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.
https://www.astrobin.com/vr4e4k/B/
M31 Andromeda Panorama in HaRGB | 2 Pane
Our largest sister galaxy, distanced 2.5 million L/Y away from Earth, is bright enough to be seen on a fairly dark night with the naked eye. Her name derives from the constellation in which we view it from Earth, Andromeda, the princess who became Perseus' wife, as told in Greek mythology.
The large galaxy is home to an estimate of a trillion stars, with a bright mass-filled center and spanning ~120,000 L/Y in diameter.
While it seems peaceful from afar, Andromeda is advancing toward our own Milky Way galaxy at a pace of around 110 Km per second, meaning the two will collide in about 4 trillion years and continue to do so for another 2 trillion years, until forming a new combined galaxy entirely.
The fate of our own solar system, our Sun and Earth, is unknown.
Shot on two nights/locations:
OSC(Broadband) - Har Ha'Negev - Bortle 3
Ha (Narrow band) - Mitzpe Mesua - Bortle 5
2 Panes OSC ~3.5 hrs each
2 Panes Ha ~4 hrs each
ZWO 2600MM/2600MC
iOptron GEM45
ASIAIR Pro (Plan Mode)
EAF+36 mm Filter Wheel
Chroma Ha 5nm
Stack/stitched in AstroPixel Processor, processed in Pixinsight, export via PS.
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Thinking yet about this work, think the Ha introduced a bit to much red to the BG...
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Did have also a bit of issues with stitching, due to some differences of frames, might need to restack...
think the Ha introduced a bit to much red to the BG...
Any comments would be greatly appreciated
On my macbook it's the opposite. When I correct the background with +2% green and -2% blue (Affinity Photo) the background is a bit closer to neutral. Also the background appears to be differently corrected around M110 (less blue vertical bar?), but that could be due to the stitching and background correction.
I like that the background is not completely pulled to the black. Stars, dust and colours look great.
@ah_astro Thanks!
Yeah, I need to re-stitch the Ha panes, they are the culprit, I think...
DBE didn't solve the difference there, guess I need to change the LNC settings.
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I will work more on it, thanks again for the comments, AH 🙂
DBE didn't solve the difference there, guess I need to change the LNC settings.
Have you tried the light pollution tool in APP?
@wvreevenÂ
Hey Wouter, not yet, but I think the problem was in the integration part, not afterwards, the stitching of the Ha panes together.
The stitch on the OSC panes was very balanced though one of the panes was lower than the second, also with higher lp in the distance (bortle 3 still).
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I will give this another go, it's a shame to not process this image to its fullest...
When I get back home I'll post some examples from what I got.
I have over stretched it so it can be seen, that area between left and right, and in the middle there's obviously more data:
This is LNC 2nd degree, 3 iterations, MBB 15%
Like Wouter suggested, light pollution correction may correct the background a lot...
Even after better LNC, that region is still "troublesome", the diff is clearly showing - but I'll have to rework the HA layer to see to which effect it will show on the red channel
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Best I could do with DBE
@gideon96 It looks like there is quite a large difference between the left and right Ha panel backgrounds. You may need to process them separately, apply light pollution correction on them and then stitch them together. It is cases like this that are hard to solve otherwise.
Maybe a few more tweaks to OSC (bottom) but I think it looks much better in terms of gradients...
I dealt with LP before stitching, than stitched the panes and changed LNC settings, finally DBE in PI
No matter what I tried there are differences between sides.
My only suspicion is the balance between panes, In both OSC/HA I had one side with more data integrated.
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Ok..., soooo:
At the end, PS did the trick, a few masks and some color balance layers, and it looks much much better now.
https://www.astrobin.com/vr4e4k/C/
