PHD2 Guiding - Smart Autoguiding for Astrophotography

PHDGuiding: My Go-To Autoguiding Software

In my book, PHDGuiding is hands-down one of the best autoguiding software packages out there. It’s free, super easy to use, and supports a massive array of cameras and mounts. I’ve been using it for months now, and I couldn’t be happier with it.

So, what makes PHDGuiding so special? Here are some of its key features (pulled directly from their official site, originally in English):

• Windows and OS X (Universal).
• Simple, lightweight interface, designed with ease-of-use in mind.
• Arbitrary camera orientation, pixel size, telescope focal length, etc., are all automatically measured during the calibration process.
• Guides via ASCOM PulseGuide commands for precise, lag-free control over a wide range of mounts (Windows).
• Guides through ShoeString Astronomy’s ST4-type GPUSB (Windows and OS X) and GPINT (Windows) adapters for precise, lag-free control over a wide range of mounts.
• Guides via Pierro Astro’s USB adapter for precise control over a wide range of mounts.
• Guides through the integrated ST4 port on some cameras.
• On-the-fly stacking of short exposures to increase total exposure time for unmodified cameras.
• Guiding in RA and Dec.
• Manual and automatic unidirectional Dec guiding modes.
• Automatic resizing and stretching of guide images for better display.
• Noise reduction with or without dark frames.
• Real-time performance graphing.
• Freeware.

And for all you gearheads, here’s a list of the cameras PHDGuiding officially supports:

• Atik 16 series (Windows)
• Meade DSI series: I-III, color and Pro (Windows and OS X)
• SAC4-2 (Windows)
• Orion StarShoot DSCI (Windows)
• Orion Guider (Windows)
• Opticstar PL-130
• SBIG USB (Windows and OS X, but check the Help for more info)
• Fishcamp Starfish (Windows and OS X)
• CCD-Labs Q-Guider (Windows)
• MagZero MZ-5 (Windows)
• The Imaging Source Cameras (Windows and OS X)
• Webcams (short and long exposures - parallel, serial, or LXUSB port, Windows)