Linux and Stacking

[jdmgray]

Hi everyone.

I'm currently running Linux on my laptop and just wanted to know the best stacking software is for an amateur to use.

I tried installing registax with wine but it didn't work.

I've tried out PIPP and didn't really get on with it.

So far the only one I've gotten my head around is Siril by free astro.

Would like to know what other software there is that works well on linux that is good for amateurs who have just started playing around with this. 

[rotatux]

Hello, I'm on Linux only so I will advise what I use often. For deep sky stacking you can try Regim (requires Java 6/8 depending on version). For video stacking (moon, planets) you can try cvastroalign, but you will have to guess how to use it -- though simple, it has no manual nor help.

You will also need a at-least-16-bit-depth image processing software (such as Gimp 2.9+ or Fotoxx).

[oleg_astro]

Hello,

I know about these free programs:

Image processing

1. Siril is meant to be Iris for Linux (sirI-L). It is an astronomical image processing tool, able to convert, pre-process images, help aligning them automatically or manually, stack them and enhance final images. Free.

2. AstroImageJ is ImageJ with astronomy plugins and macros installed. It includes tools based on the Göttingen ImageJ astronomical resources with additions we find useful. Because it was necessary to modify the original ImageJ code to enable some of these features, this package should be installed in its entirety. Free.

3. MicroObservatory Image is a simple to use, yet powerful astronomical image processing program that works with FITS and GIF files. Free.

4. Lxnstack is a program designed to align and stack astronomical images (both planetary and deep-sky) by Maurizio D'Addona. Written in python and qt for the Linux platform it is released under the Open Source GPLv3 licence. Free.

5. Regim is a software tool for processing astronomical images. Free.

6. THELI GUI is a powerful and easy-to-use package for astronomical image reduction, offering e.g. Free.

7. nip2 aims to be about halfway between Excel and Photoshop. You don't directly edit images — instead, like a spreadsheet, you build relationships between objects. You enter formula (or select menu items) to describe how to make a new object from some of the objects you already have. nip2 keeps track of these relationships: if you make a change anywhere, nip2 automatically recalculates anything affected by the change.

8. GIMP v.2.9.7 is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, OS X, Windows and more operating systems. It is free software, you can change its source code and distribute your changes.

9. ImPPG performs Lucy-Richardson deconvolution, unsharp masking, brightness normalization and tone curve adjustment. It can also apply previously specified processing settings to multiple images. All operations are performed using 32-bit floating-point arithmetic.

10. Stackistry implements the lucky imaging principle of astronomical imaging: creating a high-quality still image out of a series of many (possibly thousands) low quality ones (blurred, deformed, noisy). The resulting image stack typically requires post-processing, including sharpening (e.g. via deconvolution). Such post-processing is not performed by Stackistry.

11. C-Munipack is the software package, which offers the complete solution for reduction of images carried out by CCD camera, intended on a observation of variable stars. Each step of reduction process can be run from the command line or via simple and intuitive graphical user interface.

12. AstroAviBrowser is a small tool for astronomy imaging processing. With AstroAviBrowser, you may open a video file, select the good frames and save the new sequence in a new avi file. It also debayer your raw sequences. Free.

13. cvastroalign (video align tool for astrophotography) is a program that loads a video sequence, aligns and stacks the selected frames obtaining an image as result of this process.

14. Munipack is a free open source tool for processing of astronomical images.

15. Asterism is a Linux (astronomical) image preprocessing tool for consumer digital camera (CDC) RAW images and many other file extensions.

[wimvb]

PixInsight works on Linux, afaIk.

[oleg_astro]

5 hours ago, wimvb said:

PixInsight works on Linux, afaIk.

Yes, but PixInsight do not free software.

Astro Pixel Processor is another commercial software for astronomical image processing.

StarTools is post-processing image editor.

[wimvb]

23 minutes ago, oleg_astro said:

Yes, but PixInsight do not free software.

I know, but it didn't say in the original post that they should be free. Processing software is an important part of an imaging setup, and imo should be in any astro budget.