There are 7 software applications in my Astro Imaging tool kit that make image capture and editing about as easy as it gets: PHD Guiding, Nebulosity 2, wxAstroCapture, Registax 5, Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop CS4, and GIMP 2.4.

PHD Guiding

Craig Stark, of Stark Labs and well known imaging expert in the field, has a handfull of software applications that make the life of imaging easier to get good results with just a few clicks of the mouse. The first is PHD Guiding. Those of you out there who already have this running on your machine as part of your imaging setup may want to skip this section unless you want to recap the details of PHD.

PHD is Auto Guiding software that is used by having a second telescope, in conjunction with your main scope, or an off-axis radial guider, with an auto guiding camera, like the Orion SSAG. The user picks a star in the field of view for object to be imaged, clicks on it, the software runs through a series of alignment and tracking calibration procedures, and like magic (aka good engineering), it will track your target object across the night sky by feeding information back to the mount, essentially, training it to follow your target.

This helps your imaging output by keeping the telescope and CCD sensor centered on your imaging target for long term exposures. The longer the shutter is open on an object, the more photons the CCD sensor can absorb, producing brighter, more detailed images. Alas, star trails be gone!

PHD is a free application and works with virtually every ST4 type of autoguide system present in a large majority of guidable mounts out in the wild. Download it, check it out, and enjoy the benefits. Not to mention, it just feels really cool to have your computer running the show during an imaging session. People definitely exhibit the 'Wow' factor when they see this in action and for good reason: it works.

Nebulosity 2

Next up is another one from Stark Labs called Nebulosity 2. This is an image editing application that has the ability to stack multiple frames that have been captured of your target, average information, and edit the final product. The application works with RAW, TIFF, FITS, BMP, and JPEG format images. I won't go in to the 'how to use it' details, I'll leave that to the HOWTOs.

This application is incredible for being able to take the information you give it and have it come out ten times better. It also comes with the ability to control your DSLR or other imaging camera with the right connection from your camera to computer.

I know there are others out there, but they're out of my price range. Nebulosity 2 runs $60 for a full liscense. That's affordable and the benefits are endless. However, simply downloading it and working with JPEG format images, you can edit and save without the obstructing lines ... for free. On the other hand, if you begin to average lights, dark, and bias frames, you will want to purchase the full application liscese for obstruction-free final images. To get used to it and find out if it's for you, you can edit all you like for free, again, under JPEG format.

This application changed my mind entirely about Astrophotography. I had been discouraged up to a point. Neb 2 changed all that by showing me that I was capturing plenty of imformation with an unmodified camera. It wasn't until I started using it that I realized that so much more could be done with what I had photographed.

wxAstroCapture

This is another free application. This application works in conjunction with most USB CCD cameras out there. I think it was originally designed for use with the Philips SPC900NC, since the SPC900NC is the application icon, but it will work with a multitude of cameras.

wxAstroCapture works by giving you live-view video of your target. This software is great for planetary imaging. You capture exactly what you see on the screen, saves in .avi format which works very well with Registax. The controls are very intuitive and, as well, can work with an auto-guide camera if set up properly. I, personally, do not auto guide with this application, but it can be done. It's a lightweight, powerful application that gives the maximum amount of control over your webcam imaging. The best part is that it's free.

I first discovered this application because I run Ubuntu Linux as my main operating system and it gives me the ultimate control over my SPC in Linux. When I made an early summer investment in to a Windows based laptop, I was ever so pleased to find that there was a ported version for Windows. It seems to work incredibly well with Windows 7 Ultimate with the same level of control, so I would assume it's backwards compatible with Vista, etc.

Registax 5

Probably the best free application for stacking Lunar and Planetary images is Registax 5. This application stacks multiple frames in JPEG format, or better yet, handles all your .AVI import format needs. Most amateur Planetary imaging is best done by filming short segments in .AVI format and stacking the frames from those segments. By averaging pixels, subtracting noise, and multiplying details you end up with a more refined final image revealing a greater amount of details. Powerful RBG alignment tools, histogram adjustments, RGB balance, image rotation, cropping, etc. are all included in this comprehensive application. It's lightweight, fast, and the end results are pretty amazing for the details that are revealed in the images. Most importantly, it's free.

Deep Sky Stacker

A couple of weeks ago, I had a revalation. It's called Deep Sky Stacker. Up to this point, given my amateur status and lack of knowledge, I had been simply stacking JPEG frames and, well, just hoping for the best. For months after I got my DSLR, I bragged about stacking frames by hand, thinking I was getting the absolute best out of the information I was capturing. I couldn't have been more incorrect. All of my dilligent efforts aside, my eyes can't do what ones and zeros can do with a couple of 2.1Ghz processors to work with. Nor can as much be done with out finally creating a good set of Dark, Flat, and Bias frames and beginning to average for noise.

Every CCD device out there has one major crux. Noise. Some systems are worse that others, but all have some level of noise. Electrical camera noise from heat and long expsoures at high ISO settings ruins good images and makes bad ones even worse. I know because up until now, I had no idea just how much it mattered until the first time I stacked an image with L, D, F, and B frames.

DSS has a full set of step by step directions of how to create a good set of composition frames. Follow each step closely and soon you'll be producing higher quality images which are more noise free, brighter, and incredibly more detailed.

 

This image was taken on Feb 17, 2009 under amazingly stable skies. Of course, it was probably -8F degrees outside, but that's when it all comes together 'round these parts. Shot with my near and dear AstroTech AT66 ED APO and my [Unmodified] Canon 350D Rebel XT, this consists of 11 unguided frames at 30 seconds each, running at ISO 1600. Aperture is at the scopes' f/6 ratio, with no step down focal reduction, 1200px x 1800px full size (cropped) to 300x450 (scaled) for this blog.

The left image was stacked (by hand) with nothing but GIMP 2.4 and the image on the right was done with DSS and finalized in Photoshop CS4. It's a prime example of what you could clearly call a 'night and day' difference. Obviously, if I knew back in February what I know now, the image on the left would have been drastically different, even without the help of DSS or Photoshop CS4. But the fact is, if I can help any one skip right over the steps I took and get right to better editing, well, I guess that would be the point of this blog.

Photoshop CS4

If you have a few dollars burning a hole in your wallet, and the desire to have a very comprehensive image editing application, you may as well spring the coin for Photoshop CS4. If I ever wonder why I can't pay bills, it's because of applications like this and my desire to have them.

I won't go in to usage or details. People go to school for years to learn the Photoshop ways. So it's kind of up to your own dilligence to learn the depths of this application's power and capability. With the ability to operate in 16 and 32 bit mode for image translation of FITS and TIFF format images, some would say it's the be-all-end-all. I've used PS for well over ten years and I still don't know half of what it can do, but I do know that it handles noise subtraction and color level editing incredibly well and produces very pleasing final edit results.

GIMP 2.4 for Windows

Last, but certainly not least, or best for last, how ever you'd like to say it. As I mentioned earlier, I run Linux. Some time around 1998, I began working for an ASP, or Automated Service Provider, in eCommerce. Because the company was 100% Linux based, I had to scrap every thing I knew about Windows and jumped feet first in to the Linux world. Around that time Photoshop 4 was realesed, possibly even before. It was essentially reverse engineered and cloned to a very comperable application called Gnu Image Manipulation Program. GIMP for Windows followed suit (after painstakingly being ported to Windows) thanks to a developer named Tor Lilqvist. People who would like an incredibly comprehensive, FREE, graphics application that rivals Photoshop in virtually every aspect will want to download and install it.

I feel I know this application inside and out. I could retire if I had a dollar for every hour I've spent with my face plastered to the screen. If any of you end up grabbing a copy and running it and ever have any questions about its usage, feel free to shoot me an email and I can try and help you with any thing you may need to know.

In Closing

One fact that I have discovered in the last two weeks since my initial usage of DSS, TIFF and FITS format images are saved in 16 bit and 32 bit format and are auto-translated to 8 bit format in GIMP yet retain native format in CS4. [This is the proprietary software rights 'ghost in the machine' you may have heard about at some point. Due to legal and ownership rights, GIMP has not been upgraded to be able to handle higher bit format images. Ugh.] At any rate, for 90% of images I've done, the difference between 8 bit and 16 bit is negligible. CS4 seems to be able to handle higher bit depth TIFF and FITS format images resulting in higher quality final edits. However, in no way should CS4 be considered the definitive way to do every thing. Judge for yourself by using the applications and making your own decisions through your experiences.

I'd definitely like to say thanks if you made it this far and I hope some of you will download and install some of these applications if you haven't already. They're a great set of tools for people to use. Every one has to start some where. I got my start only roughly 2 years ago and every day is still a learning experiece. I pick up new details on every single image I capture and edit. Clear skies to you all, happy capturing and editing. Until next time, mb.

This is a must see for any one who is a beginning Astrophotographer all the way the through the most advanced imagers.

I found this link this morning doing a search on Astrophotography Tips and Howto's.

It's called Imaging Acquisistion: Best Practices by Richard Bennion

http://www.ewellobservatory.com/bestpractices/player.html

It's a free flash visual online lecture. Be sure to update your web browsers (I use Firefox exclusively) and Adobe Flash plugin to see it.

The 45 minutes or so that it took to watch this was worth every minute of the time.

The whole lecture contains invaluable information about Polar Alignment, Focusing, Mount Errors and corrections, tips, tricks, etc.

I like to read as much as the next guy, but a live lecture just floods you with that much more information that will undoubtedly help even the most experienced imagers out there.

After watching this, and knowing a little about what he's saying to begin with, I feel like I just considarably upped my know-how.

One of the things he says in the lecture really stuck in my head and it was about atmospheric conditions and that was he 'never posts an image in April' and this is very relative for me because he's talking about post-winter atmospheric anomalies like poor seeing due to too much moisture in the upper atmosphere. That's tech.

Watch the vid.