Software for planet centering

[bobbyf]

Hi all
Is there software out there that will perform a batch centering of planet/moon pictures to improve the chances of decent stacking, or to make a moon timelapse video not jump around?
Thanks

Bob

[Amaranthus]

Castrator: http://www.astrokraai.nl/castrator.php

[bobbyf]

Thanks for that Barry.
This will be useful in the future for sure, but I'm after a program which centers pictures, not videos.
I suppose I could make an avi out of the pics and then process though!

Cheers

Bob

[Amaranthus]

I don't think DeepSkyStacker cares how offset a given starfield is, it will still align. Also, with Nebulosity, you assign the alignment points.

Have you tried Registax? It's designed for planetary work (vid and images) so should serve your need?

[michaellxv]

Try ninox http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/software/ninox/

[bobbyf]

Thanks Michael
I've give ninox a try
Cheers

Bob

[multiweb]

I've had some good results with the FFT script in PixInsight.

[OzStarGazer]

Unfortunately it doesn't work with Windows 8.1 64-bit... :(

[h0ughy]

hows that one work Marc?

[Lurkingpom]

I've not used this, but would PIPP ?

https://sites.google.com/site/astropipp/

[OzStarGazer]

I think that when it "crops" the images it centers them too.

[Geoff45]

In principle it's simple: Go to Script>utilities>FFTRegistration. Load your reference image in the designated box, add the images you want to register to it and hit OK.
I couldn't get it to work with a star field, but it may be better on planets.
Geoff

[bobbyf]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give them a try over the weekend.
Cheers

Bob

[h0ughy]

thanks Geoff:thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Ha!... sorry just saw that. Yeah as Geoff said it's under Script->Execute Script File. Then browse for <drive:>\Program Files\PixInsight\src\scripts\FFTReg istration

Select FFTRegistration.js then open.

Select a Reference image then load all the other images in the target images section then create and select an output directory.

Tick off 'Integrate registered images', tick 'Correct for rotation','Write registered images' and 'Enable large translations' then click OK.

Takes a long while to do if your files are like mine 4000px wide or so.

By default it will load raws and outputs fits but you can make it to output tiff files. Open the js file in a text editor and change the line:

outputPath = this.outputDirectory + name + "_r.fit";

to

outputPath = this.outputDirectory + name + ".TIFF";

I find it much easier to load all the raws in Lightroom and work out levels and colors via the XMP files. This way you don't modify any of the raw files and it's super quick. With LR timelapse you can key in the transitions to have a smooth illumination change when you have steps caused by changes in exposure times or ISO settings.

Then when you're happy with the sequence you export everything to 16bit TIFF files and feed that to PixInsight for registration. You end up with a lot of registered TIFF files that you batch crop in PS with an action (canvas) then you end up with high-res frames.

From there you can make an AVI or use them individually in batches in registax to apply a little sharpening, wavelet etc... for some cool stills.

The only thing I haven't worked out yet is how to do the HDR comp in PS like what Richard did (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment_browse.php?a=171631). That's tops.