The whole process
Nine steps. In order. That’s the trick.
Astro processing isn’t hard - it’s just usually presented in the wrong order, all at once, in software built for experts. AstroWizard walks you through the same professional workflow one step at a time, with a live preview and an Undo for everything.
- Load your image
- Crop the edges
- Remove the gradient
- Balance the colour
- Sharpen
- Reduce noise
- The Big Stretch
- Make it beautiful
- Export & share
Downloads
Install in about a minute
AstroWizard is in open beta. The Windows and Mac downloads are code-signed now, so first launch is calmer than it used to be - but a young signature can still draw a cautious note from Windows the first time. Here’s exactly what to click. It only happens once.
Windows WINDOWS 10 / 11
Main link busy? Use the Google Drive copy - same file, byte for byte.
- Download AstroWizard-Windows.exe - nothing to install, it just runs.
- If a blue box says “Windows protected your PC”: click More info, then Run anyway.
- That’s it. Load an image and follow Step 1.
First-time setup · 2 minutes
Open ⚙️ Settings & Help and point AstroWizard at your AI tools - they usually live here:
GraXpert:C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\Programs\GraXpert\GraXpert.exe
RC-Astro:C:\Program Files\RC-Astro\CLI\rc-astro.exe
StarNet2 (optional, free star removal): install from starnetastro.com - AstroWizard finds it automatically in the standard spot.
Then open GraXpert once on its own and run each tool - it downloads its AI models on first use.
Why a warning at all? The Windows build has been signed since 2 September with a Microsoft-validated certificate. SmartScreen still weighs how many people have run a signature before it trusts it fully, so a fresh one can draw a note for a while. The build on this page is always the official one.
macOS APPLE SILICON & INTEL
Main link busy? Use the Google Drive copy - same file, byte for byte.
Download for Intel Macs2020 and earlier · same app, same steps
Intel link busy? Use the Google Drive copy - same file, byte for byte.
- Download AstroWizard-mac.zip and double-click to unzip.
- Open it. That is the whole thing - your Mac lets it straight in.
- Drag it to your Applications folder if you would like it to live there.
First-time setup · 2 minutes
Open ⚙️ Settings & Help and point AstroWizard at your AI tools:
GraXpert: just pick GraXpert.app in your Applications folder - AstroWizard finds the engine inside automatically.
RC-Astro: pick the single rc-astro file in /Applications/RC-Astro/CLI - one program runs all three tools.
StarNet2 (optional, free star removal): install the command-line version from starnetastro.com and AstroWizard finds it automatically.
Then open GraXpert once on its own and run each tool - it downloads its AI models on first use.
Signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarised by Apple since 24 August, with the approval ticket carried inside the app - so it opens even on a Mac with no internet. The old right-click dance is retired.
Linux X86_64 · NEW
Main link busy? Use the Google Drive copy - same file, byte for byte.
- Download and extract:
tar -xzf AstroWizard-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz(or right-click → Extract Here). - Run
AstroWizard/AstroWizard. Nothing to install. - Something odd? Launch it from a terminal and paste what it prints into a YouTube comment, with your distro. That’s the report that gets it fixed.
First-time setup · 2 minutes
Open ⚙️ Settings & Help and point AstroWizard at your AI tools:
GraXpert: pick the .AppImage file itself (mark it executable first if needed).
RC-Astro: choose the rc-astro program from wherever its installer placed it. GPU acceleration on Linux currently needs NVIDIA; it runs on CPU otherwise.
StarNet2 (optional, free star removal): install the command-line version from starnetastro.com; AstroWizard checks the usual spots automatically.
Then open GraXpert once on its own and run each tool - it downloads its AI models on first use.
The newest build of the family - it compiles clean and boots clean, and Linux astro folk are hereby deputised as its test pilots. Expect rough edges; report them proudly.
The AI steps
Plays well with the professionals
For the heavy AI lifting, AstroWizard drives the same engines the experts use - point it at them once in Settings and the buttons light up.
FREE
GraXpert & StarNet2
GraXpert handles background gradient removal and AI denoising (open it once after installing so it fetches its models). StarNet2 - Mikita Misiura’s free neural net - handles star removal, so the whole star workflow now has a free path.
PAID · TRIAL AVAILABLE
RC-Astro - BlurX, NoiseX, StarX
The gold standard for sharpening, noise reduction, and star removal. These are affiliate links - buying through them supports AstroWizard at no extra cost to you.
BUILT IN
Everything else
Stretching, colour balance, curves, narrowband palettes, star colour fixes - all native, all included, no extra installs.
Quick answers
Before you ask…
The five questions that cover 90% of the comment section.
What kind of computer do I need?
Windows 10 or 11, any Mac (Apple Silicon and Intel builds both provided), or Linux (x86-64). Older systems like Windows 7/8 can’t run it, sorry - the modern engine room won’t fit. Hardware-wise AstroWizard is not hungry: a modest machine is fine, and while the AI steps appreciate a decent graphics card, they run happily (just slower) on an ordinary CPU.
What files can I load?
Stacked FITS, TIFF or XISF from anything - Seestar, Dwarf, ASTAP, Siril, PixInsight, DeepSkyStacker. Yes, PixInsight’s native XISF walks straight in. AstroWizard figures out the format quirks (bit depth, pixel range, bloated headers) automatically. Stack first, then bring the result here.
I clicked a GraXpert button and nothing happened.
Open GraXpert itself once and run Background Extraction and Denoising one time each - it downloads its AI models on first use. After that, AstroWizard’s buttons work every time. (Recent builds will tell you this right in the console.)
The RC-Astro steps are slow on my machine.
Update the CLI: open a terminal and run rc-astro update --install. A bug that made some images take minutes was fixed in July 2026 - both by RC-Astro and inside AstroWizard itself. Still slow? The in-app console will say why.
Is it really free?
Really free. Not a trial, not “free until it gets popular” - free is the plan. Development runs on goodwill: a tip jar and a Patreon below if it makes you smile, and buying RC-Astro tools through the affiliate links here or in the app supports it at no cost to you.
My antivirus / Mac says it’s from an unidentified developer.
Both downloads are signed now - Windows since 2 September, Mac since 24 August - so that note is a young signature still earning trust, not a threat. See the install steps above, and only download AstroWizard from this page or the links in Lukomatico’s own videos.
“Too many users have viewed or downloaded this file”?
That’s Google Drive’s daily busy sign, not a problem on your end - on launch days the main links can hit Drive’s download limit. Use the mirror link under any download button above: same files, byte for byte, with published checksums. (Or simply try the main link again tomorrow.)
The Community Guide
A manual, written by the Fellowship
Two wizards from Germany, Detlef Se. (AstroCharly) and Herbert Sch., put together a guide to both apps - every step of AstroWizard and every stage of StackingWizard, in English and in German. Made with AI assistance, and now in its second edition: 35 pages, rewritten for the 18 September 2026 builds, True Colours and Beta 4.4. An official Handbook is coming later; until then, this is the map.
Download the guide - English (PDF, 6.4 MB)
Anleitung herunterladen - Deutsch (PDF, 6,4 MB)
The apps move fast: when a step looks different from the guide, the changelog tells the newer story.
Observing log
Latest from the workshop
Small releases, shipped often. Re-download any time - newer is always better here.
2026 · SEPTEMBER 18
AstroWizard: True Colours
Star-True Colours: the stars in your picture set the colour balance - the field’s stars fetched from ESA’s Gaia catalogue, matched to yours, measured in red, green and blue, and a Sun-like star lands white. Photometric colour calibration with nothing to install. The Scrying Orb: your whole edit replayed as a GIF to post beside the picture. A manual hyperbolic stretch on step 7 in the PixInsight shape, two dual-band stacks to one Hubble palette on step 1, and a round of field fixes for the Mac, Linux and GraXpert. Star data: ESA/Gaia/DPAC. The wall rides at 1037 wizards.
2026 · SEPTEMBER 18
StackingWizard Beta 4.4 - The Workbench
The grid, measured properly: on a real walk the stack has no lattice; what a hard stretch shows is the cloud verdict’s cells and the thin outer pointings, so the verdict is judged at cloud scale now (a hundred pixels, plain sky, a soft edge) and the thin edges keep no hot pixel. Less by Luke’s eye at each step, not claimed gone. The Workbench: seven levers behind a gear on every page, the wizard’s choice first, help and examples under each, kept for the session or forever, every change named in the receipts. Siril-converted frames sort as lights, a stack among the subs is called out, the grades export to CSV, play resumes where it paused. Thank you Marcel, Nils, Guillermo, Hubert, Steve, James, Rick, Roger, Christos and cbskousen.
2026 · SEPTEMBER 12
StackingWizard Beta 4.3 - The Thin Strip
Panels that share only a thin strip lay, the levels of a row hold, the grid of squares under a hard stretch is halved, and the colour door is on every manifest. Get the beta.