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'm a beginner, so please forgive my huge lack of knowledge. My setup is best suited for planetary imaging, but I am attempting as many dso's as I can. My field of view is tiny (Celestron Nexstar 8se  SCT on a CGEM II mount, 6.3 focal reducer, ASI 290mm main camera, ASI 120mm mini guide camera). I will be getting a refractor and different camera for dso imaging later this year.  There are some great targets (galaxies) which have very few additional stars in my field of view. Sometimes APP detects only 7 or 8 stars in a sub.  Sometimes star analysis fails. Other times, such as in the example I'll attach, star analysis is successful, but registration fails. Sometimes my focus is not perfect, and sometimes I have guiding issues; however, I would think that I could produce a less than perfect image from most of these less than perfect subs.  I'm attaching a typical example - this is a 60 sec blue filter exposure. My gain setting was too high - I forgot to adjust it. I don't know if that has anything to do with the problem.  I'm guessing that this target (M66) has too few stars in my field of view for APP to deal with it. Any advice would be appreciated!
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The star analysis in APP is quite advanced these days and works on many, less ideal, images. However, there will always be situation where this might still fail. It might very well be that the lack of stars in your FOV above is very tricky, maybe in combination with the noise it can fail. Do you use calibration data etc.?
No calibration data in this case. I am new to the hobby, and often don't have the patience even to take dark frames. That example had the gain setting all the way up - I simply forgot to set it lower. I am about to have 3 nights of clear skies (it's a miracle!). I'll try to get better images and shoot some darks. Also I will be looking for targets which have more stars in my small FOV. How will I know the ideal balance of exposure time and gain setting? So far I usually limit the exposures to 60sec because I don't entirely trust my guiding. I know I can google this, but I would appreciate your opinion.
