Astryx Home
Frequently asked questions

Everything you want to know

What Astryx does and deliberately doesn’t do, who it’s for, what it works with, and how your gear and data are handled. Still unsure? Try the live demo — no sign-up.

Try the live demoSee pricingJoin the waitlist

The basics

What is Astryx?
Astryx is a web-based mission-control platform for astrophotography. It sits above the tools you already use: it plans your targets, frames mosaics, schedules integration goals, builds capture sequences, and shows your observatory live on one dashboard. Think of it as the planning, scheduling, and monitoring layer for your imaging — not another capture program.
Does Astryx replace N.I.N.A.?
No. Astryx orchestrates N.I.N.A. rather than replacing it. You plan and schedule in Astryx, which builds N.I.N.A. Advanced Sequencer sequences; N.I.N.A. — together with PHD2 and your ASCOM/Alpaca or INDI devices — still runs the capture. Your existing imaging stack keeps doing what it already does well.
Does Astryx control my mount, camera, or focuser?
No, and that is deliberate. Astryx is read-only. The local agent reports status only; Astryx never sends a command that slews, parks, or operates your equipment. Hardware control stays with your capture software, where the safety interlocks already live.
Is Astryx a cloud app or does it run on my computer?
Both, by design. The planning and monitoring interface is a web app you open in any browser — there is nothing to install to use it. A small, optional local agent runs on the computer next to your capture software to read frames and status and stream them to your dashboard.

Who it's for

Who is Astryx for?
Astrophotographers who want to plan deliberately and see their whole rig at a glance — from a single backyard setup to multi-site remote observatories. If you image deep-sky objects with a tracked or GoTo mount and a capture program like N.I.N.A., Astryx is built for you.
Is Astryx good for beginners?
Yes. The calculators — field of view, sampling, sub-exposure and gain — answer the questions newcomers struggle with, like what fits in my frame, how long to expose, and what is worth shooting tonight, while staying useful as you scale up. You can also explore the live demo with no account at all.
Is Astryx useful if I only have one telescope?
Absolutely. The Free plan gives you the full planning toolkit for a single rig and one observing site. The multi-site, multi-user features are there when you grow, but the core planning, scheduling, and dashboard are built for solo imagers first.
Does Astryx work for remote-hosting or commercial observatories?
Yes. The Observatory plan and the custom Observatory Network tier add a fleet console across many piers, multi-tenant isolation so each hosted customer sees only their own rig, team roles, audit logs, and per-resource access grants — built for facilities running anywhere from a handful to thousands of telescopes.
Is Astryx for planetary or solar imaging?
Astryx is focused on deep-sky imaging — planning, mosaics, integration goals, and frame analysis. Planetary and solar capture, which rely on high-frame-rate lucky imaging, are not its focus, though the equipment and dashboard tools can still be useful.
Does Astryx work for astronomy clubs with a shared telescope?
Yes — Scope Time is built exactly for that. Members reserve nights on the club telescope from a calendar computed from real astronomical darkness, quotas and coordinator approvals are enforced automatically, clouded-out nights release themselves, and each member's connection details unlock only during their slot. Members join free through a single club link, and the frames from their night land in their own Astryx library. Club pricing is being finalized; pilot clubs run free.

What it does

What can I actually do with Astryx?
Plan targets on a live sky map with your exact camera field of view; design multi-panel mosaics that auto-compute panels, rotation and overlap; set integration goals and let the scheduler rank tonight's targets around the moon and weather; build N.I.N.A. sequences; solve your optical train and sub-exposures with catalog-backed calculators; index your FITS and XISF frames for quality metrics; analyze PHD2 guiding logs; and watch every rig live on the dashboard.
What is the Sky Planner?
A Google-Maps-style view of the night sky. It overlays your precise camera field of view on more than 16,000 deep-sky objects, with stars, planets and comets, real survey imagery including dust and integrated-flux-nebula layers, plus altitude and moon context — so you can see exactly how a target will frame before you shoot it.
How does the mosaic planner work?
You draw the region you want to cover. Astryx's WCS-accurate engine computes the panel grid, camera rotation and overlap, then tracks per-tile, per-filter progress against the frames you have actually captured. Each panel slews and centers correctly when the plan is exported to your sequence.
What does the scheduler do?
You set goals — for example, twenty hours on the Rosette in SHO. The scheduler finds the nights, works around the moon and weather, picks the right filter sets, and tracks per-filter progress from your captured frames, so you schedule outcomes instead of individual sessions.
Can Astryx analyze my captured images?
Yes. The image library indexes your FITS and XISF files for per-frame HFR, FWHM, eccentricity and plate-solved coordinates, and the guiding analyzer reads PHD2 logs for periodic error, backlash and RMS — so you can find your best subs and diagnose mount and focus problems.

What it doesn't do

Will Astryx capture images for me?
No. Capture is handled by your imaging software, such as N.I.N.A. Astryx plans the work and builds the sequence; your capture suite executes it and talks to the hardware.
Does Astryx stack or edit my images?
No. Astryx is not a stacking or post-processing application — it does not replace PixInsight, Siril, or DeepSkyStacker. It analyzes frame metadata and quality metrics to help you cull and plan, but the integration and editing happen in your processing tools.
Does Astryx store my light frames?
No. Your full-resolution light frames stay on your own storage. The agent sends only metadata and small previews so the dashboard and library work. Nothing pushes your subs into the cloud against your wishes.
Can Astryx move my telescope or run my observatory unattended?
No. Astryx never issues hardware commands — no slewing, parking, roof control or automation triggers. It is a planning and monitoring layer; unattended operation and safety remain the responsibility of your capture software and observatory controls.

Compatibility & setup

What software and hardware does Astryx work with?
N.I.N.A., PHD2, and ASCOM/Alpaca or INDI devices today, with Voyager and a native executor planned. Because the agent reads standard status and FITS/XISF files, Astryx is broadly compatible with the common mounts, cameras, focusers and filter wheels those ecosystems support.
Do I need to install the local agent?
Only if you want live telemetry and automatic frame ingestion. All of the planning tools — the sky map, mosaics, scheduler and calculators — work in the browser without it. The agent is what connects your running observatory to your dashboard.
How do I get my equipment into Astryx?
You can import it in minutes from a N.I.N.A. profile, or from the ASCOM and INDI devices the agent discovers, and Astryx matches them against a live equipment catalog to prefill your rig. You can also build a rig by hand.
Does my capture keep running if Astryx is offline?
Yes. Astryx never sits in the control path. Your capture software runs independently; the agent simply reports to Astryx when it can. If your connection drops, imaging continues and the dashboard catches up afterward.

Your data & privacy

Where does my data live, and who can see it?
Your workspace data is private to you and to anyone you explicitly invite. Light frames stay on your storage; only metadata and previews reach Astryx. Tenant isolation keeps each workspace's data separated from every other.
Can I export or delete my data?
Yes, and it is self-service. You can export your account and workspace data, and delete your account or an entire organization, at any time, without emailing support.
Does Astryx use my images to train AI?
No. Your imaging data is not used to train any models. The AI features call Anthropic's API — with your own key, or the built-in quota on paid plans — only to answer the specific request you made.

AI features

What are the AI features?
Astryx offers optional AI assistance for tasks like guiding diagnosis and planning help. They are entirely optional — every other part of the platform works without them.
Do I have to pay for AI separately?
On the Free plan, bring your own Anthropic key and you pay Anthropic directly with no markup. Paid plans include a built-in, metered AI quota so you do not have to manage a key at all. Built-in usage is capped each month, so there are never surprise charges.

Plans, access & support

How much does Astryx cost?
There is a free plan with the full planning toolkit for one rig and one site. Pro is nineteen dollars a month and adds built-in AI and unlimited rigs; Observatory is fifty-nine dollars a month and adds multi-site fleet view, teams and audit. Large hosting facilities use a custom Observatory Network tier. The pricing page has the full breakdown.
How do I get access?
Astryx is currently in invite-only beta. You can explore the live demo with no sign-up, and join the waitlist to request an invite. Paid plans open up as the beta widens.
Can I try it before signing up?
Yes. The live demo is a read-only build of the real app with sample data — no account, and nothing is saved. It is the fastest way to see how Astryx works.
How do I get help?
Email [email protected] for product help. For remote-hosting and facility pricing, contact [email protected].
Still have a question?

We’re happy to help. Reach the team directly and we’ll get back to you.

[email protected]Facility sales
PricingPrivacyTermsOpen app