Deep Sky Stacker Quick Guide

[@AstroEscape]

Have you used Deep Sky Stacker before, or have you used another stacking software? Let me know down below, let's start a discussion!

[@refetastro]

Excellent video and audio. Yes I do use DDS this is the only one I know to be friendly use and friendly color design

[@AstroEscape]

You still using it today? I've since switched to purely using Pixinsight, but DSS is still great!

[@refetastro]

@@AstroEscape I’m thinking to buy pixinsight $350 isn’t so bad but adding another $400 on plugins is bit to much for me My question if void to by plugins would that still be better than DSS,Siril ,Ps as that’s is what I have ? Or just by some plugins for Ps

[@woody5109]

Excellent video, I’ve saved it, play and pause as I stack (I’m new) thanks 🙏

[@AstroEscape]

No worries, if you have to pause, do it. I'd rather you pause through my skips than sit and watch how long it may take :)

[@goatsuukerhill]

I am using DSS. Thanks for your help.

[@AstroEscape]

You're welcome! Were you able to do what you needed to do with your image?

[@goatsuukerhill]

@@AstroEscape At first, no. Dss would not detect any stars in ngc 7000! Resetting back to default settings did the trick. Then I had to reduce threshold to 80% to get down to 450 stars. Dss did a great job stacking all the lights and calibration frames. So, yes I got my first nebula image.

[@grahambohl5205]

Great tutorial. Many thanks!

[@AstroEscape]

Many thanks to you for your kind words. I hope it helped you learn DSS!

[@Cooldud9172]

Thank you so much; I couldn't figure out how to download it 😅

[@AstroEscape]

Glad it helped! What did you stack?

[@Cooldud9172]

@@AstroEscape The Orion constellation :)

[@williamdeng5966]

Great video and explanation, thank you! A question though: do you think DeepSkyStacker works well for stacking images of the Moon or planets for instance?

[@AstroEscape]

Thank you for your comment! To answer your question, no, it does not. You'll want to use AutoStakkert for the moon and planets :)

[@alcopa1fan]

Hi Daylon, Remember when I had an issue about ASIAIR Plus trying to go to a dumb big screen tv? Well I fixed the problem by purchasing a tablet that had an HDMI output connector. Now it works like a charm, thanks for the help, but now to the question at hand. I use the ASIAIR Plus to live stack and store all the images so that I can use it in Dep Sky Stacker. Well when I assign all the light frames and do the check as you recommend, I come up with a real problem. I use a ZWO 071 camera pro model and the final stack is a light gray screen without any way of changing the screen. it is as if the stacking procedure does not work. I need help since I have stacked images in the past without any problem. why is this program giving me problems. BTW, I am using FITS image files. All the images look good using s reference image and stretching that to see if all is good. I changes to an older version, but the results are still the same. What gives? I am leaving this in your capable hands, Bill K.

[@AstroEscape]

My first question: what calibration frames did you add to the stack? If all necessary frames were there, is the image entirely gray or can you still see the object without stretching? In the past, for live stacking, I've saved a set of darks on the flash drive, and did flats and dark flats before starting the live stack and anyone seeing the EAA enjoyed what was on screen.

[@alcopa1fan]

I downloaded DSS onto my laptop and it works great! I think there is a glitch in my desktop preventing me from using DSS. That's ok since I will be using the laptop for stacking and work out the problem on my desktop. Thanks for your help, Bill. BTW, have you ever heard of Elliot, West End, McKees Rocks or Greentree? That is where I was raised back in the 40's, 50's and 60's.

[@AstroEscape]

@@alcopa1fan Oh yeah, I know those areas. I can see one of those areas from my house! I lived in Dormont around the time I got the Dob I have. I might be going over to McKee's Rocks in the coming months, there's a few concerts at a venue that's been remodeled there :) Outside of Astro, I LOVE going to shows.

[@filipspace24]

Hi! I have a problem with "register checked pictures". If I click on it, it shows this: "You must check light frames to register them. " And If I click on check all, it doesnt do anything. And value of light frames is still "0". What can I do please? Thank u

[@AstroEscape]

Try doing half the stack and see if it does the same thing. If you do the star detection, does it detect any stars?

[@phillipwatson810]

Is there a stacker program for Mac's ?

[@AstroEscape]

It depends on how much you are willing to pay. Starry Sky Stacker is the Mac alternative, but the problem is that it doesn't support RAW files, so people tend to avoid it. If you use a program like Wineskin you can run DSS on Mac. But if you don't want to do that, Siril is a free alternative to Pixinsight which can do stacking (I've been playing with Siril and will work on a guide later this year). Pixinsight is pricey but a lot of people use it for stacking over DSS. Both Siril and Pixinsight can do processing from start to finish as well! Astro Pixel Processor is another option, but it's also paid.

[@choppermontana8212]

Odd that no-one ever covers how to download Deep Sky Tracker. It's not as simple as you would think. We'll teach you how to drive a car, but you can't have a car.

[@huzaifashehzadamin3387]

yep i still dont know that whether to download setup.exe or the zip file |:

[@pulkinpulman2028]

Wow 2% star detection also give me 2000++ stars..how?

[@AstroEscape]

That's odd. What was your target for that image?

[@anthosm]

@@AstroEscape this is my first time doing astrophotography and using this program and at 2% it detected 35577 stars. Does that even make sense? Are a lot of them simply noise?

[@justtim9767]

Well done. I tried astrophotography about 20 years ago using this program and used this with some success but at post-processing I fail completely. Are there any post-processing free programs out there? I was thinking about trying again.

[@AstroEscape]

There's a bunch! I've made a list so you can pick what works for you: astroescape.com/2023/01/25/which-software-to-use-astrophotography-programs-master-list/

[@justtim9767]

@@AstroEscape Thank you sir.

[@artiraina5857]

Sir i have a problem in opening my images in DSS I captured M31 using my telescope and mobile phone camera The jpeg images are opening on dss It is showing "can not open multiple files from this folder" Please help sir🙏

[@AstroEscape]

Do you get that when opening all of the files or just one of them?

[@artiraina5857]

@@AstroEscape all of them