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.
Before anything I have verified that stacking both panels seperately does not produce the artifacts, this only seems ot be happening when I use the Mosaic Funcion in APP, you can see here some of the artifacts. The artifacts get worse the higher the LNC Degree and/or iterations of LNC
Last image above here is the same region with just the single panel stacked and STF applied as above
As I said, if I stack both the panels seperately there is no issue, but then I cannot perform the mosaic stack, and believe me the mosaic stack method is far more reliable (aside from the artifacts) than any other method I have found.
But I would really like to find out why the artifacts are appearing.
All settings are default except for
4. Register
Scale Start = 1
Scale End = 10
Use Dynamic Distortion Correction
Registration mode = Mosaic
6. Integrate
LNC Degree = Tried 1 or 2
LNC Iterations = Tried 1, 2 and 3 with above
Enable MBB 20% (Frames overlap by 20%)
Everything else is defailt
Anyone else experienced these kinds of artifacts with Mosaic Mode?
Simon
Mmm interesting, these look like hot-pixels. However, if you already stacked the panels that should be gone. Would you be able to share the data (just the minimum which produces the issue) to our server?
Go to https://upload.astropixelprocessor.com and use upload1 as username and upload1 as password.
Create a directory named “stastro-mosaicartefacts” and upload in there. Thank you!
@vincent-mod I do not have specific frames that cause this, and it happens in both panels during the mosaic, but none of the panels when processed seperately, I am going to re-run with Mosaic but without LNC and see what happens, I have Over 160 frames each are 62mpx
@vincent-mod Also if it was hot pixels, I would expect all the artifacts to show up in a similar pattern, which they do not, would you agree?
@vincent-mod I fixed it by adding Sigma Rejection, sigma rejection gets rid of the artifacts
Note to self....Use Sigma rejection on Mosaics 🙂
Interesting, I thought the panels would already have had rejection applied as you didn't see the issue on those? Otherwise I'd advise to use it also for regular data.
@vincent-mod Yeah I have never had to use any rejection method in the past, this is the first time with creating a mosaic in APP, for normal frames I never use rejection method
Could indicate that your camera has developed some hot pixels maybe. The automatic setting in tab 6 will always use rejection based on the number of frames. It shouldn't affect your data in a negative way really, as the kappa values are pretty mild.
@vincent-mod I would agree but if that was the case then they would show up when stacking the single panels
I agree, that is indeed puzzling. I think more data/investigation will tell us what's going on. 🙂
@vincent-mod too much data to upload, it's around 27GB in total 😀
I meant, for you to take more data so it may become clearer. 😉
@vincent-mod So I created some new darks last night, and processed without any Rejection Algorithm and the artifacts are there in exactly the same place, so it cannot be due to hot pixels
Well it could still be as darks are not necessarily getting rid of 100% of them, as that would usually cause more data damage. This is where the rejection algorithms do the final touch basically.
@vincent-mod Still doesn't explain why I do not see them in normal stacks, when I do not use any rejection algorithm at all (And have not done since I started using APP), I even processed with the new Darks and still no artifacts, it only seems to be happening in Mosaic mode
Yes, that remains odd. Do you want to upload the panels? Would be interesting if I can replicate that.
@vincent-mod Do you have enough capacity? 😀
🙂 We do, but wouldn't just say, 2 panels also show the issue? Just the already integrated panels I mean.
@vincent-mod OK I'll upload the following
1. Mosaic Integration
2. Panel 1 Integration
3. Panel 2 Integration
Would that be OK?
Also is there a way to perform the Mosaic on the two separate stacks? So basically if I take the two separate stacks, can I perform a Mosaic function in APP somehow?
Sure, if it indeed creates the problem for you then it should show what the issue is.
@stastro Yes, you can also just load in the integrated stacks, choose the mosaic functionality and go from there. That's how I do it usually.
@vincent-mod OK Let me try that, as I know the Separate Stacks do not contain the artifacts, so let's see what happens
ok I clearly did something wrong, as the Mosaic of both stacks resulted in the image size being correct but only one of the stacks was used
Ha, always interesting these things. 😉 Did you use all relevant setting for a mosaic? Like upping the nr. of stars, normalize to advanced and with LNC and MBB?
What APP version are you using btw?
Ha, always interesting these things. 😉 Did you use all relevant setting for a mosaic? Like upping the nr. of stars, normalize to advanced and with LNC and MBB?
What APP version are you using btw?
Version: 1.082
Yep I have
Star Detection is set to automatic
Registration Mode is set to Mosaic
Dynamic Distortion Model set to Enabled
2nd Degree LNC with 3 Itterations
MBB set to 20 for 20% Overlap
Scale Stop set to 15
Found the problem, my previous processing of M45 I had it set to 91% of frames, therefore it excluded one of the panels....processing again now
Here you go, both Stacked Panels merged with Mosaic, no artifacts, at least I know I can do it this way which is much faster 😀
Ah, I wouldn't have thought of that. 🙂 Good to know and indeed, I like to process my panels first and correct them nicely and only then I make the mosaic.
After an LP Removal
