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 and isn’t code-signed yet, so your computer will act suspicious the first time. That’s normal for independent software - 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 โ๏ธ 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 the warning? Microsoft charges independent developers for a signing certificate; during the beta we skip it. 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 โ๏ธ 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 โ๏ธ 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?
What files can I load?
I clicked a GraXpert button and nothing happened.
The RC-Astro steps are slow on my machine.
Is it really free?
My antivirus / Mac says it’s from an unidentified developer.
“Too many users have viewed or downloaded this file”?
Observing log
Latest from the workshop
Small releases, shipped often. Re-download any time - newer is always better here.
2026 · AUGUST 26
The Seeing Build
Every tool preview is a real viewport now - Curves and the step-8 tune window fit the whole image by default, scroll to zoom through the actual pixels (sharp at any depth - never a blown-up thumbnail), drag to pan, double-click to refit, and they render live on the main canvas while you shape. Bob asked to see the whole picture and David asked for sharpness at zoom - both, done, as promised. Step 7 grows ✨ Happy already? Keep this look: the preview you are looking at becomes your real stretch in one click, same engine, same statistics. AstroWizard now reads its sibling’s stacks - a StackingWizard Beta 2.2 stack names its well-covered core in its headers, and the display stretch listens so untrimmed edges never steer the view. A UI Scale dial in Settings (90 to 140 percent, remembered at every launch), Undo and Redo grown into proper targets, and the Fellowship wall rides at 528 wizards, each seated once in their highest hall.
2026 · AUGUST 21
Badges and Bundles
AstroWizard introduces itself to RC-Astro - every XTerminator call now carries the app's name and build at Russ Croman's own request, so RC-Astro support can see exactly which integration a machine runs (newer CLIs only). Clearer words when RC-Astro is missing (the message now points to the stand-alone tool at rc-astro.com) or unlicensed (the top line says to activate, and where the ๐ lives - no more generic failures). The affiliate buttons found their colours with the best-value Bundle in gold, and the Fellowship wall rides at 404 lines - forty-one wizards since Tuesday.
2026 · AUGUST 18
Doors and Dials
Open with AstroWizard - drag a FITS onto the app, or right-click and Open with, and it loads itself; groundwork for broader tests of StackingWizard, the wizard’s own stacking app, built from the ground up and taking its first steps in the workshop now. The Big Stretch’s depth grid is redesigned - the classic stretches with their dial above, the deep stretches with theirs below, and the new Custom deep pane carries a keep colours tick: one slider, both deep moods, honouring your colour choice at last (Soft retired after an unclicked career - Custom ×50 recreates it exactly). Dials now dock to their own previews, the colour switch works on already-stretched images as a pure cast fix, JPEG exports save a touch richer, and the Fellowship wall rides at 350 lines - 334 wizards, each seated once in their highest hall.