Solar Eclipse Maestro for MacOS X
 Version 1.8.1 (May 15, 2012)

Overview

Solar Eclipse Maestro is the most versatile and feature-rich application for solar eclipses. It can handle any solar eclipse, provide you Baily’s beads preview and animation, simulate an all-sky view or weather statistics, and a lot more. To help you enjoy the event, it can also control up to four USB or Firewire connected cameras (Nikon and Canon DSLRs, plus Nikon Coolpix line) and up to four USB or Ethernet connected SBIG CCD cameras with their filter wheels during a solar eclipse, so that you can be free to concentrate on observing the event visually. You must then preprogram all exposure information according to a script. Observer position (latitude and longitude coordinates, elevation and timezone) is used to calculate local circumstances, so that camera actions can be referenced to specific eclipse events. All features are optional, so the software can be used for as little or as much as desired. It is currently localized in English and French. More…

Solar Eclipse Maestro is a freeware. Commercial distribution is strictly forbidden. Please contact me first before any commercial use. This software will remain free, but you can always make a donation to support my work.

Copyright 2008-2012 Xavier Jubier, http://xjubier.free.fr/

Application Installation and Upgrade

1. Download the dmg disk image file :
    Solar Eclipse Maestro 1.8.1 (79.0 MB)
2. Once your download is complete, double-click the .dmg file to mount it, then start the installer and follow the installation instructions. The application will be installed in your Applications folder and a folder named Scripts Solar Eclipse Maestro containing sample scripts will be copied to your regular Documents folder at the root of your user account. An administrator password will be required to proceed with the installation process.
   When upgrading all of your preference settings and script folder will be preserved.
3. Read the included help thoroughly before attempting use: go directly to the Help menu the first time you launch Solar Eclipse Maestro.
4. Disclaimer: use this program at your own risk. No guarantees are made, if it doesn’t work and you come away without any photos, sorry! Extensive rehearsal and testing is recommended to ensure success.

Technical support: available through a bulletin board system (BBS)

Requirements

This software runs solely under MacOS X 10.4.x (a.k.a. Tiger), 10.5.x (a.k.a. Leopard), 10.6.x (Snow Leopard) & 10.7.x (Lion) and is a Universal Binary, meaning it runs on both Mac Intel and PPC. A screen with a minimum 1024x768 resolution is recommended, although it will work with smaller screens.

History

• Next release planned for October 2012
• 2012 May 15 : version 1.8.1
• 2012 May 8 : version 1.8.0
• 2011 December 8 : version 1.7.5
• 2011 November 13 : version 1.7.4
• 2011 August 30 : version 1.7.3
• 2011 June 5 : version 1.7.2
• 2011 May 31 : version 1.7.1
• 2011 April 25 : version 1.7.0
• 2011 January 2 : version 1.6.7v4
• 2010 December 30 : version 1.6.7v3
• 2010 June 29 : version 1.6.7v2 (E-Flight certified)
• 2010 June 27 : version 1.6.7
• 2010 May 28 : version 1.6.6v6
• 2010 May 14 : version 1.6.5
• 2010 April 3 : version 1.6.4
• 2010 January 3 : version 1.6.3
• 2009 December 3 : version 1.6.2
• 2009 November 22 : version 1.6.1
• 2009 November 8 : version 1.6.0
• 2009 November 3 : version 1.5.2
• 2009 October 30 : version 1.5.1
• 2009 October 11 : version 1.5.0
• 2009 July 4 : version 1.0.3
• 2009 June 30 : version 1.0.2
• 2009 June 25 : version 1.0.1
• 2009 June 21 : first public release, version 1.0.0
• May 2009 : start of beta testing.
• 2008 July 14 : first internal alpha release for TSE 2008.

Note

Mac users can also check out Glenn Schneider’s MacOS X UMBRAPHILEX or Classic UMBRAPHILE. In the early 90’s, Glenn pioneered this type of eclipse photography application.
Windows users can check Fred Bruenjes’ Eclipse Orchestrator. While bringing some extensions to the scripting language of the latest, my application uses nearly the same script file format to let users easily port their scripts between the two environments. Moreover, my application brings quite a few new unique and innovative features. Windows users can check as well Robert Nufer’s Solar Eclipse Timer and Camera controller (SETnC).
Android phone users can try Wolfgang Strickling’s EclipseDroid application.

Solar Eclipse Maestro is used with success worldwide by over a thousand users and not only for solar eclipses. The available features led some users to use it for photographing polar auroras, and NASA is using it for its ATREX (Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment) mission.

Last page update on May 15, 2012.
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