An imaging run has plenty to say: a new frame arrived, autofocus finished, the guider settled, or the sequence is waiting for its next target. Chatstronomy brings those updates into chat, so following a night does not require keeping a remote desktop open.

It connects N.I.N.A. to Discord and Matrix, with image previews, autofocus curves, guiding graphs, and equipment and sequence status. Optional Discord commands let you ask for the latest image or operate permitted parts of the rig.

Start with the N.I.N.A. plugin

Install Chatstronomy from Plugins → Available in N.I.N.A. and restart. It is in the official plugin repository and requires N.I.N.A. 3.2 or newer. Open Options → Plugins → Chatstronomy to choose a delivery mode and review what the profile shares.

For hosted Discord, get a pairing code from Chatstronomy Hub, enter it in the plugin, and connect your Discord channel in the Hub. The plugin connects outbound; there are no observatory ports to open. Several N.I.N.A. instances can pair with one Hub account and route their updates independently.

Local mode uses your own Discord webhook, Discord bot, or Matrix account. The plugin manages its bundled runtime and stores credentials in Windows Credential Manager. Matrix and webhooks deliver notifications; interactive slash commands are a Discord feature.

The plugin installation guide has the current setup instructions.

More of the night in one place

The plugin reads native N.I.N.A. state, including image captures, autofocus reports, guiding, Target Scheduler progress, and sequence waits. Autofocus supports N.I.N.A.’s own implementations and Hocus Focus, using the report associated with the completed run.

Timed waits show when they are expected to end. Discord renders those times in each viewer’s timezone, which is handy when people following a session are nowhere near the telescope. Sequence updates distinguish successful, failed, stopped, and cancelled outcomes.

Sharing is configurable per N.I.N.A. profile: event categories, images, logs, and location data have their own controls. Ordinary events and images mostly start enabled, so review those choices before connecting. The event and privacy guide describes the defaults.

Asking the rig to do something

Commands use the /chatstronomy prefix, such as /chatstronomy status and /chatstronomy last-image. Hardware actions require both the local master switch and the individual command’s permission. Hub roles cannot grant those permissions remotely.

During an advanced sequence, autofocus, filter changes, and target moves can queue through matching Chatstronomy triggers before a light exposure. Those triggers need to be added to the relevant instruction set or Target Scheduler container. The simple sequencer and parallel instruction sets do not support this queue.

A queued reply means the request is waiting, not that the action completed. The command and trigger guide covers the supported actions and sequence guards.

Available now

The current backend release is 0.4.9. It records autofocus delivery receipts so a Hub restart does not normally repost reports already delivered, and pairs with plugin 0.1.0.29’s replay and acknowledgement improvements.

Start at chatstronomy.com or browse the Rust backend and C# N.I.N.A. plugin. For the tools that grade, solve, and stack the images afterward, see PSF Guard, Seiza, and the Software page.