If you are new to astrophotography, NINA (Nighttime Imaging North Astronomy) is the most powerful free software for controlling your imaging session. But opening it for the first time can feel overwhelming. There are tabs, panels, and settings everywhere. This guide walks you through every step from download to your first successful night under the stars.

What You Need Before Starting

NINA does not work alone. It relies on a few pieces of software to communicate with your hardware:

  • ASCOM Platform: The bridge between NINA and your mount, focuser, and other ASCOM devices. Download it from the ASCOM Initiative website and install the latest 6.5 SP1 release or newer.
  • Device Drivers: Specific ASCOM or native drivers for each piece of equipment. Your mount manufacturer (SkyWatcher, iOptron, Celestron, etc.) provides these. Camera drivers come from ZWO, QHY, Canon, or whoever made your sensor.
  • .NET 8 Desktop Runtime: NINA requires this on Windows. The installer usually prompts you, but you can grab it from Microsoft directly.
  • A Plate Solver: Either ASTAP (recommended, fast and free) or Platesolve 2. This lets NINA figure out exactly where your telescope is pointing by analyzing a star field.

Install all of these before opening NINA. Trying to troubleshoot driver issues at 11 PM under a dark sky is nobody’s idea of fun.

Downloading and Installing NINA

Get the latest release from the NINA project website. The installer is straightforward. Accept the defaults unless you have a reason not to.

During installation, the installer offers optional components. I recommend installing:

  • The NINA Sample Data (useful for testing without equipment)
  • ASTAP (if you do not already have a plate solver installed)

Once installed, launch NINA. You will be greeted by the main interface with a sky chart in the center and panels around the edges. Do not panic. We will configure everything one step at a time.

Creating Your Equipment Profile

NINA uses profiles to store your equipment configurations. If you have one telescope and one camera, you need one profile. If you image with different setups (a refractor for wide field and a Newtonian for galaxies), create a profile for each.

To create a profile:

  1. Click the Options gear icon in the top right toolbar
  2. Navigate to the Equipment tab on the left sidebar
  3. Click Add Profile and give it a descriptive name (for example, “Orion 8in Newtonian + T3i”)
  4. This profile now remembers which drivers and settings belong to this combination

Connecting Your Equipment

This is where most beginners hit trouble. The key is connecting devices in the right order: mount first, then camera, then focuser, then everything else.

Mount

  1. In the Equipment panel, find the Telescope Mount section
  2. Click the dropdown and select your ASCOM driver (EQMOD for HEQ5/HEQ6, Celestron for NexStar, etc.)
  3. Click Connect
  4. If the connection fails, check that the mount is powered on, the cable is seated properly, and the correct COM port is selected in the ASCOM driver settings

Once connected, you should see the mount coordinates update in real time. The unpark button becomes active, and you can slew to targets from the sky chart.

Camera

  1. Find the Camera section in the Equipment panel
  2. Select your camera driver from the dropdown
  3. Click Connect
  4. Set your Gain and Offset values. For Canon DSLRs these are not adjustable. For ZWO cameras, a common starting point is Gain 139 (unity gain) and Offset 30

Take a quick test exposure (1 second, bare sensor or lens cap on) to confirm the camera responds. You should see a dark frame appear in the image viewer.

Focuser

If you have a motorized focuser (highly recommended for unattended imaging):

  1. Select your focuser ASCOM driver in the Focuser section
  2. Connect and verify the position readout updates when you nudge the focuser in or out

Filter Wheel and Other Devices

Connect filter wheels, rotators, dome controllers, and weather sensors the same way. Each has its own section in the Equipment panel. NINA supports a remarkable range of devices through ASCOM and native drivers.

Essential Settings to Configure

Image Save Location

Under Options, Imaging, set your Image File Path. Use a pattern like:

D:\Astrophotography\%telescope%\%target%\%datetime%\%datetime%_%filter%_%exposure%s_%seq%.fits

This creates organized folders by telescope, target, and date. Future you will be grateful when you have 47 folders of calibration data and need to find the right one.

Plate Solving

Under Options, Plate Solving, select ASTAP as your solver. Point to the ASTAP executable directory. Download the star catalogs (about 500 MB for the H18 catalog, which covers most imaging scenarios).

Test plate solving by taking a short exposure of any star field, then clicking Plate Solve in the Imaging panel. If it works, NINA will report the center coordinates and field of view. If it fails, the most common cause is an incorrect telescope focal length or pixel size in your profile settings.

SNR and Star Detection

Under Options, Imaging, set your Star Sensitivity to Normal for most cameras. If you use a sensitive CMOS sensor at high gain, consider Low sensitivity to avoid saturating the star detection algorithm.

Application Theme

Switch to the Dark theme immediately. Your eyes at 2 AM will thank you. Options, Application, Theme, Dark.

Your First Night: A Simple Workflow

Now that everything is configured, here is a basic workflow for your first imaging session:

  1. Power up and connect: Turn on your mount, camera, and focuser. Open NINA, select your profile, and click Connect All in the Equipment panel.
  2. Unpark and polar align: If your polar alignment is dialed in from setup, unpark the mount. If not, use NINA’s polar alignment routine or Sharpcap for precise alignment.
  3. Slew to a bright star: Use the Search box in the sky chart to find a magnitude 2 or brighter star near your imaging target. Slew to it.
  4. Focus: Run a focus routine. If you have a motorized focuser, use NINA’s auto focus. If not, use a Bahtinov mask and adjust manually.
  5. Plate solve and center: Take a short exposure, plate solve, and use Slew to Coordinates to precisely center your target. This is where plate solving earns its keep.
  6. Start guiding: Connect PHD2 through NINA’s guider panel. Calibrate on a star near your target, then start guiding.
  7. Run your sequence: Load a simple sequence (check out our NINA Sequencer Basics tutorial) and press Start. NINA handles the rest.

Common First Night Problems

Cannot Connect to Mount

Check the COM port. Open Windows Device Manager and look under Ports. The mount driver must point to the same COM port. If the port number changes when you replug the cable, set a fixed COM port number in Device Manager properties.

Plate Solving Fails Every Time

Three things to check. First, verify your focal length and pixel size in the equipment profile. Wrong numbers mean the solver searches the wrong scale. Second, make sure you downloaded the star catalog for ASTAP. Third, confirm the image orientation matches what the solver expects. Rotating cameras 180 degrees can confuse it.

Stars Are Eggae Shaped

That is a guiding or focus problem, not a NINA problem. Check our Guide Scopes and Guiding Basics post. If focus is the issue, see NINA Auto-Focus Explained.

NINA Freezes or Crashes

Almost always a driver conflict. Disconnect all equipment, restart NINA, and reconnect one device at a time. The culprit will reveal itself. Updating to the latest ASCOM platform and device drivers fixes most stability issues.

Next Steps

Once you are comfortable with basic operation, explore these features:

  • Sequencer Basics: Build automated imaging runs that handle everything from focusing to meridian flips.
  • Framing Assistant: Plan your composition with precision, including rotation and mosaic overlap.
  • Auto-Focus: Let NINA maintain perfect focus throughout the night as temperatures drop.

NINA has a steep learning curve, but the payoff is enormous. Once your equipment is configured and your sequences are built, you can image autonomously while you sleep. The software handles meridian flips, focus changes, filter swaps, and even weather safety monitoring.

Take it one night at a time. Your first session does not need to be perfect. Get the equipment talking, capture a few frames, and build from there. Clear skies.