Complete Planetary Processing: Free Software How to Guide

A detailed guide to planetary image processing from start to finish

00:00 Freeware
01:25 FireCapture Settings
024:44 AutoStakkert: Sort and Stack
05:20 Registax: Sharpening
10:11 WinJupos: Derotation
14:15 PhotoShop: Unsharp Mask and Noise Reduction
16:03 Jupiter WinJupos Derotation and Sharpen

[txdave]

I'm relatively new to astrophotography. I learned a lot from this single video. Thanks!

[jonbasstro]

Excellent easy to follow video.Great results you are getting on Saturn and Jupiter.

[TheStevecas]

Thank you Mark for your tutorial you always keep it simple to understand! Hope to see you in the shire next year! clear steady skies Have a good Christmas with your family!

[cyberfel]

Great video as always Mark... I´ll add an extra step in aligning RGB channels, it helps a bit if not using an atmospheric distortion corrector. It´s always a pleasure to see your videos.

[craiglowery]

Perfect timing Mark. I was just preparing to stack and process my Saturn

[zaugitude]

Thanks for the full work through.
May I suggest converting to a smart object in Photoshop? Along with non-destructive editing, you can add a camera raw filter that has great tools for many of the things you address with separate filters.

[Bortle]

Autostakkert has been updated and it's much faster than the older one.

[terrizittritsch]

Mark, thank you so much.. Now I’m wondering if I didn’t go back and try to sharpen further as I expected to see some additional details after the WINJUPOS stacking process.. I’ll give it a go. My best images this year were from the Eldorado star party in Texas which has better seeing than I experience in Vermont and I’ll give them a go first. My brother will be thanking you as well.. as he has much better seeing and his baseline is also much better. To create pleasing photos of planets or deep sky take so many steps and with each new trick we learn, we can get that incremental improvement in quality. I am hoping this is one of those increments!

[Seafox]

Autostakert 4 is now available… worth checking out as its faster

[ColecoJoe]

I notice you didn't run analyze before you stacked. Doesn't that move all the best frames to the front for better stacking?

[AmatureAstronomer]

Interesting. Have never taken a picture of a planet. Nebula, galaxies and star clusters, yes. But, no planets. Just bought a Maksutov Cassegrain optical tube, so I might take one soon.

[charlesowillford]

AstroSurface does the Registax and Autostakkert as unit and it's

[craiglowery]

I’m embarrassed to say but I can’t find your Patreon link. I want to support your efforts