A complete Deep Sky Image Processing application…

 APP features:

  • image calibration with bias, dark, flat frames and bad pixel maps
  • accurate star analysis with very high star lokation precision (0,05 pixel for monochrome data) using Intensity Weighted Centroiding.
  • Registration with Dynamic optical Distortion Correction (DDC)
  • advanced Data normalization
  • advanced integration/stack engine including outlier rejection filters and the ability to output rejection, weight and normalization maps.
  • full drizzle support including bayer drizzle. The drizzle droplet and grid enlargement can be configured. And different drizzle kernels can be used, like point, square, tophat and gauss.
NGC 2174 - Monkey Head Nebula by Kees Scherer
NGC 2174 – Monkey Head Nebula by Kees Scherer, 10,5 hours of RGB exposure with a Canon EOS 6Da and a Skywatcher Esprit 100 f/5.5 refractor on his 10Micron GM2000HPS II mount. Completely processed with Astro Pixel Processor.

 

  • data interpolation algorithms for all different kinds of image transformations like Lanczos and Mitchell-Netravali algorithms.
  • choose different compositions for you stack before data integration. You can choose to integrate the entire field of view of all frames, or only the field of view of the reference frame, or even a crop of the reference frame.
  • directly integrate using another scale, so you can directly upscale or downscale the integration result.
  • the ability to project your data differently than the regular rectilinear projection for huge field of views after camera calibration (focal length, principal point). This is needed for Field Of Views (FOV) larger than 120 degrees.
180 degree MilkyWay mosaic by Ralph Wagter. Only 1 sub per panel, shot with a Canon EOS 6D camera and a Samyang 14mm F/2.8 objective. Top left: middle panel after distortion correction (notice the moustache distortion of the Samyang 14mm F/2.8 objective). Bottem left: middel panel after distortion correction, camera calibration and equirectangular projection. Top right: the three panels. Bottom right: the actual 180 degree mosaic, from north to southern horizon.
  • a very efficient light-pollution/gradient removal tool.
  • batch tools to rotate, resize, crop, uncrop, and even undebayer(!) your frames
  • can split your RGB data into separate channels for combination with monochrome channel data.

 

ngc5907 LRGB - Marco Verstraaten
NGC5907 by Marco Verstraaten, 12″ Ritchey Chretien & QSI583WSG & SX AOL active optics. LRGB data reduction and integration completely with Astro Pixel Processor.
  • ability to adjust FITS meta data
  • the possibility to multiply or divide your data with a certain factor or to add/remove a pedestal to/from your data
  • preview filter which different automatic stretch settings, background & highlights protected saturation adjustments, contrast increase, sharpening while protecting your stars and the option to reduce the stretch in the highlights, giving tighter stars and less saturated star cores and nebula.
Preview filter: the automatic DDP (Digital Development Process) stretch finds a suitable blackpoint and stretch parameter. You can use different presets for the strength of the stretch. Furthermore, you can boost saturation with background protection, enhance contrast, protect the highlights to reduce star size and over saturation. Finally you can sharpen the result while protecting your stars. All possible with one single filter.
  • using the preview filter, you can directly save all your results to FITS, TIFF or JPG formats including ICC color profiles for correct color management.
  • the RGB or Luminosity histogram of your data is always visible
  • tool for star color calibration
Barnard's Loop, M78, ldn1622
Barnard’s Loop, M78 & ldn1622 by Maurice Toet, 2 panel mosaic, Takahashi Epsilon E-180, Canon EOS 5D Mark II (BCF mod). Data calibration, registration, normalization and the 2 panel mosaic integration was done completely with Astro Pixel Processor.
  • a RGB composite tool with Luminance implementation for the creation of all kinds of composites, like LRGB, LHaRGB, or a Hubble Palette using your narrowband data (SHO).
  • a selective color tool with the ability to selectively adjust the colors in your images or/and selectively boost saturation and/or luminance.
  • all data processing in APP can be done on linear data. The selective color tool has no problem for instance with your linear data.
  • APP will run on any 64bits operating system where the Oracle Java Runtime is available. APP is installed together with the correct Java Runtime Environment (JRE), so the user doesn’t need to worry about this. Currently, complete installers for Linux (DEB & RPM), Windows (.exe) en MacOS (DMG) are available.
The interface of APP showing the Pleiades star cluster. Courtesy of Mabula Haverkamp.