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.
Sorry, my question is certainly stupid.
I have manage to combined several filtered monochrome views into a nice HaRGB image, but when I us the "save" button, it exports a fits file.
I just wonder if it is possible to export into other image format like Jpeg or tiff ? Didn't find any option in this way
Thanks
Regards
@alpheratz06 Hi Jean-Philippe,
In my opinion there are no stupid questions. Once you have saved the HaRGB file, it appears at the bottom of the files list at the bottom of the APP window. You can double click it there to open it again. Next you can enable the Stretch check box on the upper right and then click the Save button. You will then get a popup for the file name and then a popup for the file type. There you can select JPEG or TIFF.
FYI FITS is the de facto astronomical standard for data, including images, and is in every sense of the word a "true" image file format 🙂
HTH, Wouter
@wvreeven Thank you very much , it worked great.
By the way , I'm a very unexperienced astro-photographer (even though I've shot a few non-astro picturesà and the results are very impressive.
I have attached my first "serious" picture, I mean with an astro camera, filters, and the result I got from scratch is very promising. orion of course, no alternative with respect to shoot toward the south (serious lockdown here) , not possible polar alignment, seeing far from perfect.
Regards
@alpheratz06 That is really great for a first result. Well done!
I see a lot of short colored lines in your image. Those are caused by hot pixels and by drift in your images. You can get rid of those by using dark frames, which help APP to identify and correct the hot pixels. Good luck!
@wvreeven I'm eager to do much better, I will learn and practice about calibration (dark etc) I noticed also vignetting is very important so I will manage to shoot some flats
Thanks , I appreciate your help.
clear skies !
