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.
After a successful attempt at M101 for 2 hrs, I captured almost 7 hours of data. But integrating the 7 hour data is worse than the 2 hour data. Is something wrong with some of the frames - I'm suspecting something wrong with my dark / bias /flats. See the comparison images.
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That is weird yes, could you post some screenshots of a single sub of your first session and one from your second? As well as a screenshot of you masterdark, masterflat etc?
Also check in the header of the images in your first and second session, if you didn't change any options by accident
@vincent-modÂ
First session (2hr)Â typical sub is below
Second session (6.5 hr) typical sub is below
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First session master flat
First session master dark
First session master bias is below
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Second session master flat is below
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Second session master dark is below
Second session master bias is below
Thanks!
It looks a bit like your flat isn't exposed properly and there might be a bit of light leakage in your dark. Normally you want to see a histogram that has a curve that drops quite sharply, but I see an extra bump in yours. I can have a look at your data here if you want as well, but I think there are a few issues in there. What happens if you don't use any calibration frames?
@vincent-modÂ
thanks. Redoing without the calibration frames made it better. This is the APP result
With some minor denoising, I was able to get this
So I am wondering what went wrong with my calibration frames. I am using a Optolong Lpro filter. So what should I expect the different calibration subs / masters look like?Â
Like I mentioned, you probably want to look at the darks/bias and remake them in a totally dark environment. Like in a bag in a closet or something. Do make them with the same settings as the lights, including temperature if possible. That, in combination with a slightly longer exposed flat, may work better. If not, I can have a look at the new data.
