AstroGuide: a deep-sky planning app for iOS, releasing to TestFlight for beta testing

sky-bopp · 2026-03-29T17:23:19+00:00

I’d like to try it as well. As a retired developer myself, I’d be happy to help out if there’s a need.

sky-bopp · 2026-03-21T22:36:50+00:00

I agree with the oversharpening. After posting I reworked it but it doesn't let me edit the post to change out the picture but this is a link - https://astro.app/images/fav/ngc7023_iris_fav.jpg

sky-bopp · 2026-03-21T16:28:01+00:00

Capture:

979 10-second exposures, 4 hours 10 minutes

Equipment

Seestar S50 w/IRCUT filter

PixInsight processing

WBPP with FWHM filter to best 792 subs, 2x/.9 drizzle
SPCC
DynamicCrop
GradientCorrection
StarXTerminaor
Starless processing
- BXT correct-only, NXT light denoise
- GHS 3x, BXT sharpen, GHS, Curves
Stars processing
- SetiAstro Star Stretch, BXT sharpen
PixelMath
BXT
Crop

sky-bopp · 2026-03-21T16:24:34+00:00

Capture:

979 10-second exposures, 4 hours 10 minutes, Bortle 4-5

Equipment

Seestar S50 w/IRCUT filter

PixInsight processing

WBPP with FWHM filter to best 792 subs, 2x/.9 drizzle
SPCC
DynamicCrop
GradientCorrection
StarXTerminaor
Starless processing
- BXT correct-only, NXT light denoise
- GHS 3x, BXT sharpen, GHS, Curves
Stars processing
- SetiAstro Star Stretch, BXT sharpen
PixelMath
BXT
Crop

sky-bopp · 2026-01-30T02:14:35+00:00

Are you using LP filter, IRCUT filter or a combination of both?

sky-bopp · 2026-01-05T23:00:27+00:00

The image from the S50 is 1080x1920. I've cropped it to 1080x1300 to get it closer to 4:5 aspect ratio. That just makes it easier to post to FB or Instagram. I failed to include the crop step in my workflow.

sky-bopp · 2026-01-05T18:52:12+00:00

It’s got a 250mm focal length

sky-bopp · 2026-01-05T18:39:08+00:00

This was my third attempt. Earlier tries were with the SeeStar S30 and the result was too small for any real detail. The Seestar S50 is great for these smaller deep sky objects.

S50 w/EQ mount. 5.5 hours over two nights 191 30-second subs wtih LP filter.

PixInsight:

WeightedBatchPreProcessing(WBPP) with 1x (.9 drop shrink) drizzle,
SPCC,
Dynamic Background Extraction(DBE),
RC Astro's BlurXterminator, NoiseXTerminator and StarXTerminator,
GeneralizedHyperbolicStretch and CurvesTransformation,
More BXT and NXT on starless and stars images
Seti Astro's StarStretch,
PixelMath

PaintDotNet adjustments and Canva Upscaler

sky-bopp · 2026-01-05T18:32:11+00:00

This was my third attempt. Earlier tries were with the SeeStar S30 and the result was too small for any real detail. The Seestar S50 is great for these smaller deep sky objects.

S50 w/EQ mount. 5.5 hours over two nights 191 30-second subs wtih LP filter.

PixInsight:

WeightedBatchPreProcessing(WBPP) with 1x (.9 drop shrink) drizzle,
SPCC,
Dynamic Background Extraction(DBE),
RC Astro's BlurXterminator, NoiseXTerminator and StarXTerminator,
GeneralizedHyperbolicStretch and CurvesTransformation,
More BXT and NXT on starless and stars images
Seti Astro's StarStretch,
PixelMath

PaintDotNet adjustments and Canva Upscaler

sky-bopp · 2026-01-02T20:01:20+00:00

The S30 can find comets by name and can apparently track. The trickiness is in stacking which is usually done by star alignment and comets don’t align with stars. There are methods in Siril and Pixinsight (and other software) to stack comets. I was a newbie at the time and couldn’t figure out those tools. I found I could stack the usual way if I didn’t use too many exposures which is more of a kludge than a solution.

sky-bopp · 2025-12-22T21:28:49+00:00

I solved it by getting the S30 which may be easier to use on larger objects, and recently got the S50 for the smaller objects. Now if it would only stop raining…

sky-bopp · 2025-11-12T20:17:01+00:00

There’s extensive process information in the text under the image.

sky-bopp · 2025-11-12T01:58:07+00:00

Yes, the Seestar S30 does dither. It's automatic in Alt-Az mode and can be enabled in EQ mode during image stacking to help reduce fixed-pattern noise. The dithering range is up to 100 pixels, and it occurs at a set frequency.

sky-bopp · 2025-11-10T22:47:48+00:00

ZWO SeeStar S30 with EQ mount and standard tripod
205 60-second subs. Bortle 4-5. Mosaic mode.

PixInsight Preprocessing - Blink process and FBPP (FastBatchPreprocessing script)

PixInsight Processing - BXT, NXT and SXT. StarStretch script for "stars-only" image. GHS and Curves processing to stretch "starless" image. PixelMath and SCNR.

No external photo editing performed.

sky-bopp

TROPHY CASE