- The Starry Night. Mac Os 8
- The Starry Fight. Mac Os X
- The Starry Night. Mac Os 7
- Context Of The Starry Night
- Starry Night Song
#iexos-100 with Starry Night / Mac OS #iEXOS-100. Mirko Gude #7104. Hi, I've got a question about the IEXOS 100 with Starry Night Pro 8. Did anyone use this combination with a Mac? I know how to change from UDP/IP to TCP/IP protocols with command line (I use the build in Terminal with netcat instead of Packet Sender). But I'am not sure If I. Starry Night: Deep sky database of 38,000 objects, highly visual, and includes telescope control with an interactive sky guide. TheSkyX: An essential tool for observatory control, deep space imaging and scientific discovery.
2001 – This is the second in a series of reviews of planetarium software for the Macintosh, with emphasis on its use in schools. Planetarium software, at a minimum, simulates the appearance of the night sky given certain parameters such as the date, time, and observer location.
System Requirements
The system requirements for all versions of Starry Night (there are at least five) are identical. Pro users should expect 50-75 MB hard drive space will be needed.
- Starry Night Platform: Windows XP & above, Mac OS X 10.4 & above Cost: $24.95 - $239.95 Demo: N/A Starry Night is the most visually stunning and realistic astronomy program in its class. A powerful tool for both serious observers and casual stargazers, Starry Night lets you view the universe from anywhere in the Solar System.
- Starry Night 8.0.5 Professional Astronomy Telescope Control Software for Mac. Version 8 includes a 36,000 object, up-to-date, cross-referenced database built from various source catalogs. Starry Night 8 supports all telescopes that are supported by Ascom. Plus, connect SkyFi 3 with Starry Night too.
Windows
- Starry Night Backyard requires a PC with a Pentium or higher processor, SVGA 256 color-capable monitor or better, and Windows 95/98 or Windows NT 4.0 or later (it will not work with Windows 3.1). Requires at least 24 MB of RAM. Starry Night requires QuickTime 3 or later to run on Windows. If you do not already have QuickTime installed, you should download it.
Macintosh
- Starry Night Backyard for Macintosh requires PowerPC, System 7.5 or later, and at least 24 MB of RAM.
Overview
Starry Night, a relative newcomer to the Macintosh astronomy scene, has all but eliminated the low-end competition for planetarium software for the Macintosh. It is even a serious competitor for the position held by Software Bisque's TheSky program, which will be reviewed later in this series, but Starry Night hasn't achieved quite that level of acceptance at this writing.
Cost
A 15-day trial of Starry Night Backyard is free for downloading at the Starry Night website. Users can upgrade to the registered version by paying the registration fee, which will allow the download to operate for more than two weeks. The MSRP for the various versions is as follows:
- Starry Night Freeman is included with some astronomy textbooks
- Starry Night Bundle is included with some telescopes
- Starry Night Beginner: $29.95
- Starry Night Backyard: $49.95
- Starry Night Pro: $129.95
The essential differences between the versions is listed in considerable detail at this web page: http://www.starrynight.com/en/comparison_chart.html, but what it amounts to is this:
- Free Versions: No tech support or updates available.
- Beginner: Lets you look at the sky from earth, hides many parameter functions such as observing from other planets.
- Backyard: Lets you control most basic functions of planetarium software such as location, adding new objects to the database, and increases the number of visible objects.
- Pro: Gives you full control of the software engine and allows the user to control some telescope types. Adds several important astronomy catalogs to the display database, such as the Hubble Guide Star catalog.
This review will concentrate on the feature set of the Pro version, but users interested in reducing cost at the expense of the reduced feature set should visit the website for more details about the differences between the many (almost too many) versions.
Publisher's Website
Starry Night is owned by the space interest site www.space.com, which maintains mailing lists, current news, and information of interest to space enthusiasts. The software team for Starry Night also maintains a site just for the program at www.starrynight.com.
Test Activities
Ease of Sky Navigation
All versions of Starry Night feature a toolbar that has a standard grab hand icon, which is used to 'push' and 'pull' the screen around, effectively changing the user's virtual direction. This is most useful when just trying to see what is visible in tonight's sky, but it is of limited use for research activities. You can also see objects by performing a standard Mac 'find' operation (Cmd-F) and entering the name of the object or its catalog number. Then the software scrolls around the sky to the object, much like an automated telescope would, finishing with an extreme close-up zoom.
Unlike other programs that have a disconcerting jump without transitions between locations, StarryNight moves you gently from place to place. These functions are even editable in the Backyard edition and higher, so you could control how fast the sky moves, and so on. I found Starry Night's navigation controls easy to learn and intuitive for a person used to using telescopes. I believe a beginner would find them useful as well.
Mac-like Interface
The Starry Night. Mac Os 8
Starry Night Backyard's fixed toolbar
The interface for Starry Night changes somewhat from version to version, and it is a more subtle change than merely disabling the features not allowed in the Pro version.
For example, in Starry Night Pro 3.11, the toolbar is a floating window that can be moved around (left). In Starry Night Backyard 3.11, the toolbar is attached to the top of the current window and cannot be moved (above). I would have thought that Pro users, at least, would have the option of switching back and forth, but apparently you are stuck with whatever the developers believe is the best placement for the audience making the purchase. Within these boxes, you would (as you might expect) simply click on a value to change it, either by typing or by manipulating tiny arrows that pop up each time a variable is being adjusted.
Some of the icons are a little strange. For example, the two bomb-like icons in the Pro panel control one's altitude above the surface of the current planet. This might be better served with an icon showing the planet beneath and an arrow that points up or down.
Menu item options change depending on the version used. For example, Constellations appears as a menu bar item in Backyard, but not in Pro or Freeman. This shifting around is confusing for users who use more than one version.
Aside from these relatively minor complaints, I found the interface clean and controllable and not overburdened with options (as happens with RedShift 3.0, for example, which is tab-happy.)
Appearance of Objects
The appearance of Jupiter in Starry Night clearly is superior to the view presented in Redshift. The image is obviously photographic (reduced 50% to keep load time down, mapped onto a three-dimensional model of the planet. [To see the reduced images at full size on a separate page, click here.]
The view degrades somewhat when the user places him or herself in orbit around the planet, such as this view looking down from above:
Jupiter as viewed from orbit.
The jaggies along the edge of the planet are more obvious in this view. However, there is none of the blurring of detail to make the photographic basis of the model fit the geometric model as seen in RedShift. Even polar detail, as seen above toward the left side, is marked by fine details never visible from earth.
One important difference between the versions is the way each handles display of deep-sky objects. In Freeman, which I have because my high-school astronomy textbook comes with it, an enlarged view of M101 shows essentially the same kind of data found in a large-print star atlas:
I enhanced the contrast in this view to make sure it appears visible on the Web. Here is the same object from the Backyard version (reduced 50% to keep load time down):It really brings home the idea that these objects exist in nearly every direction of the sky when you zoom in and the photograph appears and zooms in as you go.
Draw an Analemma
Starry Night Freeman has no function for drawing and tracing an analemma, which shows the sun's apparent change in position when viewed at the same time of day over the course of a year. Tom Hanks' character in the recent movie Cast Away draws an analemma (which he could not do, by the way, without a functioning watch) in the cave he lives in while trapped on the island.
Starry Night BackYard's Analemma feature. | Starry Night Pro's Analemma feature with Path Date Stamp turned on. |
Above images reduced 50% to keep load time down.
Define Horizon
Starry Night Pro gives considerable control over the definition of the user's horizon, allowing the user to place trees and other objects (including a Mars rover, when observing from the surface of Mars) and to adjust the height of the horizon, simulating nearby hills. A nice, easy to add feature for future versions would be to allow the user to import pictures of buildings and other structures which might get in the way.
Show Jupiter's Moons
Jupiter's moons are clearly labeled in all versions of Starry Night, and the Pro version allows you to invert the image as seen in many popular astronomical telescopes. The Backyard version also has border markers for binocular and Telrad views (a Telrad is a popular device for aiming amateur telescopes), and the Pro version expands the list to other finder devices and popular eyepieces.
There is no feature available for generating position vs. time charts for Jupiter's moons (as shown in Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines) directly. At least, in the Pro version it should be noted that at least Starry Night allows you to draw the paths of objects with respect to the local reference frame (as with the analemma) or with respect to the background stars (as when showing retrograde motion.)
Measure Angular Separation
An important tool for astronomy educators is the ability to measure the angular separation between objects (say, between the moon and the horizon, or between the planet Venus and the Sun). A direct tool for this feature only exists in the Pro version, which is unfortunate. This function should be included in the Freeman version for astronomy textbooks (and therefore present in all versions.) The lack of a convenient angle measurement tool limits the uses to which the program can be put in an educational/lab setting.
Adding Objects to the Database
Only the Pro version allows users to add objects to the database, by importing text files created externally to the program's interface. Using the program's Object Editor, you can even build up a collection of images from other sources other than those included with the program. You could include images you took yourself!
Ability to Remote-control Telescopes
Starry Night can be used to remotely control certain telescopes and read the position of a telescope from digital setting circles on some computerized telescopes.
InfoGenie™ and Astronomy describes a plugin developed to interface Starry Night, a Meade LX200 telescope, and Casady and Greene's InfoGenie™ program (sold separately). I have not actually performed this interfacing myself (because I don't own or have access to a Meade LX200 telescope). You need special cables and a Mac with a serial port or a USB-to-serial adapter. The interfacing should be reasonably straightforward if you are familiar with your telescope's controls and can follow some scattered directions. You'll need to coordinate your telescope's manual, the instructions for installing InfoGenie, and the instructions for using the LX200 plugin simultaneously.
Realistic Sky
Starry Night's sky is extremely realistic, including clouds in the daytime, an admirable sunset and twilight effect, the ability to add light pollution effects, and fine control over the stars' appearance by magnitude.
Constellations
The constellation Cygnus as shown in Starry Night.
Starry Night displays all of the standard constellation pictures. The images are mostly based on Bayer's Uranometria, a 17th century star atlas with drawings many people recognize as the traditional interpretations of the constellations' shapes.
Cygnus the Swan from Starry Night Pro (right, reduced 50% to keep load time down). Starry Night Freeman only includes these images for the zodiacal constellations, which is nearly enough excuse to upgrade all by itself.
Ephemerides
Starry Night will only export data from the object visible on the current screen, so while you do have some level of control over the data being exported, there is no way to generate simple tables of data such as the visibility of Jupiter over the next 3 months. Redshift 3.0, for example, provides several Ephemerides functions, so that is a feature that the folks developing Starry Night have definitely overlooked.
Sky Charts
Starry Night produces Sky Charts, but the user has limited control over what they contain. They essentially mimic the user's screen, so useful sky charts will involve having to figure out the field of view of your telescope and superimpose that on your screen. There is no user-configurable setup option for controlling the level of detail in the printout (such as the limiting magnitude or adjusting for a printer's aspect ratio or printing in reverse for a transparency) so experienced users will find this feature limiting at best.
Other Features
The cutest feature in Starry Night is the 'Feet' option: This orients the user to the direction of straight down by displaying a pair of red sneakers when looking at your nadir. This can be turned off if you want a totally blank sky.
An 'H-R diagram profile' function fills in a graph of star luminosities and temperatures (spectral classes) with the data for the current display. This is a unique feature and useful for teaching lessons, but it appears only in the Pro version.
As with most packages of this type, internal links in the software can update the program's databases and take the user to web pages with the latest scientific research on objects, called the 'LiveSky' feature in this program.
Star images, traditionally shown to be larger dots for brighter objects on print charts, are adjustable with a 'Brightness/Contrast' tool similar to those seen in image editing software programs. This is a nice way to enhance the sky's already excellent appearance. My only quibble is that under low magnification, planets and other extended objects do not show an equivalent amount of detail as seen in the magnified views. For amateur astronomers, a small sharp view is often preferable to a large, fuzzy view, so keeping it sharp all the way down might be a good thing.
PC Version Differences
Aside from plug-in controls being more complete and available for a wider variety of telescopes, the Mac and PC versions of Starry Night Pro are identical. This is the only major planetarium software package for which this is true as far as I know (but perhaps I'll discover others as I continue this series of reviews).
Conclusion
The Starry Night family of software is fun, easy to use, and contains a good feature set. The low-end versions lack so many features as to be nearly unusable in all but the most introductory of settings, and even the Pro version has some odd ideas about what users should and should not be able to control (such as being able to control the placement of trees on the horizon but not import your own images for that purpose). Nevertheless, the ease of use and the excellent appearance of the simulated sky, plus such nice touches as the Feet feature, user customizable images for Deep Sky objects, first-generation telescope control, and animated scrolling go-to functions make this a fun and strong contender for the low-to-middle range planetarium software market on the Mac.
Many educationally useful functions such as local vs. celestial path tracking are well implemented, although the control buttons are small enough to pose a challenge to trackpad users. Similar to the differences between Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines, the software addresses its primary market, beginning to intermediate astronomy buffs. From first glance, however, competitor TheSky is the Sky and Telescope of planetarium software where Starry Night is the Astronomy.
I would recommend this software as an excellent purchase for beginners, but if you can afford it, skip the Backyard package and go straight to Pro. It may be a little harder to handle but the extra features are worth it.
Update: Mike Parkes of Space.com, the publishers of Starry Night, wrote me to point out some errors in this review. First, it is possible to add custom sprites for use in the horizon definition (but you have to read the manual to find out how). Second, although the Pro version has a separate tool for angular measurement, the other versions can do it by clicking and dragging across the image. (This doesn't seem to be the case for the 'Freeman' edition included with my high school astronomy textbooks, and astronomy students are the ones who need the feature most.) The last point has to do with printing star charts. I stated that the program simply prints what is displayed on the screen, but didn't say that you could control the printout in the Pro version.
Astronomy Software Reviews
Keywords: #astronomysoftware #starrynight
Short link: http://goo.gl/0WxXjb
Astrophotography is closer to science than art, and there is no such thing as 'getting it right in camera.' This means you cannot simply point the camera at the sky and snap away.
In astrophotography you cannot avoid post processing your images, so stacking and editing your images serves three main purposes:
- Reduce noise and deal with light gradients and vignetting.
- Improve signal to noise ratio.
- Reveal the faint details in the image.
Image stacking is the technique used to improve the signal to noise ratio, and it is the only noise reduction method that will boost the image details rather than smear them out.
In this article, we will discuss some of the most popular software available for astrophotography image stacking.
Note: Don't miss the detailed video at the end of this article, It was created to help show you how to quickly start using some of the stacking software mentioned in this article.
Tech art project 1 (gdudzic) mac os. Click here to skip to our Image Stacking Demo Video.
What Does Stacking Photos Mean?
The concept behind image stacking is simple, but to appreciate how it works, there are a couple of things we have to consider:
- A stack can be visualized as a pile of images all stacked one on top of the other;
- Each digital image is formed by a set of pixels, all having a certain value: dark pixels will have a lower value than the bright ones;
In the simplest form of image stacking, the pixels values for all images in the stack are averaged to produce a single image.
What is the purpose of stacking photos?
The result is a single image with improved signal to noise ratio, i.e., with better details and lower (random) digital noise and better details.
The scheme below illustrates the concept.
If the considered digital noise affects the pixel values randomly across the stack, then the result of averaging the stack is that the random component of the noise to the pixel value is significantly reduced.
ISO noise and Luminance noise and Chrominancenoise are examples of digital noises that are random.
The image below shows a real-life example from stacking 30 images from my Sony RX10 bridge camera taken at ISO 6400. As you can see, the original images showed a greater deal of noise (grain) than the stacked one.
The More Images You Stack, The Better
The more images you stack, the cleaner the resulting images are, as shown in the comparison below.
While Image stacking creates a cleaner image, it often softens the image: digital sharpening techniques are then used to recover sharp looking details.
Finally, bear in mind that the progression of image quality is not linear.
If stacking 4 images improves the image quality of 50% respect what you got by stacking only 2 images, to improve a further 50% the image quality from stacking 50 images, you may need to stack 300 images or more.
Image Stacking And Movement
If nothing moves between shots, like in the previous real life example, implementing image stacking is very simple: just group the images and average them to smooth out the noise.
With a moving subject, grouping and averaging the images will not only smooth out the noise, but also the subject itself.
This is the same principle for which long exposures of passing traffic and crowd result in a street image without cars nor people.
This effect is amplified with the number of images used, and the moving subject could simply disappear from the stacked image.
To resolve the issue, you have to align the images based on their content before stacking.
Due to image alignment, you may have to trim the edges of the stacked image to get rid of artifacts, but your target will not be lost.
Note that while in theory you can stack images of a static scene taken with the camera on a tripod, in reality, those images will probably differ at the pixel scale due to micro-movements. It is always beneficial to align the images before stacking.
How To Shoot For Exposure Stacking Your Images
Image stacking can be done with any camera and even camera phones and with images in both RAW and JPEG format. Antidote (danielsnd) mac os.
Nonetheless, some things can be done to improve the final result:
- Lock the focus, so that the camera will not hunt for it between images. This will also help to keep the focus consistent through the shooting sequence.
- Keep the same settings, in particular shutter speed, aperture, and focal length: you don't want to change the camera field of view during the sequence, nor the brightness of the images or the depth of field.
- If you are shooting on a tripod, disable image stabilization. If you want to shoot handheld, do so only for short sequences at very high shutter speed.
Image Stacking In Astrophotography
Related:Astrophotography Software & Tools Resource List
As said previously, image stacking is a standard technique implemented in any astrophotography editing workflow for,
- A star field from a fixed tripod.
- A deep sky object from a tracking mount.
- The Moon handheld.
- A starry landscape from a fixed tripod or tracking mount.
Every astronomy image will benefit from image stacking.
List Of Photo Stacking Software For Astrophotography
Here is a list of software used in astrophotography for image stacking.
Adobe Photoshop
Complete Image Editor | Commercial – Subscription Plan Photography Bundle $9.99 / Month | Mac OS X, Windows
Pro
- Versatile
- Available for Mac and Windows
- In bundle with Adobe Lightroom CC, Bridge, Camera Raw, and web space
- Many action packs and plugins available for astrophotography
Cons
- Subscription Plan only
- Can't be used to calibrate light frames
- Stacking capabilities are somehow limited
If you are interested in photography, chances are you know Adobe Photoshop is the standard in the industry and does not need introductions.
With Adobe implementing a subscription plan for their applications, if you are using Lightroom CC for your everyday photography, your plan subscription will also include Photoshop CC and Bridge CC.
And for astrophotography, Photoshop is what you need. Lightroom cannot stack your images nor perform the histogram stretching, two crucial steps in the editing workflow for astrophotography.
In this article, we have already covered in detail how to stack astrophotography images with Photoshop.
Sequator
Deep Sky And Starry Landscape Stacker | Freeware | Windows
Pro
- Free
- Easy to use
- Fast
- Suitable for both Starry Landscapes and Deep Sky images
- Can create Star Trails
Cons
- Windows only
- Limited set of options
- Not suitable for Planetary astrophotography
Sequator is an easy-to-use and intuitive astrophotography software for stacking both starry landscape and deep-sky images. It can also be used to create star trails.
While not as advanced as other stackers, it nonetheless allows you to calibrate your light frames with dark and flat calibration frames. It also allows you to remove light pollution, reduce noise, and perform other simple tasks on the stacked image.
Starry Landscape Stacker
Starry Landscape Stacker | Commercial, $39.99 | Mac OS X
Pro
- Fast
- Easy to use
Cons
- Mac Os X only
- Does not read RAW files
If you are into starry landscapes and you are a Mac user, Starry Landscape Stacker is a must-have.
Easy to use, it allows you to stack and align the sky and the foreground independently by letting you easily mask the sky.
Unfortunately, the software lacks the support for RAW formats, thus forcing you to convert your RAW images in the more heavy TIFF format.
Aside from that, it works very fast and the final image is of good quality. You can also save the sky only, which is useful to further edit the shot in Photoshop or similar editors.
Starry Sky Stacker
Deep Sky Stacker | Commercial, $24.99 | Mac OS X
Pro
- Fast
- Easy to use
The Starry Fight. Mac Os X
Cons
- Mac Os X only
- Does not read RAW files
- Basic
Starry Sky Stacker is Starry Landscape Stacker brother and it has been created to stack deep sky astrophotography images.
As Starry Landscape Stacker, Starry Sky Stacker is very easy to use and intuitive, although very basic.
If you are a casual star shooter and a Mac user, this could be a good choice for you.
Deep Sky Stacker
Deep Sky Stacker | Freeware | Windows
Pro
- Free
- Easy to use
- Fast
- Full light frames calibration
- Features Comet stack modes
- Can Drizzle
- Many advanced stack options and methods available
Cons
- Windows only
- Post-processing is quite limited
- Not suitable for Starry Landscapes nor for Planetary astrophotography
Deep Sky Stacker, better known as DSS, is arguably one of the most widely used software to calibrate and stack astrophotography images.
With DSS, you can fully calibrate your images with Darks, Flats, Dark Flats, and Bias calibration frames for the best results possible. Light frames are analyzed and scored by quality so that you can decide which percentage of best images you can stack (Best 75% by default).
Constellations
The constellation Cygnus as shown in Starry Night.
Starry Night displays all of the standard constellation pictures. The images are mostly based on Bayer's Uranometria, a 17th century star atlas with drawings many people recognize as the traditional interpretations of the constellations' shapes.
Cygnus the Swan from Starry Night Pro (right, reduced 50% to keep load time down). Starry Night Freeman only includes these images for the zodiacal constellations, which is nearly enough excuse to upgrade all by itself.
Ephemerides
Starry Night will only export data from the object visible on the current screen, so while you do have some level of control over the data being exported, there is no way to generate simple tables of data such as the visibility of Jupiter over the next 3 months. Redshift 3.0, for example, provides several Ephemerides functions, so that is a feature that the folks developing Starry Night have definitely overlooked.
Sky Charts
Starry Night produces Sky Charts, but the user has limited control over what they contain. They essentially mimic the user's screen, so useful sky charts will involve having to figure out the field of view of your telescope and superimpose that on your screen. There is no user-configurable setup option for controlling the level of detail in the printout (such as the limiting magnitude or adjusting for a printer's aspect ratio or printing in reverse for a transparency) so experienced users will find this feature limiting at best.
Other Features
The cutest feature in Starry Night is the 'Feet' option: This orients the user to the direction of straight down by displaying a pair of red sneakers when looking at your nadir. This can be turned off if you want a totally blank sky.
An 'H-R diagram profile' function fills in a graph of star luminosities and temperatures (spectral classes) with the data for the current display. This is a unique feature and useful for teaching lessons, but it appears only in the Pro version.
As with most packages of this type, internal links in the software can update the program's databases and take the user to web pages with the latest scientific research on objects, called the 'LiveSky' feature in this program.
Star images, traditionally shown to be larger dots for brighter objects on print charts, are adjustable with a 'Brightness/Contrast' tool similar to those seen in image editing software programs. This is a nice way to enhance the sky's already excellent appearance. My only quibble is that under low magnification, planets and other extended objects do not show an equivalent amount of detail as seen in the magnified views. For amateur astronomers, a small sharp view is often preferable to a large, fuzzy view, so keeping it sharp all the way down might be a good thing.
PC Version Differences
Aside from plug-in controls being more complete and available for a wider variety of telescopes, the Mac and PC versions of Starry Night Pro are identical. This is the only major planetarium software package for which this is true as far as I know (but perhaps I'll discover others as I continue this series of reviews).
Conclusion
The Starry Night family of software is fun, easy to use, and contains a good feature set. The low-end versions lack so many features as to be nearly unusable in all but the most introductory of settings, and even the Pro version has some odd ideas about what users should and should not be able to control (such as being able to control the placement of trees on the horizon but not import your own images for that purpose). Nevertheless, the ease of use and the excellent appearance of the simulated sky, plus such nice touches as the Feet feature, user customizable images for Deep Sky objects, first-generation telescope control, and animated scrolling go-to functions make this a fun and strong contender for the low-to-middle range planetarium software market on the Mac.
Many educationally useful functions such as local vs. celestial path tracking are well implemented, although the control buttons are small enough to pose a challenge to trackpad users. Similar to the differences between Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines, the software addresses its primary market, beginning to intermediate astronomy buffs. From first glance, however, competitor TheSky is the Sky and Telescope of planetarium software where Starry Night is the Astronomy.
I would recommend this software as an excellent purchase for beginners, but if you can afford it, skip the Backyard package and go straight to Pro. It may be a little harder to handle but the extra features are worth it.
Update: Mike Parkes of Space.com, the publishers of Starry Night, wrote me to point out some errors in this review. First, it is possible to add custom sprites for use in the horizon definition (but you have to read the manual to find out how). Second, although the Pro version has a separate tool for angular measurement, the other versions can do it by clicking and dragging across the image. (This doesn't seem to be the case for the 'Freeman' edition included with my high school astronomy textbooks, and astronomy students are the ones who need the feature most.) The last point has to do with printing star charts. I stated that the program simply prints what is displayed on the screen, but didn't say that you could control the printout in the Pro version.
Astronomy Software Reviews
Keywords: #astronomysoftware #starrynight
Short link: http://goo.gl/0WxXjb
Astrophotography is closer to science than art, and there is no such thing as 'getting it right in camera.' This means you cannot simply point the camera at the sky and snap away.
In astrophotography you cannot avoid post processing your images, so stacking and editing your images serves three main purposes:
- Reduce noise and deal with light gradients and vignetting.
- Improve signal to noise ratio.
- Reveal the faint details in the image.
Image stacking is the technique used to improve the signal to noise ratio, and it is the only noise reduction method that will boost the image details rather than smear them out.
In this article, we will discuss some of the most popular software available for astrophotography image stacking.
Note: Don't miss the detailed video at the end of this article, It was created to help show you how to quickly start using some of the stacking software mentioned in this article.
Tech art project 1 (gdudzic) mac os. Click here to skip to our Image Stacking Demo Video.
What Does Stacking Photos Mean?
The concept behind image stacking is simple, but to appreciate how it works, there are a couple of things we have to consider:
- A stack can be visualized as a pile of images all stacked one on top of the other;
- Each digital image is formed by a set of pixels, all having a certain value: dark pixels will have a lower value than the bright ones;
In the simplest form of image stacking, the pixels values for all images in the stack are averaged to produce a single image.
What is the purpose of stacking photos?
The result is a single image with improved signal to noise ratio, i.e., with better details and lower (random) digital noise and better details.
The scheme below illustrates the concept.
If the considered digital noise affects the pixel values randomly across the stack, then the result of averaging the stack is that the random component of the noise to the pixel value is significantly reduced.
ISO noise and Luminance noise and Chrominancenoise are examples of digital noises that are random.
The image below shows a real-life example from stacking 30 images from my Sony RX10 bridge camera taken at ISO 6400. As you can see, the original images showed a greater deal of noise (grain) than the stacked one.
The More Images You Stack, The Better
The more images you stack, the cleaner the resulting images are, as shown in the comparison below.
While Image stacking creates a cleaner image, it often softens the image: digital sharpening techniques are then used to recover sharp looking details.
Finally, bear in mind that the progression of image quality is not linear.
If stacking 4 images improves the image quality of 50% respect what you got by stacking only 2 images, to improve a further 50% the image quality from stacking 50 images, you may need to stack 300 images or more.
Image Stacking And Movement
If nothing moves between shots, like in the previous real life example, implementing image stacking is very simple: just group the images and average them to smooth out the noise.
With a moving subject, grouping and averaging the images will not only smooth out the noise, but also the subject itself.
This is the same principle for which long exposures of passing traffic and crowd result in a street image without cars nor people.
This effect is amplified with the number of images used, and the moving subject could simply disappear from the stacked image.
To resolve the issue, you have to align the images based on their content before stacking.
Due to image alignment, you may have to trim the edges of the stacked image to get rid of artifacts, but your target will not be lost.
Note that while in theory you can stack images of a static scene taken with the camera on a tripod, in reality, those images will probably differ at the pixel scale due to micro-movements. It is always beneficial to align the images before stacking.
How To Shoot For Exposure Stacking Your Images
Image stacking can be done with any camera and even camera phones and with images in both RAW and JPEG format. Antidote (danielsnd) mac os.
Nonetheless, some things can be done to improve the final result:
- Lock the focus, so that the camera will not hunt for it between images. This will also help to keep the focus consistent through the shooting sequence.
- Keep the same settings, in particular shutter speed, aperture, and focal length: you don't want to change the camera field of view during the sequence, nor the brightness of the images or the depth of field.
- If you are shooting on a tripod, disable image stabilization. If you want to shoot handheld, do so only for short sequences at very high shutter speed.
Image Stacking In Astrophotography
Related:Astrophotography Software & Tools Resource List
As said previously, image stacking is a standard technique implemented in any astrophotography editing workflow for,
- A star field from a fixed tripod.
- A deep sky object from a tracking mount.
- The Moon handheld.
- A starry landscape from a fixed tripod or tracking mount.
Every astronomy image will benefit from image stacking.
List Of Photo Stacking Software For Astrophotography
Here is a list of software used in astrophotography for image stacking.
Adobe Photoshop
Complete Image Editor | Commercial – Subscription Plan Photography Bundle $9.99 / Month | Mac OS X, Windows
Pro
- Versatile
- Available for Mac and Windows
- In bundle with Adobe Lightroom CC, Bridge, Camera Raw, and web space
- Many action packs and plugins available for astrophotography
Cons
- Subscription Plan only
- Can't be used to calibrate light frames
- Stacking capabilities are somehow limited
If you are interested in photography, chances are you know Adobe Photoshop is the standard in the industry and does not need introductions.
With Adobe implementing a subscription plan for their applications, if you are using Lightroom CC for your everyday photography, your plan subscription will also include Photoshop CC and Bridge CC.
And for astrophotography, Photoshop is what you need. Lightroom cannot stack your images nor perform the histogram stretching, two crucial steps in the editing workflow for astrophotography.
In this article, we have already covered in detail how to stack astrophotography images with Photoshop.
Sequator
Deep Sky And Starry Landscape Stacker | Freeware | Windows
Pro
- Free
- Easy to use
- Fast
- Suitable for both Starry Landscapes and Deep Sky images
- Can create Star Trails
Cons
- Windows only
- Limited set of options
- Not suitable for Planetary astrophotography
Sequator is an easy-to-use and intuitive astrophotography software for stacking both starry landscape and deep-sky images. It can also be used to create star trails.
While not as advanced as other stackers, it nonetheless allows you to calibrate your light frames with dark and flat calibration frames. It also allows you to remove light pollution, reduce noise, and perform other simple tasks on the stacked image.
Starry Landscape Stacker
Starry Landscape Stacker | Commercial, $39.99 | Mac OS X
Pro
- Fast
- Easy to use
Cons
- Mac Os X only
- Does not read RAW files
If you are into starry landscapes and you are a Mac user, Starry Landscape Stacker is a must-have.
Easy to use, it allows you to stack and align the sky and the foreground independently by letting you easily mask the sky.
Unfortunately, the software lacks the support for RAW formats, thus forcing you to convert your RAW images in the more heavy TIFF format.
Aside from that, it works very fast and the final image is of good quality. You can also save the sky only, which is useful to further edit the shot in Photoshop or similar editors.
Starry Sky Stacker
Deep Sky Stacker | Commercial, $24.99 | Mac OS X
Pro
- Fast
- Easy to use
The Starry Fight. Mac Os X
Cons
- Mac Os X only
- Does not read RAW files
- Basic
Starry Sky Stacker is Starry Landscape Stacker brother and it has been created to stack deep sky astrophotography images.
As Starry Landscape Stacker, Starry Sky Stacker is very easy to use and intuitive, although very basic.
If you are a casual star shooter and a Mac user, this could be a good choice for you.
Deep Sky Stacker
Deep Sky Stacker | Freeware | Windows
Pro
- Free
- Easy to use
- Fast
- Full light frames calibration
- Features Comet stack modes
- Can Drizzle
- Many advanced stack options and methods available
Cons
- Windows only
- Post-processing is quite limited
- Not suitable for Starry Landscapes nor for Planetary astrophotography
Deep Sky Stacker, better known as DSS, is arguably one of the most widely used software to calibrate and stack astrophotography images.
With DSS, you can fully calibrate your images with Darks, Flats, Dark Flats, and Bias calibration frames for the best results possible. Light frames are analyzed and scored by quality so that you can decide which percentage of best images you can stack (Best 75% by default).
A very interesting feature is that with DSS, you can easily combine images taken during different imaging sessions, to produce images of higher quality.
Autostakkert!
Planetary Stacker | Freeware | Windows
Pro
- Free
- Easy to use
- Suitable for Planetary, Lunar and Solar images
- Stack full planetary disk and lunar surface close-ups
Cons
- Interface a bit confused
- It does not offer wavelet sharpening
- Windows only
Autostakkert!, also known as AS!, is a very popular free software among the solar system astrophotographers. With AS! it is easy to stack both images showing the full Planetary (or Lunar or Solar) disc and images showing lunar surface close-ups.
The interface is a bit confusing, particularly in the beginning, but it is easy to navigate through the different steps for the stacking.
Unfortunately, AS! does not offer wavelet sharpening, which is a widely used technique in planetary and lunar astrophotography. For this, you can load your stacked image in Registax, another freeware software for Windows only that, sadly, is now 'abandoned-ware.'
Lynkeos
Planetary Stacker | Freeware | Mac OS X
Pro
- Free
- Has deconvolution and wavelet sharpening
- It is probably the only freeware planetary stacker for Mac OS X
Cons
- Not very intuitive
- Somewhat slower than Autostakkert!
Lynkeos is perhaps the only freeware planetary stacker software for Mac OS X, sparing you from turning to Windows for using Autostakkert!.
The interface is quite intuitive to navigate, but not when it comes to performing the different tasks.
On the other hand, it offers a deconvolution method and wavelet sharpening, a must-have for a planetary stacker. Definitely worth having a look at it if you are a Mac user.
SiriL
Deep Sky Astrophotography Editor | Freeware | Mac OS X, Windows, Linux
Pro
- Free
- Cross-Platform
- Active development
Cons
- A bit convoluted and not as intuitive as other stackers
SiriL is a freeware, cross-platform, astrophotography package that will let you calibrate, stack, and develop deep sky astrophotography images.
While not as easy and intuitive as Sequator or DSS, it offers a lot of options and produces good results. There is an active community, and it is under constant development.
Astro Pixel Processor
Deep Sky Astrophotography Editor | Commercial $60/Yr Renter License Or $150 Owner License | Mac OS X, Windows, Linux
Pro
- Full-grown astrophotography package
- Fairly easy to use
- Mosaics are created with ease and are of great quality
- Active and constant development
- Cross-Platform
- 30-days Trial period
- Affordable yearly subscription
Cons
- Only for deep sky astrophotography
- No Comet stacking mode
With Astro Pixel Processor (APP), you step in the realm of full-grown astrophotography packages, with many advanced options and methods to calibrate, stack, and post-process your deep-sky images.
Compared to PixInsight (PI), the software benchmark for the category, APP is cheaper and way easier to use, which makes it one of the best PI alternatives.
If you decide to buy it, you can choose between the renter's license for $60/yr, to always get the latest version of APP, or the owner's license for $150, but you will have to purchase the license again for major update releases.
PixInsight
Astrophotography Editor | Commercial – €230+VAT | Mac OS X, Windows, Linux
The Starry Night. Mac Os 7
Pro
- It has all you need for astrophotography
- 45 days trial period
- A lot of tutorials and information available
Context Of The Starry Night
Cons
- Expensive and without subscription plan
- Extremely steep learning curve
- Long and convoluted process
- Needs a powerful computer
When it comes to astrophotography, PixInsight is the software of reference against which all others are measured. It offers everything you may possibly need to produce pro graded images, and it is objectively the best software in the field.
But user experience can be frustrating, as the learning curve is very steep, the editing is long and convoluted, and your computer must be quite recent and powerful to make it run smoothly.
The €230 + VAT price tag is also quite steep: sure it is worth every penny, but this makes PI be even more the software of choice for professional and keen amateur astrophotographers.
A Comprehensive Demo About Image Stacking
In this video, I show you how easy it is to wet our feet with image stacking.
Starry Night Song
This is particularly true if you use Starry Landscape Stacker, Sequator, Deep Sky Stacker and Autostakkert!, as I showed in the video below.
Conclusion
Image stacking is one of the crucial steps in the astrophotography editing workflow.
You'll need the appropriate stacker for each type of astrophotography: starry landscapes, star trails, or deep-sky and planetary images.
In this article, we have covered the most popular astrophotography stackers available on the market, both freeware and commercial.
And while Windows users have the more extensive choice, some notable stackers are available for Mac and even Linux users.
