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.
This is the first lighted image of my Tak TSA 120. The night sky allowed me only 2 hours of integration time.
Camera: QHY163 m, HaRGB (Ha 4x600s, R 4x300s, G 4x300s B 4x300s)Â
Well, still nice in the amount of signal! Does seem like the details are a bit washed out, did you use another program next to APP?
Thank you Vincent. Yes, I used Photoshop and Light Room in post processing  As you pointed out, this image is still lack in fine details  New version will be taken as soon as the weather allow.Â
Kijja
I would advice to go very easy on any noise reduction scripts, I think you have way more detail in here than you think. I would even do without that on the nebula itself, so just on the background. This can be done in something like PI using masks to protect parts of the image. If you're not able to do that, I would just not do it at all. Noise is part of the game anyway. But that's simply my take, just wanted to give a tip. 🙂
Hi, Vincent
Thank you for your advices. I am not able to use PI yet. However, masking out  the nebula in PS before star reduction and noise reduction would protect details of the nebula.Â
Kijja
Here is my quick post processing still far from a good one.
and here is my original tiff file looked like.
Kijja
Yes well it could become better with more data for sure, but I clearly see more detail in this second processing of it. If you look at the dust swirls, you can see them more clearly, don't you think? It's always a learning process anyway, part of the fun. 🙂
Yes well it could become better with more data for sure, but I clearly see more detail in this second processing of it. If you look at the dust swirls, you can see them more clearly, don't you think? It's always a learning process anyway, part of the fun. 🙂
Yes, it is. I always learn something new every time from this forum.Â
I love that vincent gives good advice here rather than blowing smoke with ATTA BOY's. No one learns from atta boys. YEP I thought same on initial noise reduction that made the background blotchy and mottled.Â
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haha Thank you Ron. Not everyone likes that, but you can expect that when you're on a specialized forum. 🙂 It's also because I have a background in science, where we always criticized each other. I think it's a great way to learn a bit and you can always ignore advice if you're simply already happy with the result as-is (which is totally fine).
