stacking – PekDar – Astrophotography Engineering https://astrophotography.pekdar.net Autorskie rozwiązania Hardware, Projekty 3D i Zaawansowane Poradniki Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:49:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.5 https://astrophotography.pekdar.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/favicon.png stacking – PekDar – Astrophotography Engineering https://astrophotography.pekdar.net 32 32 Astro Pixel Processor – Basic Tutorial (Step‑by‑Step Guide) https://astrophotography.pekdar.net/en/astro-pixel-processor-basic-tutorial/ Thu, 03 Dec 2020 17:22:56 +0000 http://www.astrofoto.pekdar.net/?p=2070

The main goal of this Astro Pixel Processor tutorial is to provide you, with the ability to quickly stack photos using the APP program, in the shortest possible time with minimal the baggage of knowledge need. I share with you what I know. I have gained experience using the APP program on my own.

Remember that each photo of collected lights is different and the examples below, will not necessarily work for your collected photo lights. You should always look for the optimal settings and solutions for each lights. Please, note that I am not the Developer of the APP (Astro Pixel Processor), but only I’m user like you. I don’t know answer to every question that bothers you. Nor am I any representative of the APP Developer or its publisher.

APP provides flexible stacking algorithms compared to DSS, supports mosaics, gradient correction, and multi‑session integration. A great balance between simplicity and power.
 

READ MORE]]> AutoStakkert! and Lucky Imaging: The Mathematical Battle Against Atmosphere https://astrophotography.pekdar.net/en/autostakkert-lucky-imaging-moon-stacking/ Fri, 15 May 2020 06:27:12 +0000 https://astrophotography.pekdar.net/?p=9895

AutoStakkert 2

Learn the best settings and a step-by-step process to stack your Lunar light frames in AutoStakkert and achieve sharper, high-resolution Moon images.

The Seeing Problem

Why is a single DSLR photo of the Moon rarely perfectly sharp? The culprit is Earth’s atmosphere. Air masses of different temperatures mix, creating turbulence that acts like lenses with varying focal lengths. This phenomenon is called seeing. In classical photography (long exposures), seeing blurs details. The engineering solution is the Lucky Imaging technique.

Mechanism: Statistics and Video

Instead of a single photo, we record thousands of video frames with very short exposure times (milliseconds). Statistically, within a second, there are moments when the atmosphere “freezes” for a fraction of a time and becomes perfectly transparent. The role of AutoStakkert! is to analyze each of the thousands of frames, grade their quality (sharpness), and select only the “lucky” ones (e.g., the best 10-20%).

At first impression, the AutoStakkert user interface does not seem easy to use. However, after getting to know the key options and understanding how the program works, its interface not more to be a secret. We will go through the stacking procedure, processing sample of Moon light frames, which I collected in the early spring of this year.

READ MORE]]> AutoStakkert! on Linux: Installation via Wine and PlayOnLinux https://astrophotography.pekdar.net/en/autostakkert-linux-wine-playonlinux-installation/ Fri, 08 May 2020 19:02:24 +0000 http://www.astrofoto.pekdar.net/?p=1405

AutoStakkert Linux installation

Windows is Not Required Many astrophotographers keep a Windows partition strictly for one piece of software: AutoStakkert!. This is an unjustified waste of resources. The stacking engine of this software runs perfectly in a Linux environment, often offering better RAM management than Microsoft’s native system due to the lightweight nature of the Linux kernel.

How It Works: Wine Is Not an Emulator

The key to success is Wine (acronym: Wine Is Not an Emulator). It is a compatibility layer that translates Windows API calls into POSIX (Linux) instructions on the fly. This allows the application to run with near-native performance, without the overhead of emulating an entire operating system. The PlayOnLinux (POL) tool described in this guide is used to easily manage so-called Wine “prefixes”—isolated containers with specific configurations.

Why this works?

  • AutoStakkert! is a portable app — no classic MSI installer.
  • Wine supports most API calls required by AS!3/AS!4.
  • Linux filesystems (ext4, btrfs) handle large SER/AVI files better than NTFS.

Shortened deployment Guide (Universal Method)

Since AutoStakkert! does not have a classic installer (it is a “portable” application), the process in PlayOnLinux differs slightly from the norm:

  1. Download: Get the latest stable version (AS!3 or AS!4) as a ZIP archive.

  2. POL Configuration: Select “Install a program,” then “Install a non-listed program.”

  3. Virtual Drive Creation: Choose “Create a new virtual drive” (preferably 64-bit architecture to handle large SER/AVI video files).

  4. No Installer: When POL asks for the installation file, point it to the AutoStakkert .exe. The program won’t “install” into the system registry but will be executed within the Wine directory structure.

  5. Shortcut: Finally, create a shortcut directly to AutoStakkert.exe.

Performance and Memory

When working with massive files from planetary cameras (often 50-100 GB), Linux file systems (ext4 or btrfs) handle I/O operations significantly better than NTFS. Stacking proceeds smoothly, provided that the Wine configuration has been allocated sufficient video memory access.

Warnings

  • Use Wine ≥ 6.x — older versions may cause errors.
  • Don’t copy files into system directories — keep them inside the Wine prefix.
  • Test with a small SER file before processing large sessions.

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