2026-10-09 APP 2.0.0-beta48 has been released !
This is mainly a bug fix release for the reported bugs in beta47. In addition it has a significant User Interface performance improvement noticable when you need to process 1000s of images in APP.
2026-10-03 APP 2.0.0-beta47 has been released !
This is a very big release... many code optimizations/rewrites, many parts of APP are much faster and more precise, especially star analysis and registration are much faster ! Big mosaics will go much faster 🙂
And we introduce a new preview filter, which includes the new Adaptive Deep Sky Stretch and a General Levels Stretch, this has been long over due. The old preview filter (the panel on the right side to stretch and preview your data) has not been updated for a couple of years and it is a critical part of any APP session.
Adaptive Deep Sky Stretch or ADSS is a much more intuitive stretch algorithm. It is also color preserving (which is a great new addition in itself ! ) which means that the highlights are no longer bleached, color is maintained from the linear data while stretching. You can simply stretch your data using the sky background level and signal width sliders which work much easier and more intuitive. You no longer need to fiddle with the old complicated sliders with zoom buttons. All the zoom buttons for the sliders are made redundant. And you can enter slider values in the slider value fields yourself. I will make a youtube video in the coming days to explain and fully introduce ADSS. Once the video is ready, it will be highlighted on the forum.
RGB Combine upgrade !. The RGB Combine Tool has been rewritten mostly. The tool is faster and easier to use and most importantly, the Luminance slider to inject a luminance channel or channels into the RGB composite is now working correctly. It no longer bleaches the RGB colors. Combined with the new ADSS preview, you will get much better and easier great composites with great color! I will also explain this in a new youtube video.
Hi all,
Christian Sasse, astronomer in charge at iTelescope.net shared this beautiful data set of Comet Leonard. It was shot with T56 from Australia.
It is RGB filter data and processing was very easy in APP 1.083.
I processed it in multi-channel mode, and the comet registration worked perfectly on the bright comet nucleus.
It gave me 4 integrations:
- Red
- Green
- Blue
- and I integrated all channels into another stack, so that is RGB combined to get a Luminance stack.
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With the RGB Combine Tool, I used formula LRGB2. Then removed the gradients with the Remove Light Pollution Tool and finally made a very nice stretch with APP's preview filter 🙂 Please click on the image to see the full resolution image.
Hope you like it!
Mabula
Really great picture, Mabula! Such detail. Appreciate the overview on the workflow. I used a more direct stacking workflow and then ran post-processing through Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom a few weeks back. This is a wide field view of C/2021 A1 from Suburban Maryland, just north of Washington DC taken using a RedCat 51 and a ASI2600MC-Pro. About 30 minutes of total integration time, 30 seconds per exposure.
~Clear skies!
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Thanks @cpear004 and you are most welcome !
Thanks for sharing your result as well, it is very nice 🙂
Mabula
I had a few Comet Leonard encounters - including one where I have stacked with the Comet Registration process from 1.083
Herein attached is One without the Comet Stacking (shows elongated Nucleus) - Slightly different processing in each, as the Comet registration also seemed to change the end result in overall colour data.
 These were from Green Point, Brighton, Vic - travelled down there on the night from our place in Ringwood East specifically to nab the beasty
Hi,
is it now possible to register on the comet AND the stars at the same time? So that in the finished stack the comet and the stars are sharp.
Ok, is that still coming? Would be really awesome 🙂
Here's a recent shot from last night. C/2017 K2 with IC 4665
@daniel_n Yes, it is on the TODO list for a future version but not for APP 2.0.0.
