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.
Last night was a rare clear night, unfortunately with full moon. I managed to get some data on NGC7000, it was not much, so, I wanted to add and stack previous data, I never tried stacking data on APP taken with different focal lengths, the new RASA11 has 620, the old Hyperstar has 540, but to my surprise, APP was able to resize and rotate the images and stack them as per the images attached.
APP did great job here and I did not loose my old data and now I can add to it and restack.
Here I have a question; IS APP able to stack different focal lengths and resolutions??
In removing light pollution, what is the best approach in selecting rectangle areas? Different locations give different results!
I have not used star removal tool in APP, how does it work? I used it before when it first appeared but was not successful.
I am glad that APP was able to stack two different focal lengths data, I know many of you knew about it, for me it was the first time.
Thank you,
Jay
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APP did great job here and I did not loose my old data and now I can add to it and restack.
Here I have a question; IS APP able to stack different focal lengths and resolutions??
Yes, depending on the image you choose as your reference frame, it can combine those.
In removing light pollution, what is the best approach in selecting rectangle areas? Different locations give different results!
When combining, make sure to use LNC and MBB, it may reduce the edges a bit already. But yes, that is a bit of a challenge, it's trial and error usually when doing LPC on that.
I have not used star removal tool in APP, how does it work? I used it before when it first appeared but was not successful.
Star removal is something that depends a bit on the data at the moment, sometimes it works brilliantly, sometimes not. I tend to go for star reduction. Here's some parameters that could work, also there it's a bit of playing around: https://www.astropixelprocessor.com/community/postid/17761/
I am glad that APP was able to stack two different focal lengths data, I know many of you knew about it, for me it was the first time.
It's not obvious it could indeed, but it's why the calibration and registration engine in APP is so powerful, it also allows for (almost) 1-click mosaic creation and true distortion correction etc.
