- Mac Astronomy Software — MAC OBSERVATORY
- Astro Gold For MacOS - Elegant Astrological Software For ...
- MixAmp Pro – ASTRO Gaming CRT
Astro Gold for macOS is the latest in reliable and elegant astrology software for the Mac computer. If you own Solar Fire for Windows or Mac Software from Time Cycles you are eligible to purchase AstroGold for MacOS at a discounted price. At the moment, only the ASTRO Command Center for Windows 10 from the Microsoft Store can see the MixAmp Pro TR GEN4. We do have a Mac OS app on the way, but I have no timeframe to share at the moment for this app.
We maintain Siril binaries in many operating systems, but in general only for the official releases. If your operating system has no binary version or if you want to customize it, you will have to build it from source.
- 1Installing Siril from binaries
- 1.2Ubuntu & Linux Mint
- 1.3Mac OS X
- 2Installation from source
- 2.1Dependencies
- 2.7Installing on Mac OS X
Debian
The binary package is available on Debian testing and unstable.It should be installed via repositories, with superuser privileges:
Ubuntu & Linux Mint
Official repositories
PPA repositories
On Ubuntu 16.04 and Linux Mint 18.X, for a newer and less stable version that the one provided on official repositories, there is a PPA:
Mac OS X
Installation via Homebrew (recommended method since 0.9.5)
An official installer for Mac exists, see the download page. This is the way to install siril from source, to test the latest development version for example.
- Removing Siril from macport if exists
If Siril was already installed via macport, uninstall it (if not, go directly to next step):
It is also recommended to uninstall macports. To do it, visit this page: https://guide.macports.org/chunked/installing.macports.uninstalling.html
- Installation of Homebrew
More details are listed on Homebrew website: https://brew.sh/
First, install XCode via the App Store (free software) and install the command line tools by typing in a Terminal window:
Then, you can install Homebrew.
The script explains what it will do and then pauses before it does it.
- Installation of Siril
Copy the following line in the terminal :
- Updates
When a new version of Siril is available, copy this line to the terminal:
and download the new .app file.
Enjoy!!
Installation from source is recommended if you want the latest features, if the past release is getting old or if you want to participate in improving Siril. Many users are reporting tweaks they would like, and we often implement them rapidly, so that would be one way to benefit from them. The other way is to use the Ubuntu PPA repository, which is updated with intermediate versions more often.
The sources are stored on a git repository, you can download them with this command the first time:
And update it the following times by typing git pull in the base directory.
Below is a list of dependencies. Siril can be compiled either using autotools or meson. The autotools ways is well known in the unix world, once the source has been downloaded and the prerequisites have been installed, the general way to build it is as such:
possibly with superuser privileges.
You may want to pass specific options to the compiler, for example like that if you want optimisation and installation in /opt instead of the default /usr/local:
To launch Siril, the command name is siril.
The other, newer (since version 0.99.4), way is to use meson and ninja:
Dependencies
Siril depends on a number of libraries, most of which should be available in your operating system if it is recent enough. The names of the packages specific to operating systems are listed in each section below. Mandatory dependencies are:
- gtk+3 (Graphical user interface library), at least version 3.20
- cfitsio (FITS images support)
- fftw (Discrete Fourier Transform library)
- gsl (The GNU Scientific Library), version 1 or 2 starting with release 0.9.1 or SVN revision 1040
- libconfig (Structured configuration files support)
- OpenCV and a C++ compiler for some image operations
- Exiv2 to manage image metadata.
- libjson-glib from GNOME, to parse JSON text for update checking and more soon.
Note: even if Siril can run in console since version 0.9.9, it is still linked against the graphical libraries, so you still need GTK+ to compile and run it.
Optional dependencies are:
- libraw, libtiff, libjpeg, libpng, libheif for RAW, TIFF, JPEG, PNG and HEIF images import and export. The libraries are detected at compilation-time.
- FFMS2 for film native support as image sequences. It also allows frames to be extracted from many kinds of film, for other purposes than astronomy. Versions < 2.20 have an annoying bug. It is recommended to install the latest version.
- ffmpeg (or libav), providing libavformat, libavutil (>= 55.20), libavcodec, libswscale and libswresample for mp4 sequence export
- libcurl for new Siril release checking online.
- gnuplot for photometry graph creation (not required at compilation time)
Build dependencies
To install from source, you will have to install the base development packages:
The compilers gcc and g++ from this list can be replaced by clang and clang++ (we use them for development), probably others as well.
The autotools packages (autoconf, automake, probably some others) can be replaced by meson.
Installing on Debian
For a desktop system, the next stable is probably the better choice, called Debian testing, currently version 10 with codename Buster. Otherwise, Siril should still work with Debian 8 Jessie and 9 Stretch. You may want to build a .deb package instead of using a non-packaged version, in that case see this help. In particular, to install dependencies, you can use the command:
Otherwise, here is the list of packages for the current version:
- Packages required for the build system:
- List of packages for mandatory dependencies:
- List of packages for optional dependencies:
for film input (AVI and others) support: libffms2-dev.
Note that libtiff5 is incompatible with OpenCV in debian 7, in that case you need to install libtiff4 instead. And in debian 8, libjpeg8-dev has been replaced by libjpeg62-turbo-dev, which is also installed by libtiff5-dev.
For debian 10 and siril 1.0, here's a complete list of packages to install to build from git (adding git, cmake, libexiv2-dev):
For the float branch, and soon the master, a submodule must be initialised before calling autogen:
Installing on Ubuntu & Linux Mint
A list of dependencies has been reported, for building the executable from source. Use the following command to install all of them:
- Ubuntu 14.04 & Linux Mint 17.X
- Ubuntu 16.04 & Linux Mint 18.X
- Ubuntu 18.04, 20.04 & Linux Mint 19.X (for Siril 0.99 and above)
Then proceed with the normal procedure:
Installing on Fedora
Then proceed with the normal procedure:
and, with superuser privileges
Installing on Arch Linux
Vincent maintains a release-based AUR package and a development version AUR package for Siril. Download the PKGBUILD or the repository, install dependencies, run makepkg to build the package and pacman -U to install it.
Installing on FreeBSD 10
The list of dependencies is basically the same as for other OS, below are a list for build dependencies and a list of Siril dependencies:
The only package not available as binary is ffms2, for film files handling, you will need to compile it from source.
Compilation and the software are working fine with the default clang (cc) compiler. As clang 3.8 appeared in FreeBSD 10 with OpenMP support (clang38 in pkg), Siril can be compiled with it using the following configure command:
It is also possible to install gcc 4.8 or gcc 5 in FreeBSD. Make sure to link with the OS official compiler however, cc or c++ and not gcc or g++, otherwise the generated binary will be incorrect. That's also why the -lgomp is required to link it:
Installing on Mac OS X
Deprecated method, via macport
Install XCode via the App Store (free software).
Install XQuartz via http://xquartz.macosforge.org/landing/ (free software)
Install the command line tools by typing in a Terminal window: xcode-select --install
Install the MacPorts software (free): http://www.macports.org (Follow the installation instructions on this site.)
The following is done in a Terminal window. One should first install some libraries:
Now we want to make available multithreading in cfitsio:In the following directory:
Edit the file:Portfile
Change the line
by
Then:
Also install some optional dependencies (recommanded):
Now you can manually install libjpeg (if you want to work with JPEG files):
Now you can manually install giflib (if you want to be able to export GIF files) which is too old in macport:Download giflib sources at this url:
and put the file in your home directory
Install the ffms2 library which is not present in MacPorts. Download it here: https://github.com/FFMS/ffms2, in the ffms2 folder, type from the terminal:
Download the SIRIL sources:
In the terminal go to the siril folder:
Generate the configure file by typing:
To install Siril, use the usual:
Launch Siril:
Enjoy!
Installing on Windows
These instructions are made for compiling on Windows with MSYS2 distribution using MinGW. MSYS2 requires 64 bit Windows 7 or newer, and does not work with FAT filesystems.
Download MSYS2 64bit, a software distribution and building platform for Windows and run the installer - 'x86_64' for 64-bit. When asked, specify the directory where MSYS2 64bit will be installed.
Run MSYS2 directly from the installer or later 'MSYS2 MinGW 64 bit' from Start menu or shortcut.
First, update the package database and core system packages by typing (for more info about pacman see this page):
pacman -Syu
Installing dependencies:Note: automake is the legacy (stable) build method, now being replaced by meson (experimental) build system.
Warning: meson will need a restart of MSYS2 to be usable.
Also install some optional dependencies (recommended):
Building Siril from source:
The source code is stored on a gitlab repository, you can download it with this command the first time:
In the terminal go to the siril folder:
Now, meson and ninja are the official way to build siril on Windows: Generate the build system and compile the code by typing:
To launch your build of Siril:
Run MSYS2 64bit and type siril's command name:
You can also create a shortcut to siril.exe to start it, the default location is /mingw64/bin/.
To update your version:
Run MSYS2 64bit then
If git pull does not show any change, there is no need to rebuild by running the make command. Otherwise, it will update your build.
Post-processing astrophotography images is mandatory: you cannot avoid it. It can be a fairly long and technical process, but it is necessary to squeeze out the most you can from your images.
Everything begins with pre-processing your images, a step including image calibration and image stacking, which we have already covered in this article.
After that, it is time to post-process your stacked image with your software of choice. In this article, we will discuss the different options that are available to post-process your astrophotography images.
Note: Don't miss the detailed video at the end of this article, It was created to help show you how to process your images with some of the software mentioned in this article.
Click here to skip to our Image Processing Demo Video.
What Does Post-Processing Mean In Astrophotography?
In astrophotography, the post-processing includes steps that are crucial to the quality of the final image. Those steps can be summarized as:
- Histogram stretching
- Gradients and light pollution removal
- Stars color calibration
- Stars reduction and Stars removal
- Sharpening and noise reduction
- Final tweaks
Of the steps mentioned above, it is worth to spend a few words on the Histogram Stretching, as it is of utmost importance in deep-sky astrophotography.
What Histogram Stretching Is And Why You Need It
With image stacking, you have combined all your light frames (the actual images of the sky) into a single image with an enhanced signal-to-noise ratio.
With deep sky astrophotography, this stacked image can be surprisingly dark, with only a few bright stars visible.
There is nothing wrong with it, as all the details and information are there, but hidden in the dark background. And this is why this process also goes under the name of background extraction.
Histogram stretching can be done manually using Adobe Photoshop or in automatic/semi-automatic way using astrophotography software such as Astro Pixel Processor, Star Tools, or His Majesty PixInsight.
A rigorous explanation on how digital data are recorded and how the histogram works can become fairly technical and is beyond the scope of this article.
To keep it simple, let's say that when you perform the stretching of the histogram, you are broadening the histogram. Thus pushing details that were crammed in the blacks towards the middle tones.
And you do that slowly, in small steps, to ensure retaining the best possible image quality.
The process allows us to take full advantage of the image stacking process, and it results in a cleaner, brighter image with a lot of details that were not visible (or barely visible) in the single exposures.
Stars Reduction / Stars Removal
Star reduction is another process that is standard when editing deep-sky astrophotography.
While it seems odd that you want to shrink or remove stars from a photo about stars, this process aims to make the multitude of visible stars in the image less imposing and distracting.
By reducing enlarged stars due to the histogram stretching and by removing the smallest stars, you make the deep sky objects in the image more visible, as shown in the image below.
The procedure is particularly useful when shooting deep-sky objects, such as nebulae, that are in the Milky Way Band.
Software For Astrophotography Post-Processing
We can group the software for astrophotography post-processing in two categories:
- generic photo editors, such as Photoshop, Gimp, Affinity Photo, etc.
- Astrophotography editors, such as StarTools, Nebulosity, Astro Pixel Processor, Pixinsight, etc.
The main advantage of generic photo editors over specific astrophotography editors is versatility.
With a generic photo editor, it is easy to post-process all kinds of astrophotography, from deep-sky imaging to lunar and planetary shots, passing for star trails and starry landscapes.
In this article, for example, we discussed how to stack starry landscape images in Photoshop.
Not many astrophotography editors are this flexible.
Here is a list of software that are most commonly used to post-process astrophotography images.
Adobe Lightroom CC
Mac Astronomy Software — MAC OBSERVATORY
Generic Photo Editor | Commercial From $9.99 Subscription Plan | Windows, Mac OS X, IOS
Astro Gold For MacOS - Elegant Astrological Software For ...
Pros
- Easy to use
- Powerful image development and image organizer
- Easy integration with Photoshop
- Can use photographic plugins
Cons
- Can't do the complex editing needed for astrophotography (histogram stretching, Stars Reduction, etc)
- Limited to cosmetic tweaks
Adobe Lightroom is a popular, easy to use and fairly powerful RAW developer and image organizer.
Its usefulness in astrophotography is somewhat limited, as you cannot perform complex tasks such as histogram stretching, advanced light pollution, and gradient removal, star reduction, etc.
On the other hand, it is a terrific editor for the final cosmetic tweaks to your image and to organize them in collections, per tag, and location. Lightroom is also great for color proofing your images before printing them.
If you are subscribing to the Adobe Photography Plan, you also have Photoshop CC included for free. And here is where things get interesting.
To get the best from the two worlds, load your stacked images in Lightroom, organize them in collections, and call Photoshop from within Lightroom for the astro-specific editing (histogram stretching, etc.).
Then make the final tweaks in Lightroom.
Adobe Photoshop CC
Generic Photo Editor | Commercial From $9.99 Subscription Plan | Windows, Mac OS X, IOS
Pros
- Versatile and Powerful Photo Editor / Image Manipulation Software
- Suitable for deep sky and planetary astrophotography as well as star trails and starry landscapes
- Astrophotography Action Sets and Plugins Available
- Subscription Plan with Photography Bundle
MixAmp Pro – ASTRO Gaming CRT
Cons
- Lacks Some Advanced Features for Astrophotography
Photoshop is one of the most commonly used software in the field of photography editing and image manipulation, and it can be used to post-process astrophotography work.
If you are a beginner astrophotographer, you are on a tight budget or you already own Photoshop, you should give it a try as all the basic post-processing steps can be performed in this software.
If you need more advanced features, you can also expand Photoshop capabilities thanks to many astrophotography related Action Sets, Plugins, and Panels.
Finally, with Camera Raw filter and other photographic plugins (like for smart sharpening and advance noise reduction), you can perform with ease all the final tweaks an image may need.
As a Photoshop user, I tried many plugins and action sets for astrophotography, and here is my must-have extensions list.
Astronomy Tools by ProDigital
Actions Pack For Deep Sky Astrophotography| Commercial $21.95 | Windows, Mac OS X
A rich set of actions suitable for post-processing astrophotography images. The set includes actions such as star reduction, enhanced DSO, light pollution and color gradient removal, sharpening, and noise reduction.
Photokemi's Star Tools by Ken Mitchel
Actions Pack For Deep Sky Astrophotography | Commercial $14.95 | Windows, Mac OSX
Similarly to Astronomy Tools, this action set is most useful for deep space astrophotography.
It offers advanced star removal and star reducing actions, semi-automatic histogram stretching, different sharpening and noise reduction actions, as well as actions such as nebula filters and star color enhancement.
There is also a set of extra actions, available for $6.95.
GradientXterminator by Russell Croman
Plugin For Deep Sky Astrophotography | Commercial $49.95 | Windows, Mac OS X
This plugin is a gradient removal tool that is easy to use and extremely effective. Despite a rather steep price (a trial is available for you to test the plugin), this is a terrific add-on for Photoshop, if you are serious about deep-sky astrophotography.
Hasta La Vista Green! (HLVG) by Regelio Bernard Andreo
Plugin For Deep Sky Astrophotography | Donationware | Windows
Despite its old age, this plugin is still useful, and it does an excellent job of removing green noise and the green casts such noise may cause in some images.
Astro Panel By Angelo Perrone
Panel For Starry Landscape And Deep Sky Astrophotography | Commercial | Windows, Mac OS X
Astro Panel consists of a rich set of functions and methods that produce high quality starry landscapes and Milky Way images.
It is also easy to process Deep Sky Photos thanks to advanced functions for reducing digital noise and hot-pixels, eliminating the gradient, managing artificial flat, and much more …
Furthermore, astronomical images aside, you can use the Astro Panel to edit classic landscape images too.
Histogram stretching can be done manually using Adobe Photoshop or in automatic/semi-automatic way using astrophotography software such as Astro Pixel Processor, Star Tools, or His Majesty PixInsight.
A rigorous explanation on how digital data are recorded and how the histogram works can become fairly technical and is beyond the scope of this article.
To keep it simple, let's say that when you perform the stretching of the histogram, you are broadening the histogram. Thus pushing details that were crammed in the blacks towards the middle tones.
And you do that slowly, in small steps, to ensure retaining the best possible image quality.
The process allows us to take full advantage of the image stacking process, and it results in a cleaner, brighter image with a lot of details that were not visible (or barely visible) in the single exposures.
Stars Reduction / Stars Removal
Star reduction is another process that is standard when editing deep-sky astrophotography.
While it seems odd that you want to shrink or remove stars from a photo about stars, this process aims to make the multitude of visible stars in the image less imposing and distracting.
By reducing enlarged stars due to the histogram stretching and by removing the smallest stars, you make the deep sky objects in the image more visible, as shown in the image below.
The procedure is particularly useful when shooting deep-sky objects, such as nebulae, that are in the Milky Way Band.
Software For Astrophotography Post-Processing
We can group the software for astrophotography post-processing in two categories:
- generic photo editors, such as Photoshop, Gimp, Affinity Photo, etc.
- Astrophotography editors, such as StarTools, Nebulosity, Astro Pixel Processor, Pixinsight, etc.
The main advantage of generic photo editors over specific astrophotography editors is versatility.
With a generic photo editor, it is easy to post-process all kinds of astrophotography, from deep-sky imaging to lunar and planetary shots, passing for star trails and starry landscapes.
In this article, for example, we discussed how to stack starry landscape images in Photoshop.
Not many astrophotography editors are this flexible.
Here is a list of software that are most commonly used to post-process astrophotography images.
Adobe Lightroom CC
Mac Astronomy Software — MAC OBSERVATORY
Generic Photo Editor | Commercial From $9.99 Subscription Plan | Windows, Mac OS X, IOS
Astro Gold For MacOS - Elegant Astrological Software For ...
Pros
- Easy to use
- Powerful image development and image organizer
- Easy integration with Photoshop
- Can use photographic plugins
Cons
- Can't do the complex editing needed for astrophotography (histogram stretching, Stars Reduction, etc)
- Limited to cosmetic tweaks
Adobe Lightroom is a popular, easy to use and fairly powerful RAW developer and image organizer.
Its usefulness in astrophotography is somewhat limited, as you cannot perform complex tasks such as histogram stretching, advanced light pollution, and gradient removal, star reduction, etc.
On the other hand, it is a terrific editor for the final cosmetic tweaks to your image and to organize them in collections, per tag, and location. Lightroom is also great for color proofing your images before printing them.
If you are subscribing to the Adobe Photography Plan, you also have Photoshop CC included for free. And here is where things get interesting.
To get the best from the two worlds, load your stacked images in Lightroom, organize them in collections, and call Photoshop from within Lightroom for the astro-specific editing (histogram stretching, etc.).
Then make the final tweaks in Lightroom.
Adobe Photoshop CC
Generic Photo Editor | Commercial From $9.99 Subscription Plan | Windows, Mac OS X, IOS
Pros
- Versatile and Powerful Photo Editor / Image Manipulation Software
- Suitable for deep sky and planetary astrophotography as well as star trails and starry landscapes
- Astrophotography Action Sets and Plugins Available
- Subscription Plan with Photography Bundle
MixAmp Pro – ASTRO Gaming CRT
Cons
- Lacks Some Advanced Features for Astrophotography
Photoshop is one of the most commonly used software in the field of photography editing and image manipulation, and it can be used to post-process astrophotography work.
If you are a beginner astrophotographer, you are on a tight budget or you already own Photoshop, you should give it a try as all the basic post-processing steps can be performed in this software.
If you need more advanced features, you can also expand Photoshop capabilities thanks to many astrophotography related Action Sets, Plugins, and Panels.
Finally, with Camera Raw filter and other photographic plugins (like for smart sharpening and advance noise reduction), you can perform with ease all the final tweaks an image may need.
As a Photoshop user, I tried many plugins and action sets for astrophotography, and here is my must-have extensions list.
Astronomy Tools by ProDigital
Actions Pack For Deep Sky Astrophotography| Commercial $21.95 | Windows, Mac OS X
A rich set of actions suitable for post-processing astrophotography images. The set includes actions such as star reduction, enhanced DSO, light pollution and color gradient removal, sharpening, and noise reduction.
Photokemi's Star Tools by Ken Mitchel
Actions Pack For Deep Sky Astrophotography | Commercial $14.95 | Windows, Mac OSX
Similarly to Astronomy Tools, this action set is most useful for deep space astrophotography.
It offers advanced star removal and star reducing actions, semi-automatic histogram stretching, different sharpening and noise reduction actions, as well as actions such as nebula filters and star color enhancement.
There is also a set of extra actions, available for $6.95.
GradientXterminator by Russell Croman
Plugin For Deep Sky Astrophotography | Commercial $49.95 | Windows, Mac OS X
This plugin is a gradient removal tool that is easy to use and extremely effective. Despite a rather steep price (a trial is available for you to test the plugin), this is a terrific add-on for Photoshop, if you are serious about deep-sky astrophotography.
Hasta La Vista Green! (HLVG) by Regelio Bernard Andreo
Plugin For Deep Sky Astrophotography | Donationware | Windows
Despite its old age, this plugin is still useful, and it does an excellent job of removing green noise and the green casts such noise may cause in some images.
Astro Panel By Angelo Perrone
Panel For Starry Landscape And Deep Sky Astrophotography | Commercial | Windows, Mac OS X
Astro Panel consists of a rich set of functions and methods that produce high quality starry landscapes and Milky Way images.
It is also easy to process Deep Sky Photos thanks to advanced functions for reducing digital noise and hot-pixels, eliminating the gradient, managing artificial flat, and much more …
Furthermore, astronomical images aside, you can use the Astro Panel to edit classic landscape images too.
Affinity Photo
Generic Photo Editor | Commercial $49.99 | Windows, Mac OS X, IOS ($19.99)
Pros
- Affordable
- Powerful
- The interface and commands are similar to Photoshop for an easy switch
- Suitable for deep sky and planetary astrophotography as well as star trails and starry landscapes
Cons
- Lacks third-party actions sets, plugins and panels
Affinity Photo from Serif Lab is a great, affordable alternative to Photoshop, and you do not need to pay for a subscription plan.
With Affinity Photo, you can carry out with ease all of the basic astrophotography post-processing.
But since there are no plugins, action sets, and panels to help you out, you have to learn to do things manually, even the more advanced tasks such as star reduction.
Gimp
Photo Editor | Freeware | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Pros
- Freeware
- Great community and lot of info available
- Powerful
- Suitable for deep sky and planetary astrophotography as well as star trails and starry landscapes
Cons
- Interface a bit confused
- Lacks third-party actions sets, plugins and panels
Gimp is the historical freeware alternative to Photoshop. Since it is freeware and on the market for many years, there is a big community of users, so it is easy to find relevant tutorials and guides to help you out.
The software has a slightly confusing interface, particularly if you are trying to switch from Photoshop, but it is powerful enough to let you edit your astrophotography images with ease.
Unfortunately, there are no third-party action sets, plugins, or panels to help you automate some tasks. As with Affinity Photo, you have to learn how to do everything manually.
Star Tools
Astrophotography Post-Processing Tools | Commercial $45 | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Pros
- Affordable
- Multiplatform
- Offers many advanced tools
- Trial without time limit
Cons
- Interface bit confusing
- Convoluted workflow
- Slower than other software
StarTools is a deep-sky post-process editor that does everything you need except the initial light frame calibration and stacking.
Once you have the stacked image from, say, Deep Sky Stacker, you can post-process it in StarTools, taking advantage of the many tools the software has to offer.
The interface is a bit confusing, and it may take a while to get used to the convoluted editing workflow.
Fortunately, the trial version never expires, so you can take all the time you need to experiment with StarTools before deciding if it is for you or not. The only limitation of the trial is that you cannot save your results.
SiriL
Multipurpose Astrophotography Editor | Freeware | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Pros
- Freeware
- Multiplatform
- Active Development
- Suitable for different kinds of astrophotography
- Fairly easy to use
- Powerful full-grown astrophotography software
Cons
- Develop the image is a lengthy process
- Interface a bit confused
I'm no expert with SiriL, but it is probably the only full-grown astrophotography editor that is freeware and multiplatform.
Siril will allow you to perform all the essential steps in your astrophotography editing workflow, from image calibration and stacking to (manual or auto) histogram stretching and post-processing.
Since it is free, if you are looking for an astrophotography package, SirilL is worth downloading and having a go with it.
Nebulosity
Deep Sky Astrophotography Editor | Commercial $95 | Windows, Mac OS X
Pros
- Capable full astrophotography editor
- Can calibrate and stack your images
- It offers many advanced tools
Cons
- Not abandonware, but development is somehow slow
- The interface feels old and not very user friendly
Nebulosity 4 was my first software specific to astrophotography. It is intended for deep sky astrophotography and is fairly easy to use.
It offers a good way to calibrate and stack your images, and you can use it for stretching the histogram, tighten the stars, calibrate the background colors, and perform sharpening and noise reduction.
But the interface is not as intuitive, it looks 'old,' and while development is there, it is not as quick compared with other software.
Astro Pixel Processor
Deep Sky Astrophotography Editor | Commercial €60/Yr (Renter's License) Or €150 (Owner's Renter) | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Pro
- Great deep sky astrophotography package
- Powerful
- Easy to use
- Batch processing
- 30-days free trial available
- Suitable for creating stunning mosaic with ease
- Active development
- Rental license available
Cons
- Vignetting removal tool could be better
- No Stars Reduction methods available
Astro Pixel Processor is my goto software for my deep sky astrophotography and I decided to go with the renter's license to always work with the latest version of the software.
The interface is easy to navigate, options are explained by text messages that appear when you hover on the options with the mouse, and the different tabs are numbered.
This means that there is no guessing in establishing the best workflow: just follow the numbers from 1 to 6 and jump at the tab number 9 for post-processing the stacked image.
You can run all the steps once at a time or set them up and run all with a batch processing: this way, you can do other stuff while the software calibrates and stacks your images.
If you are looking for a way to edit your deep-sky images and create mosaics, I vouch for Astro Pixel Processor.
PixInsight
Multipurpose Astrophotography Editor | Commercial €230+VAT | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Pros
- The best and most complete astrophotography editor on the market
- Multiplatform
- Suitable for Planetary and Deep-Sky astrophotography
- 45-days free trial available
Cons
- Expensive
- Extremely steep learning curve
- Requires a powerful computer to run smoothly and conveniently fast
I will be honest with you: I requested a trial (and it was granted twice), but both times I ran away from PixInsight screaming in despair.
Not that PixInsight is bad or lacks crucial functions, but because it is very complicated to use for beginners and the learning curve is very steep.
Granted, PixInsight, being the software of refinement for the category, there are tons of tutorials and guides online (Light Vortex Astronomy has some of the best ones and are free). But you need to spend a lot of time in front of your computer, particularly if you have an old one.
But if you can master it, you will be rewarded with Pro-grade deep sky astrophotography images.
A Comprehensive Video About Post-Processing
In this video, I show you how to post-process a deep sky image using some of the software discussed in this article.
While it is not a complete tutorial in post-processing deep sky images, it gives you a feeling of how easy (or not) is to use those software and where they differ.
Conclusions
Stacking astrophotography images is only the first step in the lengthy astrophotography editing process. In this article, we have discussed the different software that is available to post-process the stacked image to obtain a compelling image of the night sky.
Some are free, some are commercial, some are specific to deep sky astrophotography while others are generic photography editors, and they all have their pros and cons.
This guide will help you to decide which software is best for you.
Personally, I am a fan of Astro Pixel Processor for deep sky astrophotography, as it is powerful and easy to use, and of Photoshop for its flexibility.
