Create stunning Startrail-images by just a few clicks.
Removes aircraft and satellite trails automatically, and a "falling stars" effect fades the trails in or out.
Create MP4 videos up to 4K, also in portrait format. The growing star trails can be included in the movie.
Ken Burns effect (camera pan and zoom) with Startrails Pro.
Startrails has been completely rewritten, is much faster thanks to parallel processing and stays free. If you want more, you can unlock additional functions with Startrails Pro for a one-time price of 6 €. All Pro functions can be tried out first: without a license, the result is saved with a watermark.
| Function | Version 2.3 | 3.0 free | 3.0 Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Star trail image | |||
| Load an image series, exclude single exposures | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Load exposures or a whole folder by drag & drop, thumbnail view new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Subtract dark frames | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Flat frames and bias frames new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Blend modes “Lighten” and “Lighten-Screen-Blend” | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Falling stars effect (fade trails in or out) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Remove aircraft and satellite trails (fast) new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Detect and denoise the foreground (landscape) automatically new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Radial blur for the star trails, celestial pole found automatically new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Save as JPG, TIFF (8 bit) and BMP | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Startrails Pro | |||
| Load camera RAW files directly new | – | try | ✓ |
| Processing and TIFF export with 16 bit per channel new | – | try | ✓ |
| Close the gaps in the star trails without brightening them new | – | try | ✓ |
| Preserve star colors (saturation and brightness of the trails) new | – | try | ✓ |
| Thorough aircraft removal, including slow aircraft across several frames new | – | try | ✓ |
| Keep shooting stars while aircraft are removed new | – | try | ✓ |
| Layer export: sky, star trails and foreground for Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP new | – | – | ✓ |
| Shooting star gallery | |||
| Find shooting stars in all exposures, aircraft and satellites are sorted out new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Detect a meteor shower (common radiant) new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Combine all shooting stars in one image, also on your own background image new | – | try | ✓ |
| Export shooting stars as JPG new | – | try | ✓ |
| Copy the original files of the shooting stars new | – | – | ✓ |
| Timelapse video | |||
| Video with “growing” star trails | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| MP4 (H.264) up to 4K, also portrait and square (instead of AVI) new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Adjustable trail length new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in player new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ken Burns effect (camera pan and zoom) new | – | try | ✓ |
| Application | |||
| Much faster thanks to parallel processing on all processor cores new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| New user interface with dark and light mode new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automatic updates new | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| 9 languages | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
✓ included try try it out, result with watermark – not included new new since 2.3
Startrails Pro: one-time 6 €, no subscription. The license key is shown right after the purchase and pasted into Startrails. Updates stay free.
Download the free version below, and upgrade to Pro whenever you need more.
Then run “Startrails-win-Setup.exe”: Startrails is installed and appears in the Start menu. If you like, Startrails installs new versions by itself. To uninstall, remove Startrails in Windows Settings > Apps.
Windows 10 or 11 (64 bit). No additional .NET Framework needed.
If Windows shows “Windows protected your PC” at the first start: click “More info” and then “Run anyway”.
My name is Achim Schaller and I work as a senior software developer.
I live in the southern Black Forest (Germany) on a little farm with my two sons and my wife, horses, ponies and goats. We all love astronomy and my favorite hobby is photography.
(have a look at my Instagram feed or the website of my observatory).
