Advice on which programs to use

[bluesilver]

Hi, I am looking at giving AP a bit of a go.
The equipment i have and will be using for now is:
Skywatcher 16" Dobsonian with goto
Cano EOS 5DSR, Looking to get a cheap DLSR and do the modification on that

So I guess there is going to be two parts to the question as i want to do both Planetary and also DSO

So with Planetary, i have found out from research that i need to take a video, maybe up to around 30 seconds to 2 minutes long.

For DSO, take at least 30 shots just to get the idea of the processing side of things.

What programs do you advise to use for Planetary work?
I have heard of Registack, but it looks like that is used for the final touch up work.
What would you advise to use before that, I have only just come across one called autostakkert, but apart from that this is about all i am aware of.

I am guessing i might have to use something similar for DSO ?

Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[gb44]

Hi Peter
For free you can go to http://www.mlunsold.com/
and download camera control\
and image processing software. ImagesPlus used to cost about $US300

There are good tutorials available on youtube. There is a discussion group.

You will likely need a longer USB cable.

You can get the DSLR to show liveview on screen for planets. It saves as SER files and they are processed quite nicely on a quick laptop.

For DSO it will batch process your light, flats, dark flats and bias all automatically. Then the fun can start.

It seems people are more interested in APT and Pixinsight these days.
Astrotoaster is great for lucky imaging and outreach and seeing quick results. It uses DeepSkyStacker All free too.

Good luck
GlennB