as the default
new value for updating telescope location. The GUI controls in the Telescope tool
window was re-arranged into three tabs (Control,
Setup, and Alarms), which allowed to
significantly shrunk the window depth, preserving the screen
area.
Version 4.2.3
Released May 5th, 2025
Updates:
Bug fixes:
The function of pasting of the decimal degrees value into
the Degrees or Hours count box of the DMS/HMS controls, used for
e.g. equatorial coordinates or geographic location, wrongly
calculated the minutes and seconds if the decimal degree value
was negative. The astrometry solution could fail when the brightest
star in the image appeared very close to the image
edge.
Version 4.2.2
Released Apr 23rd, 2025
Updates:
The new Find Star ribbon pane was added to
the Astrometry tool. The VSX Catalog Lookup function in the
Astrometry tool copies the object primary name in
the VSX catalog to the Name item of the star sheet.
Bug fixes:
Version 4.2.1
Released Apr 2nd, 2025
Updates:
Added native driver support for the new Moravian
Instruments C2-46000 CMOS camera. The Image Math and Filters tool was extended
with the ability to perform image and scalar operations as well
as image filter functions on the whole image list at once.
Destination is the not a single image, but another list, into
which the newly created processed images are added. The SPL language allows to define remark ..
end_remark section directly following the procedure or
function header, as well as the entire program. The SPL language was extended with new embedded functions
dms and hms, converting angle in
degrees/hours, minutes, and seconds into radians. The SPL
version advanced to 6. The Web Server configuration newly allows enabling of
public access to weather station data for any user, even without
login credentials. The Web SIPS application was extended with
audible alarm sounds, like the desktop SIPS version. This allows
the user to be notified on certain situations, like for instance
loss of guiding stars, telescope crossing of specified azimuth
or altitude etc.
Bug fixes:
The Photometry task dialog box wrongly
interpreted negative declination with zero degrees, when the
negative sign was placed in the degrees count box (negative zero
was not interpreted as negative). Fixed the automatic scaling of the R.A.
speed when the telescope moved to new declination. This
issue affected both Guiding camera and Inter-image
guiding with the main Imaging camera. The minimal movement distance, required by guiding
calibration procedure, is scaled in R.A direction according to
the current declination. This allows proper calibration also
when the telescope points close to the pole and the actual image
shift after R.A. movement is very small. The SPL language compiler properly interprets the
for loop step value, stated after the
by keyword. Fixed an issue with displaying of the number of already
acquired images in the Web SIPS application, which
occurred when the context was switched to another device and
back to imaging camera during counter exposure series.
Version 4.2
Released Feb 28th, 2025
Updates:
The SPL language was extended with new embedded function
norm, the SPL version advanced to 5. The SPL language newly allows the delay instruction
(pause and wait) within the
functions. The SPL instruction print newly accepts new
keyword cll (clear line). The SIPS REST API, accessible using the SPL language
invoke instruction, was extended with indexed
enumeration commands for devices, filters, and camera read
modes. New Program Editor tool hotkeys were added:
<Ctrl>+<T> for switching to Text mode,
<Ctrl>+<G> for switching to Graph mode, and
<Ctrl>+<R> for running the program. The robust guiding calibration, introduced for the
Guiding camera tool in version 4.1.12, was
implemented also for the inter-image guiding with the main
Imaging camera tool. The Web SIPS application allows explicit
command that the telescope tube was swapped to different side of
the pier than the side on which the guiding was
calibrated.
Bug fixes:
Version 4.1.12
Released Jan 10th, 2025
Updates:
The Guiding camera tool uses new, much more
robust algorithm for calibration, designed to tolerate
mechanically imperfect mounts with significant backlashes in
both axes. The Context camera tool parameter controls
were rearranged into three tabs. The Context camera tool newly allows to
transform the camera image (rotation and flipping). The Fiedler weather station driver was extended with
support of RVT80 and RVT85 humidity and temperature
sensors. The Fiedler weather station driver supports usage of
multiple .ini configuration files with names corresponding to
the tab index of the Weather station tool. So,
multiple instances of the driver can be used simultaneously,
each using its own .ini file and thus own serial interface port
number. The TCS2 switches driver supports usage of multiple .ini
configuration files with names corresponding to the tab index of
the Switches tool. So, multiple instances of the
driver can be used simultaneously, each using its own .ini file
and thus own serial interface port number.
Bug fixes:
SIPS properly generates the new FITS image ROWORDER
header to inform other software about the bottom-up image
vertical axis orientation, as well as reads this header when
loading FITS files generated with top-down orientation. However,
the row order was not set to bottom-up when an image, created by
other software with top-down row order, was loaded and then
saved by SIPS.
Version 4.1.11
Released Jan 13th, 2025
Bug fixes:
Version 4.1.10
Released Jan 10th, 2025
Updates:
The Switches tool was extended to allow to
use up to 3 different drivers of switching devices
simultaneously. The Weather station tool was extended to
allow to use up to 3 different drivers of weather station
devices simultaneously. The interfaces for the second and third
Switches and Weather station devices
was added to the SPL device interface, the SPL version advanced
to 4. The Program Editor window status bar was
extended with more text-editing related information, like cursor
line and columns, editor insert/overwrite or read-only status
etc. The Photometry tool was extended with
optional outlier filtering. SIPS newly recognizes non-standard FITS header ‘EXP_TIME’
for image exposure time, in addition to standard
‘EXPTIME’.
Bug fixes:
Selecting a camera to the particular role (imager,
guider, or context), which was already selected to different
role, cause the original role is canceled and new role is used.
However, when the camera in its original role just performed an
exposure, SIPS ended with error. New version properly terminates
possible camera exposure in progress. The Switches, Flaps,
Weather station, Focuser, and
GPS tool windows could crash when the
Automatically connect to selected driver check-box
was checked when no driver were selected. When the Combine monochrome images tool was
used to create either sum or median of stacked frames, SIPS
tried to get the image center coordinates, pixels scale etc.
from the connected devices, providing such option was chosen for
newly acquired images in the New FITS Headers
dialog box. Now the Combine monochrome images tool
takes this information from the stacked images, regardless of
actually connected devices. The Imaging camera start exposure did now
wait for the Guiding camera when the mount slewed
to the new position during image dithering.
Version 4.1.9
Released Nov 29th, 2024
Updates:
The SPL language was extended with new embedded function
assigned, the SPL version advanced to 3. The Web SIPS Telescope page
shows azimuthal coordinates of the newly entered equatorial
coordinates, so the user is informed where the telescope will be
pointing after GOTO command.
Bug fixes:
Fixed the sub-frame coordinates in the Web
SIPS web-browser based interface Image
information pane. Configuration information is properly saved prior to the
host PC shutdown from the Web SIPS web-based
application. Prior to this update, all user management changes
(changed passwords, added or removed users, …) were discarded
when SIPS was not properly stopped, but the host PC was remotely
shut down.
Version 4.1.8
Released Nov 20th, 2024
Updates:
The Web SIPS web-browser based interface
Image information updates to the sub-frame selected
in the Preview page. If the Automatically connect to selected
driver check-box function is active for any device, the
web-based application shows it as connected device (the
Connect button is disabled), but with an hour-glass
symbol, indicating that SIPS waits for actual device plug in and
the device will be connected as soon as possible.
Bug fixes:
Version 4.1.7
Released Nov 14th, 2024
Updates:
The Web Server configuration dialog box
newly allows the administrator to enforce minimum password
length. The Web SIPS web-browser based interface now
includes Image information, showing whole image or selected
frame statistics, in the Imager Preview
page. The Imager Preview page of the Web
SIPS application allows direct download of the current
image in the FITS format. The Web SIPS newly allows settings of one of
the predefined image stretching types. The Weather station data displayed by the
Web SIPS now includes also history graphs of
individual values. The Web SIPS application now supports remote
administration (user management, password changes, …).
Bug fixes:
The Web SIPS did not allow downloading of
individual FITS files from the server local storage. The Web SIPS was not able to create and
download a ZIP file of FITS images, if there were non-ASCII
characters (typically some non-English language-specific
character) used in the SIPS Web Server root
path. The Web SIPS Telescope page fixes an issue
with direct control of the mount movement using the direction
buttons.
Version 4.1.5
Released Oct 31st, 2024
Bug fixes:
Version 4.1.4
Released Oct 30th, 2024
Updates:
The Web SIPS web-browser based interface was
extended with Focusing tab, allowing to invoke
automatic focusing as well as to focus imaging camera
manually. The Web SIPS application added a possibility
to download preview images in the loss-less PNG format instead
of default JPEG. The Remote Access Web Server with enabled local storage
now utilizes all available CPU cores to create ZIP
files. The Photometry Field Description pane newly
contains a tool to automatically assign comparison stars to
defined variable stars according to either B-V or J-K color
indexes. When the guider or main imaging camera use the telescope
pulse-guide interface for guiding corrections and the telescope
driver becomes temporarily offline, guiding is not entirely
stopped, but only currently calculated correction is skipped and
guiding continues.
Bug fixes:
The Web SIPS web-browser based interface
fixed issue with Imaging camera cooling charts
interruptions when the browser was offline. The Web SIPS image preview function did not
respect maximal allowed zoom, affecting especially images from
high-resolution cameras. The Web SIPS fixed issues with guider
calibration. The Web SIPS download ZIP was limited to
4 GB file size. Fixed issue in Photometry Star Sheet with
star filter active. Star names updates (adding, modification or
deleting of name) were not preserved when the filter was turned
off or new filter was applied. The image soft-binning function updates also FITS headers
containing pixel angular size, which is necessary for proper
astrometry solution. The CxUSB driver properly orients image of the C1+9000
camera.
Version 4.1.3
Released Sep 10th, 2024
Updates:
The Web SIPS web-browser based application
was significantly updated, enhanced, and polished. The Web SIPS plate solution (astrometry) is
newly asynchronous, not causing timeout error messages. The Web SIPS ZIP file creation and download
is newly asynchronous; the progress bar is displayed for the
user. The Web SIPS application recognizes if new
images were created after the image ZIP file was created and
asks the user if the existing ZIP file is to be downloaded or
new ZIP file should be created. The Remote Access Web Server newly allows
definition of the title string, displayed as the WWW browser
page title. The Remote Access Web Server with enabled
local storage now allows creation of new folder for acquired
images each observing day. The Web SIPS application
can browse individual folders and selectively download or erase
individual image types. The star filtering option for the Star Sheet lines in the
Photometry tool is now kept for all selected
images, the filter is not reset when another image is selected.
Also, the sheet responses are is much faster when filtering is
active. The Telescope tool newly displays the time
of meridian crossing. The Imaging camera tool opens a warning
dialog box when series of images are to be saved without file
name distinguishing option (ordinal number or date and time) and
with file overwrite enabled. The Guiding camera tool newly contains
check-box, allowing to control if the dark frame should be used
for guiding camera images. The Guiding camera tool allows saving of the
acquired dark frame. The Field curvature can be newly fitted with
Legendre polynomials, in addition to backward compatible
monomial polynomials. The Field curvature numerical least square
fitting method was reworked to be much more robust and reliable.
Also, stars with saturated pixels are automatically rejected
from fitting as their centroids cannot be precisely
determined.
Bug fixes:
The Guiding camera tool could stop guiding
then the minimal guiding pulse length was defined and the
calculated pulse was below the defined minimal length. Guiding
then should be resumed using the Start Guiding
command button. The GEM Swap check box did not invert the
declination axis direction, so guiding calibration should be
performed again after swapping the tube side on GEM. The Guiding camera tool properly opens
message boxes asking the user to cover or uncover the telescope
when dark frame is exposed with camera without mechanical
shutter. The dark frame is properly applied on the Guiding
camera images when the binning is used. The Web SIPS application displayed timeout
error message when astrometry calculation took too long on the
server side. When the user entered filtering for the Star Sheet lines
in the Photometry tool, clicking to individual
lines highlighted different lines in the sheet. The CxUSB camera driver did not work properly with the
C5-100M camera in hardware 2 × 2
binning mode and full frame size. ASCOM telescope driver did not enumerate available speeds
correctly and thus did not allow to select speed. The Garmin GPS USB driver did not always connect to the
GSP receiver in 64-bit SIPS version.
Version 4.1.2
Released Aug 1st, 2024
Updates:
New driver for the MM4 motorized focuser from the 2EL was
added to SIPS distribution. New driver for the Telescope Control System version 2
(TCS v2) switch-box and autonomous heater and fan controller
from the 2EL was added to SIPS distribution. The „Web Server Configuration“ dialog box now
allows to determine if the users would be able to shutdown the
host PC or not. If allowed, the Web SIPS
application contains the Shutdown Server PC option
in the user’s menu. In addition to already present optional check if the
newer version is available upon SIPS start, explicit query for
the latest available version of SIPS was added to the
Help tab. The Dome tool detects if the dome controller
is used to control roll-ff roof only and if yes, it asks for
confirmation prior to opening and closing of the observatory
roof (shutter). This precaution was implemented because most
roll-off roof observatories require a telescope to be parked in
horizontal position prior to roof movement, else the roof and
the telescope may collide.
Bug fixes:
The redesigned GUI of the Dome tool,
adopting itself to the capabilities of the used drivers, lead to
SIPS crash when a dome controller, supporting the roll-off roof
(this means without the ability to set dome azimuth) was
connected and the SIPS Web Server was used. The Read Location from Camera GPS button in
the New FITS Headers dialog box converted the
latitude and longitude, already expressed in degrees, once again
from radians to degrees, which lead to 180/π-times greater
values.
Version 4.1.1
Released Jul 8th, 2024
Updates:
The Plate astrometry information dialog box
was extended with the Defined pixel size includes
binning option to settle the dispute if the pixel size,
stated in the FITS header, should pixel dimension before binning
or after binning. The Web SIPS application was slightly
redesigned to show the currently handled device icon on narrow
displays (e.g. on mobile phones), when the left device list, on
the page left side, is hidden.
Bug fixes:
The Weather Station ASCOM driver retuned the
sky brightness channel in expressed Luxes, not in Magnitude per
square arc-second. Now the proper unit of sky brightness is
returned also by ASCOM driver. The Web SIPS application showed
uninitialized values when the Automatically connect to
selected imager/guider/context only option was checked
and the chosen camera was not yet connected to the host
PC. Some of the SIPS v4.1.0 ASCOM drivers (e.g.
ascom_telescope.dll) did not initialize correctly when the v4.1
was installed over the existing v4.0.x installation. The cause
was „sips.ini“ driver definition file, wrongly copied
also to the „\Users\Public\Documents\SIPS\ini“ folder.
The „sips.ini“ driver configuration file in the Public
Documents folder is intended for integration of the
independently installed the 3rd party drivers, not
for duplicating of drivers installed with the SIPS itself. The
workaround was either to uninstall the v4.0.x prior to v4.1
installation or to delete the „sips.ini“ from the Public
Documents folder. Either way, the v4.1.1 properly handles even
drivers, duplicated in the „sips.ini“ located in Public
Documents.
Version 4.1
Released Jun 26th, 2024
Updates:
Added support for Flaps devices (motorized
telescope covers) and flat field calibration panels, moved in
front of telescope, including the brightness
control. Added support for Switches devices, allowing
binary and analog control of heating strips, fans
etc. Both Flaps and Switches devices
are newly included into SIPS REST API and thus they are
accessible from SPL scripts as well as from the web browser
based version of SIPS (Web SIPS). The Dome tool GUI was redesigned to adopt
itself to controlled dome or roll-of-roof capabilities. Only the
control corresponding to available functions are shown. So, for
instance, only the Shutter interface is shown if roll-of-roof is
controlled, or the Altitude interface is hidden if a dome with a
slot is attached and no dome opening altitude is controlled
etc. Similar dynamic GUI modifications are implemented in the
Weather station tool. Only the values, supported by
the attached driver, are shown to preserve display
space. Added support for C1+ cameras with rolling-shutter
sensors, like the C1+9000. Added support for C2 cameras with global shutter sensors,
equipped with GPS receiver used for precision image
timing. The „sips.ini“ driver configuration file is read
not only from the path where the SIPS executable is installed,
but also from the „\Users\Public\Documents\SIPS\ini“
directory. Adding a driver to SIPS no longer needs a
modification of the configuration file in „Program Files“
directory, but additional configuration file may be created in
public directory. SIPS then uses all drivers defined in both
configuration files. New native program serial, allowing the SPL
code to communicate over the COM lines, was added.
Bug fixes:
The Program Editor tool in the
Graph mode fixed several issues:
The let and sprint
instructions optional program name of the assigned variable,
imported from another program, was not properly initialized
to empty string. The let instruction custom view combo
box, offering variables to be assigned, contained local
variables only if these variables were marked
„public“. The SPL compiler wrongly reported error, if the index or
position expression in the embedded functions
slice, delete, insert,
item, replace, subst, and
char were integer, the
real type was required, despite results are always
converted to integer. The Weather station tool could display
distorted history charts if the used computer timing mechanism
activated the tool a few milliseconds prior to programmed time.
Now the tool is resistant to such possible timer activation
uncertainties and history charts should be displayed
correctly. The Imaging camera tool used the exposure
time, defined in the Exposure tab, also for
inter-image guiding calibration, despite the calibration dialog
box allows to define different exposure time for calibration
only. When some new object was selected from the catalog of the
Telescope tool, coordinates were properly shown in
the New R.A. and New Dec. count boxes,
but actual numerical R.A. and Dec. values were not updated until
each count box was manually confirmed (selected and then either
deselected again or the <Enter> key was pressed). So, if
the Synchronize or Go To command was
performed without manual confirmation of each count box,
coordinate values originally present prior to catalog object
selection were used instead of the new visible ones. The Automatically connect to selected driver
option for drivers/tools other than camera worked only for
non-PnP drivers or PnP drivers connected when SIPS started. If a
non-camera PnP driver (e.g. USB connected dome controller) was
not present (enumerated) upon SIPS startup and was added only
later, SIPS did not dynamically connect to such device, despite
the option for automatic connection was
checked.
Version 4.0.4
Released Apr 15th, 2024
Updates:
The Program Editor tool newly allows to
define a program, which will be run upon SIPS start, without a
necessity to load and run the program by the user. The Filter combo-box in the
Exposure tab of the Imaging camera
tool is no longer disabled when acquiring dark or bias frames.
This allows usage of opaque filter to capture dark frames with
cameras not equipped with mechanical shutter.
Bug fixes:
Version 4.0.3
Released Mar 8th, 2024
Updates:
The Focuser tool was redesigned to
reflect the behavior of ASCOM focuser drivers:
The tool distinguishes between absolute and relative
position settings. Depending if the focuser is absolute or
not, the Focuser tool enables the newly
introduced New Position count box and
Move To command button. The Enable temperature compensation
check-box functionality is newly separated from
Compensation steps /10°C count-box, as the
ASCOM focuser interface does not support this functionality
(ASCOM only allows turning compensation on and off, but
actual compensation value must be defined
elsewhere). The newly introduced READMODE FITS header contains string
description of the used read mode. Added native support for Moravian Instruments
Standalone Filter Wheels (SFW), connected either
directly to the host PC using USB line or through the Moravian
Camera Ethernet Adapter device. Added support for C2-9000, C1×26000, C1×61000, C3-26000, C3-61000, C5A-100M,
C5A-150M, C5S 100M, and C5S-150M cameras with firmware version
8.x and higher. This firmware updates the handling of sub-frames
and eliminates some of restrictions to sub-frame coordinates of
the previous firmware versions. Added support for C0 and C1 version 3 cameras.
Bug fixes:
The Photometry tool combo-boxes with
individual apertures doubled the list of apertures when a
photometry was run for the second time on the same set of data.
Selecting aperture from the second occurrence of each aperture
(a second half of the list) then had no effect. The Append filter option in the
Imaging camera tool, used to create file names of
images newly read from camera, now check if the filter name
contains characters not allowed in file names (e.g., the ‘<’
or ‘>’ characters if the filter is stated as
<undefined>) and replaces them with underscore ‘_’
character. The SPL Program Editor started the
call instruction in the program tree with random
string if generating of the call keyword was turned
off. SIPS appearance on high-DPI screens (above 100%)
was fixed:
Windows, narrower than certain limit (for instance,
the Image Info tool, but also Photometry
parameters dialog box etc.), were displayed wider
than necessary with a blank space on the right
side. Some dialog boxes, containing paragraph texts (for
instance, the New image transformation or
Sensor Parameters dialog boxes etc.) were
displayed with empty vertical space below each
paragraph.
Version 4.0.2
Released Jan 25th, 2024
Bug fixes:
If the first filter in the wheel was selected, the
Imaging Camera tool did not append the used filter
name to the saved FITS file name when the Append
filter option was checked. The Weather station tool history graph was
distorted if a tool window was closed and opened again. The Fiedler RDH11-T weather station driver communication
line could stop responding.
Version 4.0.1
Released Jan 17th, 2024
Updates:
Driver configuration .INI files are now searched on the
user’s „Documents\SIPS\ini“ path first, and only if not
found there, the „\Users\Public\Documents\SIPS\ini“ and
SIPS exe file paths are tested. The „catalog.ini“ file, used in the Telescope
tool, is also searched on three paths—user’s
„Documents\SIPS\ini“,
„\Users\Public\Documents\SIPS\ini“ and SIPS exe file
path. Catalogs offered by the Telescope tool GUI are merged from
the „catalog.ini“ files, found on all three
paths. Also, the „catalog.ini“ file format was updated;
individual catalog entries use strings in quotes. The Photometry task dialog box tries to
automatically fill remaining values like file mask, dark, flat,
and reference files etc. upon entering of a folder, containing
files to be processed. GUI controls, intended for entering of coordinates in the
form of degrees or hours, minutes, and seconds (for instance, in
the Telescope tool or Plate parameters
dialog box), were extended with a „smart paste“ feature.
This new function causes a coordinate, pasted from clipboard in
the form of fraction degrees, is automatically converted to
whole degrees, minutes, and seconds and subsequent count-boxes
are also updated. The SIPS User’s Guide was extended with the description
of the Focuser, Telescope,
Dome, Weather Station, and
GPS receiver devices. The SIPS User’s Guide was extended with the Appendix B:
Device drivers supplied with SIPS.
Bug fixes:
The SPL instruction pause with >
10 s delay continued 5 s sooner. The SPL Program Editor window can no longer
be minimized while the program is running, as the window runs
modally.
Version 4.0
Released Dec 11th, 2023
The SIPS version 4 improves virtually every feature of the
previous SIPS version. New hardware devices are supported.
Astronomical data processing is more robust and reliable,
especially in the edge situations. And the most important new
functions include implementation of the REST API, allowing to
control SIPS through arbitrary web browser, and build-in, easy to
use programming language SPL, intended for programmatic control of
observing sessions.
More robust algorithms include better alignment of poor quality
(blurred, poorly tracked, …) image data, more reliable astrometry
directly on celestial poles etc. The Photometry tool, thank to
which the SIPS abbreviation exists (SIPS means Scientific Image
Processing System), underwent numerous improvements, like ability
to filter stars listed in the star sheet etc.
Newly supported device classes include for instance weather
stations.
Standalone filter wheels (filter wheels not controlled by the
camera) are newly supported. Lates Moravian camera models and
versions are supported natively, including models with built-in
GPS receivers.
Reworked GUI is highly configurable (refer to the Appendix A of
the SIPS User’s Guide for details, please).
Also, the GUI was simplified and streamlined – functionality
previously implemented in standalone tool windows moved directly
to ribbons to be readily available (for instance Image transform)
or modal dialog boxes (for instance New FITS Header definitions).
The new GUI allows to “minimize” tool windows while they are still
active (like automatic guiding or handling of the main imaging
camera), not to occupy desktop space.
Existing functions like software binning of image list
transformations were extended with new options and parameters.
The Remote Access Web Server publishes a SIPS REST API
(sometimes denoted as RESTful API), which can be used to control
SIPS from various clients (for instance from a JavaScript program
running in the web browser or from a Python script).
Also, the SIPS installation contains a client JavaScript
application, which connects to the SIPS REST API and allows remote
control of SIPS observing sessions from any web browser,
regardless if it runs on a full-fledged desktop PC, laptop, tablet
or on a mobile phone.
In fact, this client is another version of SIPS, implemented in
JavaScript language and thus able to run in web browsers.
The Program Editor tool is designed to create and run scripts,
written in the SIPS internal scripting language SPL (SIPS
Programming Language), to control observation sequences. The SPL
is designed to provide all necessary features to express any
algorithm, but to be understandable even by beginners without
previous programming knowledge.
Still, to be useable and productive, SPL needs to implement
many concepts like typed variables, procedures and functions with
parameter passing, program module imports etc. These concepts need
to be understood for any programmer using SPL to create scripted
observing sessions.
There are many more new features in SIPS v4. Download it for
free from Download section of this web site.
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