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 gathered height hours on the Witch Head nebula, in 60 seconds exposures. There is satellites on nearly all of my subs, following nearly all the same path. I used automatic integration and on my final stack, I can clearly see their trails. I was wondering if there is something I can do to get rid of them. Normaly I'd just try different integration method but with this 500 frames, it took me about 24 hours. Â
Here is the starless version, we see it better.
Thanks!
Oeh that is annoying, especially when they're on the same track. If you have enough subs, outlier rejection should work. I'd suggest to go for a more agressive rejection in tab 6 (integrate), like kappa high of 2.0, just to see if that has enough effect. You can also start integrating, say, 100 frames and then combine the resulting 5 stacks later as well. This should also give a nice result and you can test the rejection a bit faster.
Thanks for your help!
I'll work from there and probably report back in a few days 🙂Â
Thanks for your help Vincent!Â
Even after using a kappa high of 2.0, the satellites was still showing very faintly in the starless, bright background image. They do not appear in the processed image however.
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Beautiful image! Ok, so yeah I think that will be about the best you can do then. Dithering with big steps will also help, but too aggressive rejection will start to hurt the signal I think.
Even if dethering, wouldn't the satellites still be at the same apparent location against the nebula? I guess I should look at a batterie to power my laptop and guide cam all night. Guiding would have help me with this one 😉Â
Ah yes, I think you're right about that. Well, at least dithering will help no matter what for the rest. 🙂 Regarding the rejection, you can go even lower with the kappa or also play around with the kappa low, and setting that lower. But I'm afraid then it will start to hurt the signal and as you see in the final integration it looks good.
