Laminar
Planetary imaging capture for macOS. Real-time frame quality analysis. SER video recording. Native on Apple Silicon.
Planetary imaging on Mac has been an afterthought.
For years, Mac users have been stuck with Windows ports, Electron wrappers, or no options at all. Meanwhile, you're left guessing whether tonight's sky is worth setting up for—and whether your focus was actually good until hours later when you finally stack.
Laminar changes that.
“Laminar describes the rare, calm atmospheric conditions where turbulence fades and planetary detail snaps into focus. That’s what we’re helping you find—and capture.”
Before You Set Up
Weather & seeing conditions for planetary imaging.PRO
Laminar detects your location at launch and fetches real-time weather data automatically—no API keys, no configuration. Two scores tell you everything: Conditions (0–100) evaluates cloud cover, humidity, and dew risk. Seeing (0–100) estimates atmospheric stability for sharp planetary detail.
At a glance, you'll know whether tonight is worth hauling equipment outside—before you commit to setup.
While You Capture
Real-time frame quality analysis.PRO
The quality graph shows instantaneous sharpness (green), rolling average (yellow), and your session peak as you image. Use it as a live focusing aid: watch the yellow line as you adjust your focuser, and stop when it peaks.
Laminar helps you find the optimal focus position for your current seeing conditions. No more guessing. No more waiting until you stack to discover you were slightly off.
Never Lose Your Target
Automatic planet tracking keeps quality readings accurate.PRO
Planetary targets move. SCT mirror shift during focusing, wind gusts, accidental bumps, or even the wobble from adjusting a rack-and-pinion focuser—any of these can push your planet out of a static analysis region.
Laminar automatically detects and tracks the planetary disk frame-by-frame. The Focus ROI follows the target, so your quality measurements stay accurate no matter what shifts the image.
For Moon and Sun imaging, switch to surface feature tracking—click on a crater or sunspot and Laminar locks onto that feature, monitoring focus on the detail that matters to you.
Works with targets from a small Mars disk to Saturn's rings, and from lunar craters to solar active regions.
Built for your Mac
Native macOS planetary capture with Metal GPU acceleration.
Laminar is built in Swift and SwiftUI, following Apple's design patterns. It runs natively on Apple Silicon with GPU-accelerated Bayer demosaicing via Metal compute shaders—10-50x faster than CPU processing. The interface is clean and purposeful—no cluttered toolbars, no floating windows. Preview in full color or raw Bayer mode. Everything you need is visible; everything you don't need isn't.
Reviewing a captured SER file in Laminar's playback mode with full quality analysis and frame-by-frame navigation.
Professional Capture
SER video recording, playback, and QuickLook preview.
Everything you need for serious planetary imaging workflows.
SER Format with Metadata
Industry standard output. Embeds Observer and Telescope info in headers. Works with AutoStakkert, Registax, PIPP.
RAW8 / RAW16
Choose bit depth based on your workflow. Higher frame rates or maximum dynamic range.
Dynamic ROI
Smaller regions enable higher frame rates. Fixed sizes or percentages of your sensor.
SER Playback & QuickLook
Review captures with full analysis. Preview SER files and metadata directly in Finder with QuickLook.
Zoom & Pan
FIT, 1:1, and slider zoom. Pan around your preview to check focus on any part of the frame.
Multi-Camera Support
Connect multiple ZWO or PlayerOne cameras simultaneously. Switch between them instantly.
Frame Drop Monitoring
Track capture health in real time. Know immediately if your USB bandwidth is struggling.
Temperature Monitoring
Real-time sensor temps with critical threshold protection. Warns before heat becomes a problem.
Pre-Capture Checks
Disk space verification before you start. Never lose a session to a full drive.
Capture Any Target
Presets for Sun, Moon, and planets.
With Pro, get rotation-aware timing warnings so you know exactly when to stop capturing before motion blur sets in.
Compatibility
ZWO ASI and PlayerOne camera support.
Native Apple Silicon performance on macOS Sequoia.
Supported Cameras
- ZWO ASI — All ARM64 SDK compatible models
- PlayerOne — All models
System Requirements
- macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later
- Apple Silicon Mac (M1, M2, M3, M4)
- USB connection to camera
Pricing
Free planetary capture. Pro features when you're ready.
- Planetary capture to SER format
- SER playback & QuickLook preview
- Basic weather information
- Live histogram
- RAW8 / RAW16 bit depth
- Dynamic ROI selection
- ZWO & PlayerOne support
- Everything in Free, plus:
- Sky Quality & Seeing scores
- Real-time quality graph
- Auto Focus Tracking
- Surface feature tracking
- Rotation-aware capture warnings
Download Laminar for macOS.
Start capturing planetary images tonight. Free forever, with Pro features when you need them.
Laminar F.A.Q.
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Laminar supports ZWO ASI cameras (all models compatible with the ARM64 SDK) and all PlayerOne cameras. Popular supported models include the ASI462MC, ASI585MC, ASI290MM, Mars-C, Neptune-C, and Uranus-C. QHY and Altair camera support is planned for future releases.
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No. Laminar requires an Apple Silicon Mac (M1, M2, M3, or M4) running macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later. The app is built specifically for Apple Silicon to take advantage of Metal GPU acceleration for real-time Bayer demosaicing and frame quality analysis.iption text goes here
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Laminar Free includes full planetary capture to SER format, SER playback with QuickLook support, basic weather information, live histogram, RAW8/RAW16 recording, dynamic ROI selection, and multi-camera support. Laminar Pro ($2.99/month or $24.99/year) adds Sky Quality and Seeing scores, the real-time quality graph, automatic planet and surface feature tracking, and rotation-aware capture timing warnings.
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Yes. Laminar records in the industry-standard SER video format, which is fully compatible with AutoStakkert, Registax, PIPP, and other planetary processing software. SER files include embedded metadata for observer name and telescope information.
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Laminar is the only planetary capture application built natively for macOS and Apple Silicon. Unlike Windows ports or Electron wrappers, it uses Swift, SwiftUI, and Metal for GPU-accelerated performance. Laminar also uniquely offers real-time frame quality analysis during capture—so you can optimize focus and know your session quality before you start stacking, not after.