MuniWin

MuniWin is a software solution designed to provide a complete system for reduction of images recorded with a CCD or DSLR camera, in order to perform an accurate observation of variable stars.

The application is designed to measure the brightness of various stars by reducing the images in which they are recorded. The human eye is not equally sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light. However, users can process the images with this application and get a different perspective of the stars.

MuniWin can partially detect new and unknown stars from a set of frames. Users can configure the program to apply different algorithms to improve how the stars are perceived.

The program offers a number of corrections that calibrate the CCD frames. These corrections can be applied to observation time, bias-frames and dark-frames. This enables the program to trace major stars and exclude any background imagery. Users are then capable to view stars at certain moments and in relation to other objects.

A downside to this endeavor is the lack of support for moving objects (such as minor planets). This is a severe limitation, since users can miss celestial objects altogether. Another missing feature is that users are not able to compute any celestial coordinates of objects. The application is an astrophotometry instrument, but is heavily based just on the photometry field.

The developers of the application designed the software to share results compatible with American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). This enables data to be imported and exported by a great number of users, allowing results to be easily compared.

In conclusion, MuniWin is an interesting software for astronomy enthusiasts, enabling them to record different light exposures and statistics. The application provides users with a number of useful features, but it is far from being the go-to software. Moreover, the algorithms applied by the software are not thoroughly explained, making this program more suited for experienced users.