---
title: "Sky View & Framing"
description: "Sky View is a full planetarium built into Astro PM – an interactive sky canvas with real survey imagery, deep-sky catalogs, and your equipment’s actual field of view drawn on the stars. This page covers the framing workflow and the…"
url: "https://astro-pm.com/docs/sky-view-framing/"
updated: "2026-07-12"
category: Astro PM App Guide / Framing
---

# Sky View & Framing

Sky View is a full planetarium built into Astro PM – an interactive sky canvas with real survey imagery, deep-sky catalogs, and your equipment’s actual field of view drawn on the stars. This page covers the framing workflow and the Position & Equipment toolbar; companion pages cover [surveys & star rendering](/docs/sky-view-surveys/), [overlays & catalogs](/docs/sky-view-overlays-catalogs/), and [time controls](/docs/sky-view-time-timeline/).

### Search & Position

The search box auto-completes as you type from the built-in deep-sky catalog (top ten matches appear in a popup – press Enter or Down-arrow to take a suggestion). Searching centers the sky on the object and opens the **Selected Target HUD** in the top-left corner: object name, type and magnitude, formatted coordinates, and three quick-research buttons – **Web**, **Astrobin**, and **SIMBAD** – each opening the object in your browser.

Below the search box, precise coordinate entry: **RA** as hours / minutes / seconds and **Dec** as degrees / arcminutes / arcseconds (sign accepted). Every keystroke updates the FOV reticle and the timeline curve live – decimal input is also accepted and converted.

[![](https://astro-pm.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-12-121453.png)](https://astro-pm.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-12-121453.png)

### Imaging System & Equipment

The center of the toolbar selects what you are framing *with*:

- **Imaging System** – pick a saved rig to set Site, Scope, and Camera in one click. Manually changing any of the three afterward switches the selector to *(custom)*.
- **Site** – drives the timeline’s twilight bands, the horizon overlays, and local time.
- **Scope / Camera** – together they derive the FOV rectangle. All selections persist between sessions.

### The FOV Readout & Reticle

The FIELD OF VIEW block shows the live numbers for the current scope + camera: width × height in decimal degrees, the same in arcminutes, and the diagonal. On the canvas the FOV appears as a draggable rectangle – **drag it to reposition**; the RA/Dec inputs follow.

The small color chip next to the camera selector sets the reticle color – eight presets (Yellow, Red, Green, Cyan, Orange, Magenta, White, Lime), default yellow.

### Rotation

The **Rotation** slider (0-360°, 1° steps, editable text box for decimals, and a reset-to-0° button) rotates the FOV rectangle for composition. The angle is saved with the project and travels to NINA, which rotates the camera to match – and [flat handling](/docs/automated-flat-handling/) takes flats at each rotation used.

### Mosaic Controls

The MOSAIC block turns the single FOV into a panel grid:

| Control | Range | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| H Panels | 1-16 | columns, +/- buttons |
| V Panels | 1-16 | rows |
| Overlap | 0-99% | shared edge between adjacent panels |

The grid redraws live as you adjust, rotating with the rotation slider. Panel centers and rotations are computed for you and stored when you create the project – see [Mosaic Planning](/docs/mosaic-planning/) for how panels are scheduled and tracked.

[![](https://astro-pm.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-12-121611.png)](https://astro-pm.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-12-121611.png)

### Comparison Setup (Second FOV)

Tick **Enable comparison setup** to overlay a second rig: choose Telescope 2 and Camera 2 and a second reticle appears as a dashed rectangle (default cyan, own color chip) with its own FOV readout line. Ideal for deciding which rig suits a target, or planning a dual-rig campaign on the same object.

### Actions: New Project, Fullscreen, Stellarium

- **Start New Project** – creates a project from the current framing: coordinates, rotation, and mosaic layout all carried in.
- **Fullscreen** – hides the toolbar, side tabs, and timeline for a pure sky canvas; an Exit Fullscreen button restores everything.
- **Stellarium sync** (shown when Stellarium is configured in settings) – two arrows: pull the currently selected Stellarium object into Sky View, or push Sky View’s position out to Stellarium.

   **Tip:** On narrower windows the toolbar reorganizes into tabs (Search / Location / Equipment / FOV / Mosaic) – every control is still there, just grouped.