Documentation

StellarLog is a web-first astrophotography session logger built for serious imagers. It helps you track your deep sky targets, log imaging sessions, manage your equipment, and monitor your integration progress over time.

The app is designed to be used in the field on your phone or tablet, as well as at your desk for planning and review. Key capabilities include:

• check_circle Target management with automatic data population via the SIMBAD astronomical database
• check_circle Session logging with weather auto-fill, filter tracking, and conditions recording
• check_circle Equipment management for telescopes, cameras, mounts, and filter wheels
• check_circle Integration tracking with per-filter progress for mono cameras and overall progress for OSC
• check_circle Night mode with a true red-light UI to preserve your dark adaptation in the field

To get started with StellarLog, you'll need to create an account:

1. 1 Tap Login / Sign Up from the website or navigate directly to the app.
2. 2 Select Create Account and enter your email address and a password.
3. 3 Check your email for a verification code and enter it to confirm your account.
4. 4 You'll be signed in automatically and your 7-day free trial begins immediately.

Every new account starts with a 7-day free trial with full access to all features. No credit card is required to start.

Subscription Statuses

When your trial expires or subscription lapses, you'll see a paywall screen. Your data is never deleted, and it will all be there when you resubscribe.

Managing Your Subscription

You can manage your subscription, update payment methods, or cancel at any time from Settings → Manage Subscription. This opens the Stripe billing portal where you have full control over your plan.

Your profile stores your personal details and observing location. Navigate to Settings → Edit Profile to configure:

• badge Display name and avatar
• location_on Observing location, including name, latitude, longitude, and Bortle class
• lock Password, which can be changed at any time

The Equipment section lets you register all of your astrophotography gear. StellarLog supports four equipment categories:

Each piece of equipment can be assigned a role (Main or Guide, for telescopes and cameras) and marked as part of your Primary Rig.

When adding a telescope, you can enter the following details:

Camera configuration includes:

Mount configuration includes:

Filter wheel setup includes:

Your Primary Rig is displayed prominently on the Equipment page and is used as the default setup when creating new targets and sessions.

To designate equipment as part of your Primary Rig, toggle the Primary switch when adding or editing any piece of equipment.

The Primary Rig section shows all equipment marked as primary, with role badges to distinguish your imaging and guide trains:

• Main Your primary imaging telescope and camera
• Guide Your guide scope and guide camera

Your Target Library is the central hub for all the deep sky objects you plan to image or have already captured. Each target card shows the object name, catalogue ID, status, and a preview image from the Digital Sky Survey (DSS).

Filtering & Searching

Use the filter pills at the top to view targets by status:

• All, shows every target in your library
• In Progress, targets with some sessions logged but not yet complete
• Completed, targets that have reached their integration goal
• Planned, targets you haven't started imaging yet

The search bar filters by target name and catalogue ID as you type.

Managing Targets

Tap the three-dot menu on any target card to View, Edit, or Delete it. Deleting a target will also delete all sessions associated with it. A confirmation dialog will warn you before this happens.

Tap the + button in your Target Library to add a new object. You can either search for it using SIMBAD or enter details manually.

Key fields when creating a target:

StellarLog integrates with the SIMBAD astronomical database maintained by the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS). This gives you access to millions of astronomical objects.

When adding or editing a target, type an object identifier (e.g., "M31", "NGC 6992", "IC 1805") into the search field and tap search. StellarLog will automatically populate:

• check Right Ascension and Declination coordinates
• check Object type classification
• check Apparent magnitude

A preview image from the STScI Digital Sky Survey (DSS) is also fetched so you can visually confirm the object.

If your primary imaging camera is set to Mono, the target form will show per-filter integration goals. This lets you plan exactly how much data you need in each channel.

Supported filters:

Set the number of hours you want for each filter. The Target Detail page will then show your progress per filter, helping you ensure balanced data for processing.

If your camera is OSC, filter goals are not shown and you simply track total integration time against your target hours.

Tapping on a target opens the detail view, which gives you a complete overview of that object's progress and history.

What You'll See

• image DSS preview image of the object from the STScI Digital Sky Survey
• info Object details, including coordinates, type, magnitude, and catalogue ID
• timelapse Integration progress, showing accumulated hours vs your target goal as a percentage bar
• tune Filter distribution (mono cameras only), showing per-filter progress for L, R, G, B, Ha, OIII, and SII
• precision_manufacturing Equipment used for this target from your Primary Rig
• history Session history, a chronological list of every imaging session for this target, sorted newest first

Integration time is automatically calculated by summing the integration values from all linked sessions. The progress bar updates in real time as you add new sessions.

The Sessions page shows a chronological list of all your imaging sessions across every target. Each session card displays the date, target name, integration time, and session status at a glance.

Filtering Sessions

You can filter your session list by:

• filter_list Status, view completed, partial, or abandoned sessions
• search Search, find sessions by target name

Tap any session to open the detail view, which shows the full breakdown including conditions, filters captured, technical stats, and notes.

To log a new imaging session, navigate to a target and tap Add Session, or use the + button from the Sessions page. Here's what you can record:

StellarLog integrates with the Open-Meteo weather API to automatically fetch conditions for your imaging sessions.

How It Works

1. 1 Set your observing location in Settings → Profile (latitude, longitude, and Bortle class).
2. 2 When creating a session, tap the Auto-fill Weather button.
3. 3 StellarLog fetches the current conditions for your location and populates the seeing, transparency, and temperature fields.

Caching

Weather data is cached locally for 30 minutes to reduce API calls. You can clear the weather cache from Settings if needed.

Every session has a status that helps you track how your imaging nights went:

Session status is factored into your dashboard statistics and integration time calculations. Abandoned sessions do not contribute to integration totals.

Your dashboard is the home screen of StellarLog, giving you a quick summary of your astrophotography activity at a glance.

Dashboard Sections

• insights Stats summary, total integration hours, number of targets, sessions logged, and active targets
• history Recent sessions, your last 5 imaging sessions with quick access to details
• wb_sunny Imaging forecast, a weather-based score for tonight's conditions at your observing location

Night mode transforms the entire UI to use deep red tones, preserving your dark adaptation while imaging in the field. Red light has the least impact on your night vision, making this essential for use at the telescope.

How to Enable

Toggle Night Mode from Settings using the Night Mode switch. The setting persists across sessions so it will remain active until you turn it off.

What Changes

• palette All teal accents switch to deep red
• text_fields Text colours shift to red-tinted shades
• contrast Backgrounds darken further to reduce overall screen brightness
• badge Badges, buttons, and icons all adopt the red colour scheme

StellarLog caches certain data locally on your device to improve performance and reduce network requests. You can view and manage cached data from Settings → Data & Storage.

What Gets Cached

Clearing the Cache

The Settings page shows how many entries are stored in each cache namespace. Tap Clear Cache to remove all cached data. This is useful if you're experiencing stale data or want to free up local storage. The cache will repopulate automatically as you use the app.

StellarLog allows you to download a complete export of your data at any time from Settings → Data & Storage.

What's Included

The export contains all of your data in a portable format:

• check All targets with coordinates, goals, and metadata
• check All imaging sessions with conditions, filters, and notes
• check All equipment with specifications
• check Your profile and settings