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.
Have a frustrating problem in 1.083.4 on Windows as follows:Â
I have a three-panel mosaic of the Orion region; stretching from M42 to the Horsehead, comprising of 5 sessions over 5 consecutive nights.
All the subs are identical across all panels: 300s of Hydrogen-alpha at gain139.
There is no difference in configuration, other than that for each panel the telescope is pointing to a slightly different region of the sky.
Everything calibrates as expected, and all subs on all three panels are of high quality.Â
Yet when I come to do Registration, APP fails to register the stars ONLY on the panel that happens to contain M42 (Orion Nebula).Â
Not just on one session, but for every independent session on every different night, APP fails to register the stars on that particular M42 panel.Â
After Analysis, APP even reports that the number of stars in the failed panel are about the same as the working ones (400-500) So it's not that it can't find them!
There is no reason I can fathom why that would be the case.Â
To have the problem persist on every consecutive attempt to image that arbitrary bit of sky, when everything around it works just fine, is mystifying.Â
There is no visible difference on this panel, and every sub has plenty of sharp, bright, and well-defined stars; just like all the other panels.Â
Any commentary or insight on this, before I get into the trouble of uploading 200+ FITS files? Â
Did you try with the latest beta version as well? If so and it still fails, I indeed do need the data to look at. I can start maybe with the panels which would not be that much data.
