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.
I'm encountering a new problem that I've not seen before, and I can't figure out what the issue is.Â
Two nights ago I shot (in NINA 1.10) and fully calibrated a narrowband target data set with the attached bias and darks.
Last night, I shot a new narrowband target in NINA 1.10 HF1, and used the same attached bias and darks to calibrate this new set of narrowband images. I've examined the headers and they appear to be identical to the previous set of images, but for some reason when calibrating this new set of images, applying darks is doing something very strange. I can't imagine there's a big difference between these two versions of NINA. But when creating new masters, two BAD pixel maps are created because the lights and flats have CCD in the camera name, and the bias and darks don't even though the camera is the same for both.
Here's the stacked uncalibrated image.
And then the stacked and calibrated image showing the issue. These are stretched images.
Here's a link to download a set of 10 light, bias, dark, and flats that I'm using if anyone can tell where the issue is.
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OH, I should add one crucial bit of information. I used the same darks and bias to calibrate LRGB from last nights session, and it calibrated perfectly. It's only the HA that did not calibrate, and those are the files I included above.
I've completely reshot all masters, this includes new master dark, flat, dark flat, and bias. Doing a full calibration run exhibits the same results.
Running flats only results in a more normal image.Â
Running darks only results in the same issue as above. So this has something to do with darks.
Here's a close up image showing the results of a calibrated integration.
I think I've tracked this issue down to a pedestal issue. The median ADU of both my bias and dark are above the median ADU of my lights. But I cannot seem to get pedestal values added to the images using the batch add process.Â
What steps and value would I need to add to get these images to work?
Solved my own problem. I had to add a pedestal value of 1800. The program shows 0.0 for the pedestal value in the header, but it is applying a pedestal to the images, and they process correctly once you get the right value.
Ok lots going on here, so basically the pedestal is not updating in the header you say?
