Polaris Astro Controller
Cross-platform headless astronomy controller for Raspberry Pi, ARM64 SBCs, and Windows mini PCs.
⚠️ Polaris Astro Controller is a community-driven fork of N.I.N.A. It is not affiliated with or supported by the official N.I.N.A. development team. Please don't ask them for support with this fork, open issues here instead.
Polaris Astro Controller is a lightweight, browser-controlled astrophotography system built on ASP.NET Core. It brings the power of N.I.N.A. (Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy) to single-board computers and small-form-factor PCs, with a responsive Web UI accessible from any device on the network.
The Raspberry Pi (or Windows mini PC) acts as a data broker, controlling hardware, saving FITS files, and streaming images, while your laptop, tablet, or phone handles all the heavy rendering in the browser.
Browser (laptop / tablet / phone) Raspberry Pi / Mini PC
┌──────────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────┐
│ Web UI (Alpine.js) │◄──HTTP─►│ ASP.NET Core + Kestrel │
│ Live preview (Canvas/WebGL) │◄──WS───►│ INDI client (TCP 7624) │
│ Image processing (client) │ │ Plate solving (ASTAP) │
│ Sky explorer │ │ Sequence engine │
└──────────────────────────────┘ │ Live stacking │
└──────────────────────────┘
Contents
Looking for the full tooling matrix? See REQUIREMENTS.md
for the complete required + optional dependency list per platform
(Windows / Linux ARM-RPi / Linux x64), with firewall rules and hardware
sizing guidance.
Features
A single self-hosted backend that drives the whole night from any browser:
acquisition, guiding, focusing, planning, live stacking, and a full
post-processing suite with in-browser AI. Highlights:
- Equipment: INDI (400+ Linux drivers), ASCOM/Alpaca over the network,
direct ASCOM COM on Windows, and native ZWO / SVBony / Player One / ToupTek /
Altair camera SDKs. DSLR/mirrorless (Canon, Nikon, Sony). Multi-rig profiles, an
INDI property browser, and a one-click equipment simulator for hardware-free
testing.
- Acquisition: real-time image streaming (LZ4 raw or JPEG, adaptive),
plate-solve & center, PHD2 + a built-in native autoguider, manual focus
assist + V-curve auto-focus, meridian-flip automation, dithering.
- Planning & automation: tree-based Advanced Sequencer, ASIAIR-style
multi-target night planner (PLAN), mosaic planner, simple sequences, a
plugin system, and a sky catalog / atlas / map with weather and
Tonight's-Best.
- EAA & video: live stacking with calibration, SNR/HFR, and
client-side (WASM) compute offload for weak hosts; planetary / lucky-imaging
video capture and stacking.
- Post-processing (STUDIO + EDITOR): calibrate, integrate, channel
combine (RGB/LRGB/PixelMath), color calibration (BG-neutralize / manual /
photometric PCC), crop, and a non-destructive editor. In-browser AI via
ONNX/WebGPU: GraXpert 🌃 BGE / ☄ Denoise / 🌌 Deconvolution, plus 🌠 star
removal (nox / starrem2k13 / StarNet++) and 🎚️ Image Blend. Optional NPU
acceleration on RK35xx boards.
- Access & ops: responsive Web UI, in-app help/tutorials, authentication,
relay server for remote access without port-forwarding, WiFi hotspot↔station
switch, mDNS (
nina.local), remote terminal (SSH in the browser), debug
logging, polar alignment (TPPA + rudimentary), and SBC self-update.
Tested hardware
Polaris supports a huge range of gear through INDI (400+ Linux drivers),
ASCOM/Alpaca, and the native camera SDKs, far more than any one person can
own. The list below is the hardware that has actually been used with Polaris in
the field, as a starting point; anything INDI/ASCOM/Alpaca-compatible should
work even if it isn't listed. Reports of other working (or broken) gear are
welcome via an issue or PR.
| Category | Tested devices |
|---|
| Mounts | ZWO AM3 · AM3N · AM5 · OnStep (LX200) · Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi · Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi (SynScan WiFi) · Sky-Watcher EQ6-R |
| Cameras (OSC / DSLR) | ZWO ASI585MC Pro · ASI678MC · ASI715MC · ASI2600MC Pro · SVBony SV405CC · SV605CC · SV105 · ToupTek ATR533C · ToupTek ATR2600C (Sony IMX571) · AE676C · Canon EOS Rebel T100 (4000D) · Canon EOS Rebel SL2 (200D) · Canon EOS R8 |
| Cameras (mono) | ZWO ASI183MM Pro |
| Focus motors | ZWO EAF · Gemini Focusing Motor / Focuser Pro |
| Guide cameras | ZWO ASI120MM · ToupTek GPM462C |
| Filter wheels | ZWO EFW Mini (5 positions) · ZWO EFW (8 positions) |
| SBCs (server host) | Raspberry Pi 4 (8 GB) · Raspberry Pi 5 (4 GB) · Orange Pi 4 Pro (4 GB) · Orange Pi 5 Pro (4 GB) · Radxa Dragon Q6A (6 GB) |
| Power boxes | SVBony SV241 Pro |
Recommended board: the Orange Pi 4 Pro (4 GB). It is the best balance of cost
and capability measured so far, scoring 180 for roughly $50 to $70. The Radxa
Dragon Q6A is the fastest (317); the Orange Pi 5 Pro (274) is the one with the
proven GPU and NPU acceleration path.
Windows and x86 Linux mini-PCs also run the backend (see Deployment).
For benchmark scores per board, see the benchmark reference in the user guide.
Documentation
The full documentation lives in docs/; that index
organizes every page by area. The essentials:
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
