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 imaged M86 and have a Tiff file. Â I would like to have someone look at it and critique it. Â It looks like a couple of galaxies are too light and hard to see that they are galaxies. Â The file is larger than 2GB so how do I upload it?
You can save it as a jpeg image and upload here, or take a screenshot.
@msamazing Convert too jpeg and add to a reply to this thread for anyone to see. Is there something specific you want to find out?
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File uploaded as a JPEG.
@cwm2col uploaded thank you!
@msamazing Looks like a perfectly fine and actually really good image to me. Which are the galaxies that you have doubts about?
@wvreeven I thought possibly the galaxies were a little too bright in the center. Â I am new to the hobby so wasn't sure.
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I thought possibly the galaxies were a little too bright in the center.
If you mean that they seem overexposed then that certainly is a possibility but it is hard to tell from the JPEG. You can load the original FITS file as it came out of the integration in APP into APP and hover your mouse button over the cores of the centers. That should tell you if they are overexposed or not. If they are then you could consider using shorter exposure times next time. It is hard to tell if that's advisable since we don't know what telescope, camera and exposure time you used.
I was using the Sky-Watcher Esprit ED 10mm f5.5 along with the ASI 2600 color camera. Â The exposures were 2 minutes.
@wvreeven I was trying to figure out how to open the TIFF file directly in APP. Â I can't figure out how to do it.
@msamazing Just load it as a light and then double click the name in the files list.Â
