I have been using Adobe Photoshop to stack my exposures of whatever my target is. It's getting frustrating quickly. I have to manually stack all of my photos, which means moving the images pixel by pixel to line them up and then average them. I'm using a Mac and it looks like software like DeepSkyStacker and other free stackers are only for Windows. I would rather not pay for a software unless there's good reviews for it. I am mainly doing wide-field (roughly 4 degrees on each side of a square for my FOV). Any suggestions on what auto-stacking software is out there?
Stacking Software
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If you are even semi serious about this hobby, you are going to have to invest in a Windows machine.
That said, PixInsight is available for Mac and will stack great. Won't be free though it comes with a trial period.
That said, PixInsight is available for Mac and will stack great. Won't be free though it comes with a trial period.
Check out https://www.macobservatory.com/mac-astronomy-software for Mac people.
I recommend starting with Siril. Yes, PixInsight is the 800 lb gorilla, but Siril is free and works quite well.
Ed
Edit: Photoshop can automatically align multiple layers, but it is not as good as astro dedicated stackers (too simple).
I recommend starting with Siril. Yes, PixInsight is the 800 lb gorilla, but Siril is free and works quite well.
Ed
Edit: Photoshop can automatically align multiple layers, but it is not as good as astro dedicated stackers (too simple).
I would concur with the above post: get Siril and learn how to use it.
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Siril can get you a long way and works on Mac. StarnetV2 CLI Mac is supposed to work with Siril on Mac. There are instructions out there. Don't throw out PS, Siril has a lot of tools but it is missing a good curves tool and cropping and exporting is easier in PS. Learn to use the best of both.
Concise
I’ve been using CCDStack2 from CCDWare for years to clean, align and stack images. Easy to use and very effective.
CS, Bob
CS, Bob
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Let me get this straight: you spend a lot of money every month on a subscription to Photoshop, but you don't want to pay a ridiculous $30 or so for a program like Starry Sky Stacker?
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One can get quite serious with this hobby and not have a Windows machine…do not let that worry you. At worst, you can get one of the cheapest of those machines later to handle some software. There's plenty you can do in the meantime.
I have Pixinsight and use use for some procedures, but I find that AstroPixel Processor is every bit as good as a stacker. It's also got some extra tricks up its sleeve, and it's all designed with the Mac-like elegance that we expect of modern software. For example, one doesn't need an instruction manual or facilitator to put it to immediate use.
That being said, Pixinsight has little competition when it comes to stretching details out of an image, though I still tend to finish up in Photoshop.
I have Pixinsight and use use for some procedures, but I find that AstroPixel Processor is every bit as good as a stacker. It's also got some extra tricks up its sleeve, and it's all designed with the Mac-like elegance that we expect of modern software. For example, one doesn't need an instruction manual or facilitator to put it to immediate use.
That being said, Pixinsight has little competition when it comes to stretching details out of an image, though I still tend to finish up in Photoshop.
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Siril is great I use it on my M1 Mac. There are tons of tutorials online for it. I also use GIMP if you don't want to pay for photoshop.
Arun H:
If you are even semi serious about this hobby, you are going to have to invest in a Windows machine.
That said, PixInsight is available for Mac and will stack great. Won't be free though it comes with a trial period.
Pixinsight runs on Linux too....and faster.
I do ALL of my astrophotography processing on a Mac. A Windows computer can be nice to have if you'd like to experiment/use other software but it isn't necessary by any means, as some others have suggested. Lately I've been using a combination of Astro Pixel Processor, PixInsight, and Photoshop. For stacking, I recommend downloading a 30-day trial of APP and watching some tutorials. APP isn't super intuitive but once you watch some APP workflow tutorials and then use it to stack subframes on your own you'll find it relatively easy to use. I haven't used Siril enough to say much about it one way or another. And yes, if you're serious about the hobby, you may as well start to learn PixInsight. Good luck!
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Jonathan Saine:
Pixinsight runs on Linux too....and faster.
No doubt. My comment about Windows machines was not just for processing but also acquisition. I am sure you can somehow "make a Mac work" such that you can completely eliminate the need for a Windows machine, but I imagine it as a sort of nightmarish exercise. As an example, I tried using Polemaster with my Mac and it was a complete disaster. No doubt software exists for Mac, but it is nowhere near the range, capability or maturity of what exists for Windows. The most mature and capable acquisition software - NINA and Voyager - are not made for Mac. I am not sure to what extent ZWO and QHY test their drivers for Mac.
I will make one more comment of the cost of PixInsight. It costs about $300, I think. But it is a one time fee! I bought it in 2018, and have since not paid a single cent more. Every other piece of software I use comes with a subscription fee. It is not unreasonable for people to charge money for their efforts, and PixInsight is very generous for what it gives you.
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Arun H:Jonathan Saine:
Pixinsight runs on Linux too....and faster.
No doubt. My comment about Windows machines was not just for processing but also acquisition. I am sure you can somehow "make a Mac work" such that you can completely eliminate the need for a Windows machine, but I imagine it as a sort of nightmarish exercise. As an example, I tried using Polemaster with my Mac and it was a complete disaster. No doubt software exists for Mac, but it is nowhere near the range, capability or maturity of what exists for Windows. The most mature and capable acquisition software - NINA and Voyager - are not made for Mac. I am not sure to what extent ZWO and QHY test their drivers for Mac.
I will make one more comment of the cost of PixInsight. It costs about $300, I think. But it is a one time fee! I bought it in 2018, and have since not paid a single cent more. Every other piece of software I use comes with a subscription fee. It is not unreasonable for people to charge money for their efforts, and PixInsight is very generous for what it gives you.
Not nightmarish at all. I do all my acquisition on a Mac as well, and polar align through plate solving. Sub 0.20" when guiding at all times. Macs work just fine.
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I do agree there are a lot of viable Mac alternatives available, I did start on the Mac but eventually graduated to a PC as I got deeper into image processing, for several reasons including CUDA which makes the AI components work significantly faster. I had done a quick talk for TAIC on image processing on the Mac at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceQw40-uJRc&t=1837s .. starting at 25 mins into the video, and cited a lot of references and links. I hope that helps!
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!00% Mac here.
Very early on, 2015 or so, I started stacking with with an old PC using DSS because I had not yet discovered Pixinsight.
The only nightmare I had was trying to run Microsoft Desktop with an expensive Italian onboard computer systen that I could not get to work properly.
Since switching to ASIAIR Pro, Pixinsight and all it's processes and Photoshop and all it's plugins, are all I use. If I did planetary or lunar I would definitely use Siril.
There are processes in Pixinsight that are absolutely essential to doing this hobby properly and anyone who does not utilize some sort of image manipulating program such as Photoshop is probably missing an entire aspect of photo rendering.
Every aspect of my imaging is very simple and effective from capture to post processing and not affected by any computer or computer program related issues using a Mac.
I know there are a lot of Narrow Band imagers that don't take OSC imagers and Mac for that matter, seriously and that is fine, but I think just about anything can be accomplished if the right combination of gear is used properly.
scott
Very early on, 2015 or so, I started stacking with with an old PC using DSS because I had not yet discovered Pixinsight.
The only nightmare I had was trying to run Microsoft Desktop with an expensive Italian onboard computer systen that I could not get to work properly.
Since switching to ASIAIR Pro, Pixinsight and all it's processes and Photoshop and all it's plugins, are all I use. If I did planetary or lunar I would definitely use Siril.
There are processes in Pixinsight that are absolutely essential to doing this hobby properly and anyone who does not utilize some sort of image manipulating program such as Photoshop is probably missing an entire aspect of photo rendering.
Every aspect of my imaging is very simple and effective from capture to post processing and not affected by any computer or computer program related issues using a Mac.
I know there are a lot of Narrow Band imagers that don't take OSC imagers and Mac for that matter, seriously and that is fine, but I think just about anything can be accomplished if the right combination of gear is used properly.
scott
So the Mac vs Windows rivalry is alive and well, even after so many years. 
If you like Mac… go Mac. If you like Windows… go Windows. I hate them both equally, but Windows for me.
If you like Mac… go Mac. If you like Windows… go Windows. I hate them both equally, but Windows for me.
I have been using Adobe Photoshop to stack my exposures of whatever my target is. It's getting frustrating quickly. I have to manually stack all of my photos, which means moving the images pixel by pixel to line them up and then average them. I'm using a Mac and it looks like software like DeepSkyStacker and other free stackers are only for Windows. I would rather not pay for a software unless there's good reviews for it. I am mainly doing wide-field (roughly 4 degrees on each side of a square for my FOV). Any suggestions on what auto-stacking software is out there?
* I think you should give SIRIL a try. It is free and works pretty well on Mac: https://siril.org/download/
ASTAP is also a free and very respected option. It has a very powerful stacking window. There is a moderate learning curve you should consider but it is worth a try too.
https://www.hnsky.org/astap.htm
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One option I have not seen mentioned previously in this thread is ASIStudio. It's free and works on a MAC. It works well for good data sets but can be fussy with low SNR images. DeepSky Stacker is more robust. Eventually you might consider Pixinsight as your skills progress.
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Check out https://www.macobservatory.com/mac-astronomy-software for Mac people.
I recommend starting with Siril. Yes, PixInsight is the 800 lb gorilla, but Siril is free and works quite well.
Ed
Edit: Photoshop can automatically align multiple layers, but it is not as good as astro dedicated stackers (too simple).
thanks
Just like almost everyone said, I'd go with the free SiriL at first. It's great! It kind of did for processing what N.I.N.A did for acquisition, made it easy and accessible.
Later you can go with PixInsight when you need features that are not in SiriL.
Off-topic, Mac vs Windows is indeed still alive.
I've been forced to use a mac for work since 4 years ago and I dislike it for many reasons, like not being able to clearly cut&paste without a 3 or 4-key combo, ridiculous.
On windows it's ctrl+x then ctrl+v, none of that cmd-shift-option-whatever.
I equally dislike windows though, especially for what they've been doing to privacy lately.
So I'm preparing to switch to Nobara Linux and give that a try.
Later you can go with PixInsight when you need features that are not in SiriL.
Off-topic, Mac vs Windows is indeed still alive.
I've been forced to use a mac for work since 4 years ago and I dislike it for many reasons, like not being able to clearly cut&paste without a 3 or 4-key combo, ridiculous.
On windows it's ctrl+x then ctrl+v, none of that cmd-shift-option-whatever.
I equally dislike windows though, especially for what they've been doing to privacy lately.
So I'm preparing to switch to Nobara Linux and give that a try.
Helpful
Arun H:
If you are even semi serious about this hobby, you are going to have to invest in a Windows machine.
That said, PixInsight is available for Mac and will stack great. Won't be free though it comes with a trial period.
Good advice Arun! Someday I plan to get semi-serious about this hobby and ditch my Mac. I’m pretty sure that my Mac is the big reason that the IOTD judges keep overlooking my images so I’m shopping for a new Windows machine so that I can take it up a notch. ;-)
John
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Darius Mihai:
...
I've been forced to use a mac for work since 4 years ago and I dislike it for many reasons, like not being able to clearly cut&paste without a 3 or 4-key combo, ridiculous.
On windows it's ctrl+x then ctrl+v, none of that cmd-shift-option-whatever.
I equally dislike windows though, especially for what they've been doing to privacy lately.
So I'm preparing to switch to Nobara Linux and give that a try.
Hey Darius,
You should just ask them to give you a mouse! Right click/copy is just like Widoz. BTW, "ctrl+x then ctrl+v" came from DOS...and I'm sure that we all miss the simplicity of that operating system! I loved my days on Windoz and now that I use a Mac, I still miss all the random blue screens and having to reboot every few days just to keep it running. Fortunately, after running non-stop for nearly two years, my Mac went unstable the other day for some reason and I had to do a full reboot. That brought back a flood of fond memories from my PC days. Come to think of it, even though I cycle the power every day on the Windoz 10 PCs that run my remote scopes, I still have to occasionally completely reboot them during a session when they lock up. That's always fun when it's new moon and I get to waste clear sky time messing with unstable PCs running Windoz.
Good luck with Linux! Hopefully it's better.
John
John Hayes:
Good advice Arun! Someday I plan to get semi-serious about this hobby and ditch my Mac. I’m pretty sure that my Mac is the big reason that the IOTD judges keep overlooking my images so I’m shopping for a new Windows machine so that I can take it up a notch. ;-)
John
Lol, that comment was from over a year ago. It was reflective of my frustrations at the time, using Polemaster with my Mac and failing, and not having proper camera control software available for Mac. I'd love to get my current setup to work with a Mac with the same level of simplicity and cost, but the effort required to make it work isn't worth it (for me). As an example, things like the small box computers that I use to control my setup are just much easier to get with Windows. I just found things a lot simpler with Windows, but that's one person's opinion
As an aside, I find it a wonder how these old threads get revived on Astrobin. Well Written
Arun H:John Hayes:
Good advice Arun! Someday I plan to get semi-serious about this hobby and ditch my Mac. I’m pretty sure that my Mac is the big reason that the IOTD judges keep overlooking my images so I’m shopping for a new Windows machine so that I can take it up a notch. ;-)
John
Lol, that comment was from over a year ago. It was reflective of my frustrations at the time, using Polemaster with my Mac and failing, and not having proper camera control software available for Mac. I'd love to get my current setup to work with a Mac with the same level of simplicity and cost, but the effort required to make it work isn't worth it (for me). As an example, things like the small box computers that I use to control my setup are just much easier to get with Windows. I just found things a lot simpler with Windows, but that's one person's opinion
I'm sorry Arun. I just couldn't resist... :-)))))
John
Arun H:
If you are even semi serious about this hobby, you are going to have to invest in a Windows machine.
That said, PixInsight is available for Mac and will stack great. Won't be free though it comes with a trial period.
I use a Mac and have APP, Pixinsight, Photoshop, Affinity photo and Capture one.
I have a Windows pad I use for acquisition with on one of my Asiairs and it is pretty much a piece of crap compared to
any Apple product I own. It works but barely.
I used Window products at work for 20 years and after I retired I will never use one again except for my cheap little mini pad until it
stops working which will probably be soon.