Laminar

Laminar is a native macOS application for planetary imaging that runs on Apple Silicon. It captures high‑frame‑rate video of the Sun, Moon, and planets through a telescope and stores the data in the industry‑standard SER format, which can be processed with tools such as AutoStakkert, Registax, PIPP, and SIRIL. The software provides real‑time frame‑quality analysis, atmospheric seeing scores, and automatic target tracking to help users assess focus and conditions while observing.

The program supports ten astronomy camera brands—including ZWO, PlayerOne, QHY, ToupTek, SVBONY, Altair Astro, OGMA, RisingCam, MallinCam, and Omegon—making it the most broadly compatible planetary capture solution on macOS. It leverages Metal GPU acceleration for efficient processing and offers SER video recording, playback, and QuickLook preview directly within the OS.

Laminar also fetches location‑based weather and seeing data at launch, presenting two scores that summarize cloud cover, humidity, dew risk, and atmospheric stability. This information lets astronomers decide whether conditions are suitable for imaging before setting up equipment. The app is distributed through the Mac App Store as a one‑time purchase.