StarGauge for FITS
FITS Photometry & Star Metrics
Only for Mac
Free
Mac
Screen FITS images efficiently, keep what matters, and send selected results and reports seamlessly back to FITS QuickLook Studio.
Turn starlight into measurements with StarGauge, a focused FITS analysis app for your Mac.
Open an astronomical image, select a star or region, and explore the numerical values behind what you see. Measure local background, inspect star shape, and keep a record of your results without writing code.
MEASURE STARS AND REGIONS
• Set a circular aperture and surrounding background ring to measure background-subtracted flux.
• Inspect the measured centroid, estimated major and minor FWHM, and ellipticity.
• Draw rectangular or circular regions to view valid pixel count, mean, median, standard deviation, minimum and maximum.
• Review warnings when an area reaches the image edge or contains invalid pixels.
EXPLORE THE LIGHT PROFILE
View a radial brightness curve around the aperture center, with local background removed. Export the profile as CSV for further analysis. Use Asinh, Linear or Log display stretch and brightness controls to reveal image detail without changing your measurement values.
KEEP YOUR MEASUREMENTS
Save and name up to 1,000 measurements. Records are stored locally and restored when you reopen the app. Inspect earlier results, undo deletions during the current session, and reapply a saved region when the original image data and HDU match.
EXPORT RESULTS
Export measurement tables and radial profiles as CSV, or create an annotated PNG showing the current image, selected region and numerical summary. Original FITS files stay unchanged.
BUILT FOR FITS
Open two-dimensional FITS images, including tiled-compressed images, and choose among supported image HDUs. Measurements use original pixel values with FITS scaling applied. Display previews may be sampled, but measurement data are not downsampled.
LOCAL AND INDEPENDENT
No account, network connection or additional host app is required. Start with the built-in simulated star field and follow the in-app guide.
SUPPORTED DATA AND MEASUREMENT NOTES
Requires macOS 14 or later. Supports Apple silicon and Intel Macs. Input files can be up to 512 MB, with image planes up to 32 million pixels. Each measurement region's bounding box can contain up to 4 million pixels. FITS tables, data cubes, MAT files and outer gzip compression are not supported.
FWHM and ellipticity are moment-based estimates, not PSF fits. Star shape requires a clear peak above the background. Saturation, nearby sources, noise and aperture size can affect results. StarGauge does not provide calibrated magnitudes, measurement uncertainties or automatic saturation detection. PNG exports are display images, not original science-data files.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
- Receive images directly from FITS QuickLook Studio and append them to your existing screening list.
- Return retained images from the current task, together with the screening report, to FITS QuickLook Studio.
- Added options to clear the list and previews and to restore the previous session at launch. Clearing does not delete the original FITS files.
- Improved the title area, file list, screening statistics, and image information layout.
Main-app integration requires FITS QuickLook Studio 11.2.8 or later.
The developer, 海平 陈, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- 海平 陈
- Size
- 4 MB
- Category
- Productivity
- Compatibility
Requires macOS 14.0 or later.
- Mac
Requires macOS 14.0 or later.
- Mac
- Languages
English and 4 more
- English, French, German, Simplified Chinese, Spanish
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2026 Dongsheng Hu. All rights reserved.