Rongnongno Loc: FL

Astronomical Photography uses software that is specific to your field.

Can you let me know what you use so that I can include them in the post-processing section existing list...

Also you use post-processing technics that are *ahem* out of this world like modifying a channel in order to improve your photography... It would be great if you shared your technic as we can all benefit from it.

Thank you.

Marc G Loc: East Grinstead, West Sussex, England

Sharp Cap = Polar Alignment
PHD2 = Guiding & Dithering
APT = Focus & Image acquisition
Sterllarium = Planetary
APP = Stacking & initial post processing
DSS = Stacking
Photo shop CC2015 - Post processing

Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky

Starstax: Free download. I use this to stack images for startrails.

https://markus-enzweiler.de/software/starstax/

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Where can I find:
APP = Stacking & initial post processing
DSS = Stacking
?

Thank you.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Thank you.

I have added to list on this page at the bottom.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi Rongnongno

Here a few other routines I have used

Registax6 - good for stacking AVI's under 4 gigbytes long, also has some nice postprocessing feature like wavelet processing that I have used for planetary, lunar images and even some deep sky imaging even when I use another program for stacking (Which is most of the time since it is a 32 bit program hence the 4 gig limit).

Autostakkert - Excellent for for lunar, solar and planetary stacking.

PIPP - Planetary Imaging PreProcessor. Has some excellent video conversion functions and also many controls to preprocess video before stacking. (I have also used this to make a GIF movie out of multiple still images of comet Neowise). See example at
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-657780-1.html

PHD2 - has already been mentioned for Guiding and Dithering, I also use it for polar alignment. Note it uses the ASCOM platform for telescope and guide camera control.

FireCapture - Great for capturing video of planets and other object. Has camera control and filterwheel control functions for all cameras and filter wheels supported by the ASCOM platform.

WinJupos - Used for combining LRGB planetary images and to de-rotate the images for alignment (This is necessary since the planets can rotate during a video capture session and stacking the images will start to blur (Max video length for Jupiter <1min, Saturn <3 minutes, Mars <5 minutes).
Here is an example of using this and several other routines mentioned above.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-671656-1.html

RawTherapee - General purpose photo editor has some nice control features I use for astrophotography


ASCOM platform - This is a general purpose interface that most vendors of astronomical equipment support (Fliter wheels, camera, telescope mounts, powered focusers, etc). Many applications use this for telescope control and automatic image taking).

The all ones above are freeware and can be found on the web.

Here are some that are not free but I use at lot.

The SkyX - planetarium software that can be use with GOTO telescopes find the object click on it and the telescope goes there. It has nice features that allow you to go forward or backwards in time to see where and went an object is visible (Neat to play with to go back or ahead thousands of years). I also contains a very extensive library of celestial objects). It also many features that are useful to frame the images you want to take and can interface to Plate solving software used to figure out exactly where a celestial image was taken. I haven't found a need to use this feature yet.

Pixinsight - This has some very powerful features to stack and process deep sky images (This has a fairly step learning curve). It allowed me to take images of Neowise and subtract the comet from the images and stack them separately from the stars and to stack the stars separately from the comet and then recombine the images at the end. This was necessary as the comet moved relative to the background stars while I was taking multiple images to stack. Here is an example of one of those images
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-656332-1.html

Pixinsight gives you a lot of control on stacking Light frames (actual images of the object), Dark frames (used to remove sensor noise for a given exposure length and temperature), Flat frames (used to remove image defects from vignette, dust and other variations in the lighting across the sensor) and Bias frames used to remove sensor read noise). (Note Deep sky stacker also uses these frame types but doesn't have the extensive control that Pixinsight provides).

Canon EOS Utility - This comes free with Canon DSLRs but I have found it useful for astrophotography using my DSLR as a remote interface to control the camera. Another Canon program that comes with a Canon DSLR is Digital Photo Professional that I have also found useful for post processing some Astronomical.
Here are a few examples of images taken with the DSLR.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-679025-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-652657-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-651961-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-648536-1.html

There are multiple youtube videos on using all the above routines and I would recommend starting there to learn what techniques to use. If you have specific questions feel free to ask. Note: I'm still learning how to do this stuff myself.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Thank you.

I am looking for software used in order to list them as resources. You gave quite a few I need to check out, web site, OS, price...