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Seestar Companion update

Release notes 2.2.1.

Version 2.2.1 is a workflow upgrade for Seestar and Universal FITS users. The focus is clearer decisions before, during and after acquisition: what to keep, what to reject, what to stack next, and whether a live session is still worth continuing.

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Main shift

From session review to live decision support.

Earlier versions helped you understand a session after capture. Version 2.2.1 pushes the product further: it can help while new FITS frames are still arriving, then connect that session to your local archive and your next stacking workflow.

From "How good was this session?" to "What should I do with this data next, and is this session still worth continuing right now?"
Live workflow

Acquisition monitoring while the night is still happening.

The biggest change in 2.2.1 is live awareness. Seestar Companion is no longer only a post-session reviewer for Seestar folders: it can support live decisions while FITS frames are still being written.

1

Live Session Monitor

  • Monitors a FITS folder in real time while acquisition is running.
  • Updates live score, verdict, trend and recommendation as new frames arrive.
  • Shows dominant issues and recent frame behaviour during the run.
  • Helps decide whether continuing is still worthwhile.
2

Field Night Mode

  • Adds a lower-glare mode for telescope-side use.
  • Supports live monitoring more comfortably in the field.
  • Applies more consistently across the interface and key visual views.
3

Clear Sessions

  • Resets the app back to a clean initial state.
  • Clears the currently loaded session list and related UI state.
  • Useful when changing workflow context quickly.
4

Manual update check

  • Adds a direct Help -> Check for updates fallback.
  • Improves reliability when automatic update checks are not enough.
  • Useful for validating update flow behaviour on different systems.
Archive intelligence

More context from your own observing history.

Version 2.2.1 adds local context over time. The app can now feel more personal because it compares current work against saved sessions and your real archive, without pretending to be a global leaderboard.

Archive Progress

  • Tracks local archive maturity over time.
  • Uses saved sessions, target variety, average quality and consistency trends.
  • Adds context such as best target, most consistent target and archive trend.

Local Benchmark

  • Compares the current session with similar saved sessions in the local archive.
  • Prefers same-target comparisons when enough history exists.
  • Falls back to wider local archive context when target history is limited.

Progress and benchmark guide

  • Adds dedicated help for rank, progress and local comparison.
  • Explains what the archive score means and what it does not mean.
  • Reduces ambiguity around local benchmarking.

Feature legend guide

  • Explains score, recommendation, progress, benchmark and live monitor concepts.
  • Helps users understand advanced features without needing long documentation.
Guidance

Stronger recommendations and clearer coaching.

This release improves the language and structure around the most important decision points: stack recommendation, confidence and next-action guidance.

Best Stack Recommendation

  • Clearer recommendation confidence.
  • More transparent "why this recommendation" explanations.
  • Better separation between cleaner and higher-yield stack options.
  • More careful handling of short or ambiguous sessions.

Imaging Coach

  • More practical and less purely descriptive.
  • Explains what likely happened.
  • Highlights what to check next.
  • Suggests what to change first in future sessions.

Confidence wording

  • Confidence is clearer across the product.
  • Readable labels such as High, Moderate and Preliminary / low confidence.
  • Uncertainty is easier to understand.

Session score messaging

  • Improved wording for score breakdown and verdicts.
  • Cleaner explanation of what the score reflects.
  • More mature product language overall.
Exports and flexibility

Better movement from analysis to action.

Version 2.2.1 improves transparency and external workflow support, especially for users who analyze in Seestar Companion and then stack elsewhere.

Workflow export helper

Exports recommended frame lists, excluded frame lists and stacking-oriented helper files for external workflows.

Improved diagnostics

Better layout stability during live updates and clearer feedback in timeline, problem map and comparison views.

Universal FITS mode

Continues to support any valid FITS dataset, not only the default Seestar folder structure.

Custom archives

Better support for renamed files and real-world archive layouts.

Frame classification

Stronger Good, Borderline and Not good classification for clouds, haze, tracking issues and bad frames.

Platform maturity

Improved Windows and macOS reliability, signed offline license handling, help content and translation coverage.

Current version

Seestar Companion 2.2.1 is the live decision release.

The product is now positioned more clearly inside the AIT ecosystem: focused FITS analysis, live monitoring and practical frame decisions for Seestar and Universal FITS workflows.

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