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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 4.2.3
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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