A compact night-vision-friendly desktop widget for astrophotography field use. It shows the observing-relevant weather at a glance, without opening a browser, and lives in the system tray rather than the taskbar.
© 2026 Martin P. Heigan · anti-matter-3d.com · licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
This tool is now included in the mh_astro_tools Suite v2.0.0, alongside the Exposure Calculator, UTC / GPS / Weather, 500 Rule Calculator, Night Vision Overlay and Scientific Calculator, all opened from a common Launcher.
The application is identical in both. Only the distribution differs:
| Standalone ZIP | Suite installer | |
|---|---|---|
| Contents | The Weather Widget alone | All seven tools plus the Launcher |
| Install | Extract and run | Windows installer, Start Menu and Desktop shortcuts |
| Best for | Just this tool, or no installer wanted | The complete astrophotography toolset |
Do not run both copies at once — they are the same application and will compete for the same settings.
mh_astro_weather_widget_v2_0_0.zip — GitHub releases
Also listed on the Tools page at anti-matter-3d.com, together with the full mh_astro_tools Suite installer.
- Temperature and dew point, with the temperature-to-dew-point spread
- Condensation-risk label derived from that spread — EXTREME / HIGH / MED / LOW
- Wind speed
- Barometric pressure with a trend arrow
- Sky condition (WMO weather text)
- Units toggle — Metric (default) or Imperial (°F / inHg / mph)
Full rebuild on Python 3.13 / PySide6 (Qt6), ported from PyQt6, on the shared
suite night-vision design. The full-desktop black startup mask is gone —
startup now uses the frameless window and a per-widget fade. Settings moved to
a per-user location under your Documents folder, with legacy locations read as
a fallback so existing preferences migrate. Bundled tzdata for correct
local-time handling on Windows. A user manual is included for the first time.
See CHANGELOG.md for the full list.
Extract the archive anywhere you can write to and run the executable. No Python or runtime is required — everything is bundled.
- Right-click
mh_astro_weather_widget_v2_0_0.zip→ Extract All… - Keep the extracted folder structure intact — the application loads its icons, Qt libraries and timezone data from subfolders beside the executable
- Double-click
mh_astro_weather_widget_Win_x64_v2_0_0.exe
Upgrading from v1.x: delete the old extracted folder first. The two versions use different folder and executable names, so they will not overwrite each other.
To uninstall, delete the extracted folder. Nothing is added to the registry except the optional run-at-startup entry, which is removed by clearing that setting before you delete the folder.
| Operating system | Windows 10 / 11, 64-bit |
| Internet | Required for weather data; astronomical values are computed offline |
| Runtime | None — Python and all libraries are bundled |
Astrophotography_Weather_Widget_User_Manual.pdf is included in the archive and
covers installation, the HUD and tray, displayed fields and units, running at
startup, dew risk, and troubleshooting.
The executable is code-signed by Certum with SHA-256 Authenticode and an
RFC-3161 timestamp, and is submitted to Microsoft WDSI and VirusTotal before
release. The archive contains a signed release_manifest.cat and a SHA256SUMS.txt covering every file, and the archive's own SHA-256 is published
with the release. Verify the Authenticode signature and the published SHA-256
if in doubt.
- Releases — https://github.com/MHeigan/mh_Astro_Weather_Widget/releases
- Tools & updates — https://anti-matter-3d.com/tools/