Maintenance release of AstroDMx Capture Version 0.86.3

Nicola has released a maintenance release (Version 0.86.3) of AstroDMx Capture to fix a couple of issues that have come to light and to improve some of the DSLR control buttons and tool tips.

Mutatis Mutandis

The new startup version checker should alert users to the new version if they already have version 0.86.2 and they start the software within range of their internet connection. Version 0.86.2 should be replaced.

Otherwise, Version 0.86.3 can be downloaded from https://www.astrodmx-capture.org.uk

New Feature Release of AstroDMx Capture

Feature release of AstroDMx Capture for All platforms

Version 0.86.2

Mutatis Mutandis.

The new version can be downloaded from https://www.astrodmx-capture.org.uk

Nicola has made a feature release of AstroDMx Capture on all platforms: Version 0.86.2

It features an improved, non-destructive, incremental 16-bit brightness control that can be used either on its own in Linear mode, or in association with the other visualisation transforms as well as the transform coefficient. This control is to facilitate the visualisation of 16-bit image data as they are captured, but, being non-destructive, does not affect the data that are saved.

AstroDMx Capture now incorporates automatic version checking on startup to check if you are on the latest version. This can be disabled if required and then you can use the manual check procedure in the Help section.

A user-defined Exposure Delay allows the user to set a time delay between exposures so that the screen will update after the set delay. If the user wishes to keep the exposure, this can be done with the Snapshot button.

AstroDMx Capture for the Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi now has support in AstroDMx Capture for 32-bit Raspberry Pi OS for the HQ PiCamera up to resolutions of 1600 x 1200, in 8-bits RGB24.

The PiCamera works with all of the functions such as motion detection, and frame-integration, so increases the utility of the camera within this software.

This is a lower priority part of the AstroDMx Capture project that will be revisited in the future.

INDIGO and INDI

Nicola has started longer term work on INDIGO/INDI support that will increase the application of AstroDMx Capture.

Further progress will, as always, be reported on this blog... Stay tuned!

Experiments with AstroDMx Capture 16-bit preview controls and combining data from different cameras in post processing

Last month I used AstroDMx Capture for macOS with a 14-bit ZWO ASI178MC CMOS camera and a William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD Apochromatic refractor mounted on a Celestron AVX mount to image the Orion nebula.

Click on an image to get a closer view

The Equipment used

150 x 15s exposures were captured, the best 135 were stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and post processed in the Gimp, Affinity Photo, Topaz sharpen and Neat image.

The resulting image

Last night AstroDMx Capture for Linux was used with a 6-bit Atik 314L mono CCD camera fitted with a light pollution filter was used to capture FITS files of the Orion nebula using the same William Optics apochromatic refractor and Celestron AVx mount.

60 x 45s exposures and 40 x 15s exposures were captured with matching dark frames.

The preview controls were set to give a pleasing preview of the 16-bit images being captured.

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Linux capturing FITS data on the Orion Nebula

The FITs files were stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and the resulting image was post processed in the Gimp 2.10

The Orion nebulae

Picture Window Pro 2.5 running in Wine was used to overlay the luminance data from the monochrome image over the Chrominance data of the colour image, blending the images using shift, rotate and scale.

The final image was post processed using Photoshop elements and EasyFoto by softmaker.

The final image of the Orion nebula

The total exposure time for this image was 1.48 hours.

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The same telescope and mount with the Atik camera was used to capture 50 x 90s Fits exposures of the Rosette nebula with matching dark frames.

The equipment used

The 16-bit preview controls were adjusted to give a pleasing preview of the images being captured.

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Linux capturing 90s FITS exposures of the Rosette nebula

The FITS files were stacked in affinity Photo and the result was post processed in the same software.

The Rosette nebula

This image was obtained with a total exposure time of 1.25 hours.

Stacking and processing Deep Sky images with Affinity Photo in macOS and Windows

Things are looking up for astronomers using macOS and Windows.

Affinity Photo by Serif now has Astronomical image stacking in the latest version 1.9.0.

This means that you can stack your deep sky images and then process the result all in a single application, and it is good!

Cropped screenshot showing the Astrophotography Stack as well as other options

Cropped screenshot showing types of frames Affinity Photo can use in the calibration and stacking process as well as the best percentage of files to stack

I have stacked TIFF files and FITS files and the results have been good. It is then a simple matter to move on to the post processing of the stacked image.

Cropped screenshot showing stacking options

Cropped screenshot showing the 'RAW' options.

To test the idea of doing the stacking and processing all within Affinity Photo, a William Optics 66mm, Apochromatic refractor was mounted on a Celestron AVX GOTO mount and a 14-bit ZWO ASI178MC camera was placed at the focus.

The equipment used

AstroDMx Capture for macOS was used to capture 60 x 30s exposures with matching dark frames of the Crab Nebula, using a Region of Interest of 1560 x 1560, which captured sufficient surrounding sky to place the nebula in context.

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for macOS capturing data on the Crab Nebula, M1.

Affinity Photo was used to dark frame correct and stack 55 of the images and then process the resulting stacked image.

M1, the Crab Nebula

The whole workflow was straightforward and produced a pleasing result.

This stacking capability of Affinity Photo is a boon to macOS users in particular, but also for Windows users, who now have even more choice of software for image stacking.

Affinity Photo is also a program that nicely complements the Gimp for image processing. 

Affinity Photo is a paid for program but is priced realistically. Also, from time to time, Serif offer substantial discounts as they are doing at the time of writing this article.

I recommend this software particularly to macOS astronomers, who can now take their deep sky image processing from beginning to end within a single program.