AstroWizard 2026-08-26 - The Seeing Build

Every tool preview is a real viewport (Curves + the step-8 tune: fit-whole, scroll-zoom through real pixels, drag-pan, live on the main canvas), step 7's keep-this-look commits exactly what you see, StackingWizard 2.2 stacks steer the display statistics via their WZCORE headers, UI Scale for every age of eyes, and the Fellowship at 528.

sha256:
AstroWizard.exe 8b033f41a92bb3c40d14e9f58aec59b00aeed0cc4ff33a729fe6693fad9af1d6
AstroWizard-mac.zip 079e95e34273b6c6b45f4441997c2fc2a4a69d2566a7467f7ecce4ab9ad3b492
AstroWizard-mac-Intel.zip 01c8c8b4a73b684c0fc9392e762a3a7a606ff10bc5517100aab3c34e8d64bf64
AstroWizard-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz 16472b955fb00b4b2a2dc3d8787e98a2c96ffb330cf6b9231ea9e095011ee7c8

Downloads and notes at https://astrowizard.lukomatico.com

AstroWizard - 21 August 2026

UPDATED 24 AUGUST: both macOS downloads have been replaced with SIGNED AND NOTARISED builds of the very same code. Macs now simply open them - no right-click, no Control-click, no trip through Privacy and Security. The two macOS checksums below changed accordingly; Windows and Linux are untouched.

Badges and Bundles.

AstroWizard introduces itself to RC-Astro (the --host badge, at Russ Croman's request), kinder words when RC-Astro is missing, licence troubles say so, licences and updates one button each in Settings & Help, the Bundle wears gold, and the Fellowship wall rides at 404 lines.

Full notes: https://astrowizard.lukomatico.com/changelog.html

SHA-256:

• AstroWizard.exe d006328f89e9ad14fda7e7bfc3d2e4807e9d68dab5184e03b6caf9fc21989077
• AstroWizard-mac.zip fcd95e377e7ff055a439a93decd9a379be7aa8affe67c0ee941cdb155e7ea917
• AstroWizard-mac-Intel.zip 0343973a259d15c95c21cc2b1c9cb88db4cf65e50724366b0c8382e3b14baf43
• AstroWizard-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz d98ac49476cef16322c87afc9ff04f2ab03405ccd60d35133a6c575da048a0ba

Doors and Dials, REV B (2026-08-18)

Doors and Dials - build 2026-08-18, REV B (same day, sharper tools).

Mirror of the official downloads at https://astrowizard.lukomatico.com - grab your copy there first; these exist so a busy link never stops anyone.

SHA-256 (REV B):

AstroWizard.exe                    865ad9fcb85d239f5ed1d92d446b2dcd26b15d51bbbb6f3af4ba6604ffbd4e74
AstroWizard-mac.zip                fed8bdc7e0fd1f0e890e85096f848726de25d7e438fdd3a69011dfa06155a062
AstroWizard-mac-Intel.zip          a3e30d2fb48b334556a6d3ba205fc543013f6ffd1de606871785dd92640e3226
AstroWizard-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz    e20b2a6810e9f66d89ae57ae68660f8cc0afe4cfe656b0a74245565f2b436ad7

The Quiet Cures - 2026-08-15

The current build, byte-identical to the downloads at astrowizard.lukomatico.com. A release of things that fix themselves: blank previews self-heal, silent GraXpert crashes trigger the CPU retry, older StarNet2 builds get a plain retry, and the star engines no longer trip over their own files after an Undo. Saving leads with JPEG for easy sharing (masters one click away), RC-Astro updates from inside Settings, the Stretch Wizard stands alone, and Seestar stacks set their own profile. The Fellowship wall rides at 309 names.

SHA-256 checksums:

ebfa7021c4dedac950b9f480c542f31ee79c899700f7dc94d850e596a1997e67  AstroWizard.exe
ac620b36a1f8c2fcd94775a891fd6cc6c0bdd68b0a1893581443e2345c5d7938  AstroWizard-mac.zip
bfc773dc4587c972c1ebb41681716fcb0f4e67685b4979af040e3b06a43e3c97  AstroWizard-mac-Intel.zip
1be4a2598bb7eaad323c8f0f9b5f0f31641ef150e326eaddd600c0521e3381cf  AstroWizard-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz

Four Platforms - 12 August 2026

The current build, byte-identical to the downloads at astrowizard.lukomatico.com - and the family grows: Intel Macs join as the fourth platform.

Also aboard: GraXpert graphics crashes now cure themselves (one automatic CPU retry, remembered forever after), and the white-screen-after-denoise mystery is solved - engine results are range-normalized like every load. The Fellowship wall rides at 256 lines.

(Intel build revised 13 Aug: now runs on macOS 10.14 Mojave and newer - same app, lower floor.)

SHA-256 checksums:

6fec60f36258be03d5b06dc4bc42532da12863b442268784c4703123bccd3ec6  AstroWizard.exe
58b3cd8888ea8a7100b452db88acec4e1f70ecb171bb35b912985bcaffcd2c5a  AstroWizard-mac.zip
0bf00724353661cc30d214c679d542651d8c012181237ec205915bd8c6871096  AstroWizard-mac-Intel.zip
685480b05d3b8b77d0800cef4f489cc94418eba17d26e73e34349b621d6f3dfd  AstroWizard-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz

The Library Opens - 10 August 2026

The current build, byte-identical to the downloads at astrowizard.lukomatico.com.

The Library Opens: The Wizard's Library is open - free practice data from the wizard's own telescopes, twelve volumes across four shelves, with a door right on Step 1 for anyone with nothing to load. Replace Stars gains a Star Colour slider, the console learned StarNet2's own error voice plus per-engine GPU first aid, StarNet2 joined the Settings setup list, the engines' makers joined the Acknowledgements, and the Fellowship wall grew mightily.

SHA-256 checksums:

e71199010267cfe6a19d06208de993915a42772394b1b817dc0e1c417fc5408f  AstroWizard.exe
89be9f15bb86c254ba81630265f031e94fb829e8e0edaaaa8acf433cbecdb037  AstroWizard-mac.zip
de90372a71d4cacac4ccfe91617739074c5d48e6b7b422e714ab871b0b8a20f7  AstroWizard-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz

Stars for Everyone (Rev B) - 7 August 2026

The current build, byte-identical to the downloads at astrowizard.lukomatico.com.

Stars for Everyone: star removal is now free for everyone - StarNet2 joins as a fully supported engine beside StarXTerminator. XISF files load natively, Save Stars Only joins Save Starless, and the Fellowship takes centre stage in a tidier two-row header. Rev B carries the same-day polish: splash text unclipped, full image-codec pack on Mac and Linux.

SHA-256 checksums:

9e984a214e5d8a4e914d685ed2e64f73e6a69bc28762fc230b5be4ce0bb13c64  AstroWizard.exe
7182206f22eb619bd11635e71c2423e96954f045abc0afd09284e2a1e9658268  AstroWizard-mac.zip
e551a6abe8c811420d903dc869efa6ed3dfc3f35978c1dfe33d06703909972a0  AstroWizard-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz

StackingWizard Beta 2.3 - the list that cannot die (2026-08-27)

The frame list rebuilt to draw only what is on screen (two thousand frames scroll like twenty, full names on hover), a UI Scale dial for every screen and every age of eyes, broken headers healing on read with truly unreadable frames named in red, the Dwarf family recognised by its own conventions, a manifest that declares mixed targets, filters, mosaics and duplicates before you stack them, an earlier hot-pixel warning, and one display ruler from first frame to finished stack.

sha256:
StackingWizard.exe d06d05c644b719a9bb301f3ecde1b433081e7e2385239ff009a162b2bcaf8c26
StackingWizard-mac.zip 67c107b6b89d856f9a51f08bae672a5c9ad9ecdfc30e81ee4d441dead41640f5

Downloads and notes at https://astrowizard.lukomatico.com/stackingwizard.html

StackingWizard Beta 2.2 - the honesty build (2026-08-26)

Every frame stacks exactly once, the auto-crop retires rather than eat another meridian flip, the Pile stops guessing and its tiles become buttons, the safety copy asks before outliving its purpose, and the finished view keeps the live view's sky at any depth.

sha256:
StackingWizard.exe 2f23478a1cd1d2d9f27c765632a36a5f914e041ff3237d48545b454e887abc29
StackingWizard-mac.zip b50aec86787183d86d24508f0bc3cce565f8ececa0d58332ce773eed41b5c102

Downloads and notes live at https://astrowizard.lukomatico.com/stackingwizard.html

StackingWizard beta 2026-08-25 (Beta 2.1: what the testers found)

StackingWizard public beta - build 2026-08-25 (Beta 2.1: what the testers found)

A quiet fix build. Sixteen repairs from the beta's second week, three of them undoing damage the last build did.

WHAT CHANGED

Hot pixels can no longer pose as stars. A sensor's dead pixels sit at the same coordinates on every frame, so on soft or defocused data the wizard could match them perfectly, compute an alignment that moved nothing, and stack the whole night unshifted - while reporting a fine result. A real star lights its neighbours; a dead pixel does not. An impossibly perfect alignment is now flagged as a warning rather than a triumph.

Blank frames and stray finished stacks stop being crowned. Our idea of "best" was really "least noisy", so a frame with nothing in it beat every real one and became the reference nothing could match.

Network drives work again. The working files land on a local disk now, created the ordinary way, and the space needed is shown before you begin. The silent drop to half precision when disk was tight is gone.

Your stacks know where they were pointing - coordinates, date, focal length, pixel size, camera, filter, frame count and integration time all travel with the file, so it plate solves. A colour camera whose pattern we cannot read is stacked as mono out loud rather than silently.

One wandering frame no longer crops the picture in half. The column headings stay put while the list scrolls (and reveal that those columns were always sortable). Previews stop shrinking as the stack builds. The running tally is back beside the time remaining. The wizard explains itself when it sets frames aside, and names a frame that does not belong. No more name.fits.fits.

KNOWN ISSUES are listed on the StackingWizard page - the grading list still struggles past about 500 frames, the grading cannot yet see a tree or a satellite trail, and combining still crops to the field the stacks share. All being worked on.

Windows 10/11: StackingWizard.exe - nothing to install. If Windows says "protected your PC": More info > Run anyway.
macOS (Apple Silicon): StackingWizard-mac.zip - unzip it and open it. Signed and notarised, so nothing else to do.

SHA-256:

• StackingWizard.exe 5e9623bba2b07eb5a911b5aeb8f629d9f23733b8eb50e4b54a72b41a1c2c1b91
• StackingWizard-mac.zip b42c1c02d24416e0ce0b10204b547ae335b7e9e8d42441b884043b165fa668b8

Free for everyone, founded on kindness. Reports: wizard@lukomatico.com - press "copy the receipts" on The Stack page first.