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.
Yesterday I ended up with disappointing results in an Orion photo processing.
There was 1 oddity that I wanted to check into to see if the reason for the disappointing results has to do with the images not being combined together.
The oddity was that the frame edge didn't have any kind of discernable rounding due to the natural earth movement applied to the star field.
I stacked 38 light frames. Â Each frame was exposed for 1 minute, and there was 3 seconds of pause between shots.
Should I be seeing rounding on the integrated image within 40 minutes of exposure time?
Maybe I shouldn't but I just want to rule this out.
Do you have an example you can upload here? If it's stacked and you preview it in the preview window, a stretch should be applied showing you a lot more signal compared to a single frame. 1 min is a quite low exposure time though, but it still should show this effect.
Thank you Vincent: Â What kind of example would you be looking for? Â A jpeg of the completed project or a FITS after integration?
You can post a jpeg of the final integration here, just to get a better idea of what you mean.Thanks!
Vincent,
Here is the photo processed through.
I was hoping for better nebulosity and the result was somewhat underwhelming. Â As mentioned above the reason I was wondering if this even stacked properly is that I didn't notice any rounding on the corners on the uncropped photo.
That looks fine to me, it's definitely stacked otherwise you would likely not see the surrounding nebulosity and a single sub is probably way darker isn't it? Getting more out of the nebulosity requires way more data, longer exposures per frame and ofcourse things like narrow band filters will help you a lot as well. But you will have to get towards 5 min and longer regarding exposure time.
