1<sect1 id="tool-ekos">
2<title>Ekos</title>
3<indexterm><primary>Tools</primary>
4<secondary>Ekos</secondary>
5</indexterm>
6
7<para>
8    <emphasis role="bold">Ekos</emphasis> is an advanced cross-platform (&Windows;, &MacOS;, &Linux;) observatory control and automation tool with a particular focus on Astrophotography. It is based on a modular extensible framework to perform common astrophotography tasks. This includes highly accurate GOTOs using astrometry solver, ability to measure <emphasis>and</emphasis> correct polar alignment errors, auto-focus &amp; auto-guide capabilities, and capture of single or stack of images with filter wheel support. Ekos is shipped with &kstars;.
9</para>
10<mediaobject>
11  <videoobject>
12    <videodata contentdepth="315" contentwidth="560" fileref="https://www.youtube.com/embed/un2KVJY3Yis"/>
13  </videoobject>
14  <caption><para><phrase>Ekos introductory video</phrase></para></caption>
15</mediaobject>
16<para>Features:</para>
17<itemizedlist>
18    <listitem>
19        <para>
20            Control your telescope, CCD (&amp; DSLRs), filter wheel, focuser, guider, adaptive optics unit, and any INDI-compatible auxiliary device from Ekos.
21        </para>
22    </listitem>
23    <listitem>
24        <para>
25            <emphasis>Built-in</emphasis> native <link linkend="ekos-guide">autoguiding</link> with support for automatic dithering between exposures and support for Adaptive Optics devices in addition to traditional guiders.
26        </para>
27    </listitem>
28    <listitem>
29        <para>
30            <ulink url="https://knro.blogspot.com/2013/10/demo-of-ekos-alignment-module.html">Extremely accurate GOTOs</ulink> using astrometry.net solver (both Online and Offline solvers supported).
31        </para>
32    </listitem>
33    <listitem>
34        <para>
35            Load &amp; Slew: Load a FITS image, slew to solved coordinates, and center the mount on the exact image coordinates in order to get the same desired frame.
36        </para>
37    </listitem>
38    <listitem>
39        <para>
40            Measure &amp; Correct Polar Alignment errors using astromety.net solver.
41        </para>
42    </listitem>
43    <listitem>
44        <para>
45            Easy to use <ulink url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx6Zz9lNd5Q">Polar Alignment Assistant</ulink> tool. A very quick and reliable tool to polar align your German Equatorial Mount!
46        </para>
47    </listitem>
48    <listitem>
49        <para>
50            Capture and record <ulink url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJFZWwlAQRM">video streams in SER format</ulink>.
51        </para>
52    </listitem>
53    <listitem>
54        <para>
55            Completely <ulink url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85L3J_iiXZ4">automated scheduler</ulink> to control all your observatory equipment, select the best targets for imaging given current conditions and constraints, monitor weather conditions, and capture your data while you are away!
56        </para>
57    </listitem>
58    <listitem>
59        <para>
60            <emphasis>Smart</emphasis> Dark Library: All your dark frames with different binning/temperature/frame settings are saved for future use. Ekos re-uses dark frames intelligently without taking unnecessary captures. You can configure how long you want to reuse all the dark frames.
61        </para>
62    </listitem>
63    <listitem>
64        <para>
65            Define multiple driver profiles for local and remote setups. Switch among them easily.
66        </para>
67    </listitem>
68    <listitem>
69        <para>
70            Auto and manual focus modes using Half-Flux-Radius (HFR) method.
71        </para>
72    </listitem>
73    <listitem>
74        <para>
75            <ulink url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stsrcsPxUZA">Automated <emphasis>unattended</emphasis> meridian flip</ulink>. Ekos performs post meridian flip alignment, calibration, focusing, and guiding to resume the capture session.
76        </para>
77    </listitem>
78    <listitem>
79        <para>
80            Automatic focus between exposures when a user-configurable HFR limit is exceeded.
81        </para>
82    </listitem>
83    <listitem>
84        <para>
85            Powerful sequence queue for batch capture of images with optional prefixes, timestamps, filter wheel selection, and much more!
86        </para>
87    </listitem>
88    <listitem>
89        <para>
90            Export and import sequence queue sets as Ekos Sequence Queue (<literal role="extension">.esq</literal>) files.
91        </para>
92    </listitem>
93    <listitem>
94        <para>
95            <ulink url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg2HDFg_dCE">Center the telescope anywhere in a captured FITS image</ulink> or any FITS with World Coordinate System (WCS) header.
96        </para>
97    </listitem>
98    <listitem>
99        <para>
100            Automatic flat field capture, just set the desired ADU and let Ekos does the rest!
101        </para>
102    </listitem>
103    <listitem>
104        <para>
105            Automatic abort and resumption of exposure tasks if guiding errors exceed a user-configurable value.
106        </para>
107    </listitem>
108    <listitem>
109        <para>
110            Support for dome slaving.
111        </para>
112    </listitem>
113    <listitem>
114        <para>
115            Complete integration with &kstars; Observation Planner and SkyMap.
116        </para>
117    </listitem>
118    <listitem>
119        <para>
120            Fully scriptable via <ulink url="https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dbus/">&DBus;</ulink>.
121        </para>
122    </listitem>
123    <listitem>
124        <para>
125            Integrate with all INDI native devices.
126        </para>
127    </listitem>
128</itemizedlist>
129
130&tool-ekos-setup;
131&tool-ekos-user-interface;
132&tool-ekos-profile-wizard;
133&tool-ekos-profile-editor;
134&tool-ekos-logs;
135&tool-ekos-capture;
136&tool-ekos-focus;
137&tool-ekos-guide;
138&tool-ekos-align;
139&tool-ekos-scheduler;
140&tool-ekos-analyze;
141&tool-ekos-tutorials;
142
143</sect1>
144