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.
Hi - I'm stacking 90 of 125 subs, 300&600 seconds in the Ha-Oiii color algorithm. 14 hours of integration over 4 nights. SH2-91.
Scope - Takahashi 106n
Camera - 071mc cool
Filter - Triad Ultra quad-band
Mount - CEM70g
Attached is a small section of the stacked result screenshot. Is there something wrong with the 'muddy' stars in the background? They don't seem right to me. What could I do? I know this is a very rich star field. Does that affect the result? Is my equipment not able? I know my filter has halos on bright stars. No Drizzle and
HaOiii algo.
Thanks for your advice.
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This looks like a processing artefact, what steps did you use to produce the image?
I have tried several combinations. Each with the same basic result. I tried the HaOiii and the Adaptive Airy disk algorithm. I tried scaling master dark and master dark flat. Tab 3 defaults. Tab 4 scale stop 10. Tab 5 defaults. Tab 6 - integrate all, Average, adaptive rejection, kappa high 3.5, no LNC, MBB @ 14%, lanczos-3, droplet 1, interpolation mode scale 1. Â
This additional attached image is 70% of 102 subs using the settings listed above using Ha-Oiii color. The JPG is the result of a simple stretch. No additional processing was done. Â
Thanks again.
Andy
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Very strange, I have to have a look at the data itself to be able to see what might be going on. If you want you can upload let's say 20 lights and your calibration data to our server:
Greetings,Â
Here is an update. Â
I stacked the lights one session at a time. I have 3 sessions. After the integrations were finished I loaded them as lights into APP. Finally I integrated them into one 'master' image. Â
None of the individual sessions showed the problem indicated in the first message of this group. When I combined the sessions there is no indication of the problem mentioned above. I have attached a small file size tiff of that master. It is not a perfect image but is quite useable. Â
Now my question:
Do you want to continue with having me upload a subset of lights et al for your review? If you believe it would be helpful toward eliminating those artifacts I would be willing. Would we actually be able to replicate the issue based on a subset? Â
Let me know what you think and I will try to help.
Regards,
Andy
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Yes please upload the requested data, I can't analyze it further without it. Just upload a subset that you know causes the issue, together with calibration data.
I uploaded 5 or 6 files from each session and the master calibration files that were created by APP. Should something more be helpful please advise me.
Regards,
Andy
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Sorry for taking a bit longer; I saw the 3 different masterflats and didn't quite understand the difference between them. I chose 1 that looked ok to me (3+ seconds exposure) and when checking the lights in calibrated mode, which you can select on top of the preview image, a light calibrated fine. So I went to tab 6, pressed integrate (all settings default) and this came out:
So that looks normal. Now for the narrowband settings.. this is a zoom in for Ha-OIII color:
I'm not sure, but I suspect some of your settings or something in the flats was going wrong. I used default settings here.
