Process the MOON to perfection with PIPP, Autostakkert and PixInsight

[@tjbitt65]

Thank you Sascha for the great video. I just retired ( no more getting up at 0430 hrs for work) and now have all the time in the world to observe and image the moon. This video was just what I was looking for, it was easy to follow and understand. Thanks again

[@josephsworkshop75]

Great video. Well done.

[@ABCMO-bl5pi]

This appeared at just the right time because I will be purchasing a dedicated astro camera for planetary and lunar photography, and I am leaning toward the ZWO ASI585MC, which I believe is the same camera model you used for the image of the moon. I’ve got PIPP and AutoStakert on my laptop and PixInsight on my Mac, so your workflow was perfect. I found your use of PixInsight especially helpful. By the way, I have also started your PixInsight series of videos, and even though I’ve gone through several of Adam Block’s, I still learned some new things from your first one. I have been subscribed to your channel for several months now and always find your videos very helpful and authoritative. Please keep them coming!

[@BurgerOosthuizen]

Outstanding job thank you!

[@Dreadlockyx]

Grüzi Sacha, thanks for the video. I actually did my very first stacking last week and the target was the Moon ! Compared to your process, I didn't pre-process with PIPP due to my low image count for the entire surface (~1000), though AutoStakkert did much of the heavy lifting with Darktable instead of PixInsight for final touches. The biggest difference was shooting at high exp/low gain (9ms), whereas you do the opposite ! It appears the SNR is still good so I'll try that to image faster. The IR trick is clever too, will definitely keep it in mind.

[@joselitostotomas8114]

I'm finding out your tutorial works just as well when you use an Iphone as the camera on the telescope. I'm using filmic pro as the recording software. Short video shots (30 secs to start) at maximum quality yields great pictures.

[@mauriziotosoratti9593]

Thanks Sasch for your 'practical guideles', I've seen it and I run the flow quite well. Keep it on. Regards

[@thexfilez2450]

Thanks for the video, I just took some video last night of the Hunters Moon, this helped a lot. Thanks again.

[@Maximus0389]

Hi Sascha, that's exactly the video I was asking you for. Thanks for this and it's really quite interesting to see how you process moon images.

[@adelmaggio791]

I really appreciate your guides and this has been so helpful. You have a natural gift to present and cater perfectly to my level of skill and understanding. Thank you for this guide, I’m now off to buy a IR 685 Filter because the seeing is poor where I live. Please keep the helpful videos coming, I have your whole channel to watch now for advice and lessons!😊

[@Menudaesmiberza]

I’ve just dropped BlurXterminator triangle into my moon stacked image….just WOW. Thanks!

[@JVRost]

Good afternoon, what about the Astrosurface program? Have you tried processing it? In my opinion, it is a very worthy replacement for all three classic *crutches* of lunar-planetary processing.

[@viewintospace]

I did not try it yet, but now that you tell me this I will!

[@jesuspineiro1622]

Very nice work flow. In PIPP, I usually Debayerize and manually choose my matrix (RGGB). PIPP many times chooses the wrong Bayer matrix. Then in Autostakkert I process the image as RGB. I have also tested your workflow and the results are the same as my process. I currently use the Astronomik IR Pro Planet 807nm filter, which is great for my ASI 462MC Thanks for sharing the PIPP installer which is no longer on the web.

[@tommy8644]

Thanks for the tutorial 👍 I can suggest also a final touch of UnsharpMask if you still need a bit more sharpness

[@physmc1]

I like the idea of using BlurXterminator for sharpening the moon image. It's always a good sign when a network performs so well for data it has not been trained on.

[@KevinMurphy0403]

Absolutely amazing tutorial. Thank you.

[@larryfine4719]

Thanks for doing this, this is the 2nd time I've had to go through this video to remember the steps :-)

[@wimsma]

My problem is that I need to use a telescope that I can easily carry. I need to walk about 100 meters with it to find a suitable spot. I already have some experience with astrophotography, but I would also like to take pictures of the Moon and planets. I know that with a relatively small telescope, I can certainly take some nice photos of the Moon. I was thinking about a Meade 90mm Maksutov. I was considering an alt/az mount because it's cheap and easy to set up. However, I have a few questions. I read that field rotation with alt/az mounts, even in the relatively short time you collect frames (around 1 minute), causes insurmountable problems with stacking, simply because the software doesn’t expect this kind of movement. Is that true? Do you have experience with this? I'm also wondering how you focus with an infrared filter. By the way, great video and explanation!

[@viewintospace]

Field rotation is no issue with planetary/lunar photography - it can be very well done with AltAz - in fact I do it with AltAz. Focus you can do easily on IR, as the object is still fully visible on the screen.

[@Lamatron3472]

Thank you for having the pipp DL file! youre a legend.

[@yourfavoriteastronerd]

Hi Sascha, another great video and exactly what I needed. I captured the annular sun with my little Dwarf 2 and did not know how to process the videos. I want to start doing moon photography too. Thanks for all the information and great Tutorials! Diana

[@mikewirths6341]

Hi Sascha, interesting about the blurXterminator tool in Pix, I'm always on the lookout for new and better processing tools for my highres lunar work! I recently tried astrosurface for sharpening but don't like it as much as my usual Topaz Infocus plugin for PS (its an older non AI tool) plus smartsharpen. I like to use a R filter instead of a 680nm IR since it lets a little more light through but still improves the seeing.

[@philippefossier7178]

Very interesting. Could you explain what other filters (if any) you use in conjunction with the IR filter ?

[@viewintospace]

It be clear, this is a filter which lets only the IR light pass. In such a case I use only this filter.

[@michaelsewald2349]

Excellent Video Sasha! I am coming from DS imaging and have 0 experience in lunar/planetary. Your video is like the second (editing) half that later I want to utilize, but I am missing the first (acquisition) half. Using an ASIAir, ASI2600mm and the Askar FRA400 - I figure to just use video mode and adapt the settings to not blow out highlights. But what would be a recommended video length (the moon is rotating after all) and max. resolution (460p, 1080p …)? Also, how does drizzling work for lunar? Same as DS, would I have to dither the mount?

[@viewintospace]

Just put it in video mode, choose the highest resolution and shoot for 5 mins. In video mode there is no dither. And then proceed with the processing as outlined in the video.

[@michaelsewald2349]

@@viewintospace Appreciate the immediate response. Autostakkert has a drizzle mode - can I just use it based on that one 5 min video I took or is there any additional task to be done during aquisition? And one more question. I do not have a dedicated IR filter like you are showing, but I have SHO LRGB filters. My assumption is L would be the best filter to use. Or is there any benefit in using more than just one filter and combine it somehow?

[@viewintospace]

@ I would just use the L filter. And sorry, no clue about the drizzle mode in Autostakkert.

[@sukhoi47100]

ok my pc is over kill, that took 10 seconds

[@garyw.2224]

Excellent video! I'm fairly new to lunar imaging (had done mostly deep-sky). I had tried NoiseXTerminator on a lunar image with pretty good results, but had not considered BlurXT. I found that the latest version of BlurXT, with AI Version 4, actually worked "too well" and converted some small crater rings into "stars". I switched back to AI Version 2 and it worked fine. Thanks!

[@x123wsaq]

Sascha, I've been using Blur Xterminator to process my lunar images for some time now with great success. I set sharpen stars and halo adjustments at 0. Click auto PSF. Sharpen non stellar around 75. After BlurX I go into Photoshop for final tweaks. Give it a try ! Thanks for the tips using Autostakkert. Learned quite a few new things.

[@viewintospace]

Thanks for the BXT tip - will chose these settings next time!!!!

[@yiannisyiannis]

Great video! I am facing an issue with auto stakkert! For some reason my "Analyse" button is nlurred and I can not click it. Could you please help me on how to fix it?

[@danjensen9425]

Another great video

[@BGoff]

Beautiful picture.

[@craiglowery4427]

Very cool Sascha. Great use of PI. As a planetary and lunar imager it bothers me that most of our software is obsolete. Have you run the PI upgrade yet?

[@viewintospace]

I did run the upgrade now and it worked flawlessly. I guess on one side the script providers did do now the adjustments and PI did provide a fixed version. About Planetary and Lunar software I agree with you. Issue was and is that all this software was freeware, that is always a risky path, we see that now with the EZ suite.

[@jens-uweberthold1105]

WOW👍👍👍 BXT is a great tip (I went with Sharpen Unless at 0.75 on my full moon, otherwise it was too sharp. I didn't notice any difference with Sharpen Stars at 0.15)

[@hank7055]

Superb video - as usual! One comment. I typically use a MAC Studio for processing, but have a Windows 11 PC for use when needed, as with PIPP and AutoStakkert. With my Win 11 PC, the SER file created with PIPP would not load into AutoStakkert (ver 3.x). Searching the web, others reported a similar issue that was resolved by creating an AVI output file with PIPP which then readily loaded into AutoStakkert.

[@viewintospace]

Great advice - thanks!!!

[@hank7055]

After a bit more reading, it became clear that the AVI format can be quite variable, and that variability is a bit of a problem for the people who write code. In contrast, the SER format is rigid and fixed, and it can easily support transposition to an SER or FIT format. I suspect that my use of the ASIAIR video capability (which only supports AVI and MP4 outputs) may be the cause of the issues that I encountered with PiPP, likely due to an incompatible AVI input file which did not contain the requisite information for PiPP to create a valid SER output. Just speculation, but this fits the circumstances that I encountered. For the next attempt, I will use ASICAP which does support an SER output.

[@hank7055]

I just used ASICAP to create an SER output file, and this format loaded perfectly through all the steps. Very likley confirms that the ASI AVI output was the culprit.

[@ABCMO-bl5pi]

The use of BlurXterminator to sharpen is absolutely brilliant. I’ve tried it over the last couple of days on part of a lunar mosaic, and it is incredible. No need for Registax now. But I don’t see what is gained by using PIPP first. Why not go straight to Autostakert?

[@Callum71969]

I think PIPP is to used to easily batch crop your photos along with the quality estimation. It isn't needed though

[@ABCMO-bl5pi]

@@Callum71969 Thank you!

[@fisicayquimicahoy]

Hello Sascha, your videos are great! 😀 I also already have made some days ago a moon picture, and my workflow was quite similar yours. I didn't know the local histogram equalization technique, and be sure l'll try it on. My file size was 22Gb. In the end I ended up buying a x86 tower instead mac. That was because I had the opportunity of using a M1 max Mac with autostakkert and I saw the procesing time. With my x86 procesing times are similar as yours. I fully appreciate your videos ☺

[@janeclark1881]

Nicely done. 🙂

[@HIStK_World_of_Warships_EU]

I have followed your video very closely but alas my AS! 3/4 will not let me 'analyse' the imported file from PIPP... thankyou for the video

[@chrismcgrew4692]

In Autostakkert, yesterday the "analyse" button worked and today it doesn't. Any ideas?

[@viewintospace]

Just start again and ensure all is set at shown in the video - then it should work...

[@Callum71969]

Would 1080p video at 50fps be better than 4k at 25fps then? Which option would capture more detail , Higher frame count , less resolution? or lower frame count and higher resolution?

[@viewintospace]

Lower frame count and higher resolution - remember, it is lucky imaging. Even with 25fps you get enough pics that 10% or 20% will be recorded at peak seeing conditions.

[@Callum71969]

@@viewintospace Okay, thanks

[@Mpaaarodi]

Gracias hno

[@SVI_999]

BlurXterminator seems to be amazing as its price

[@viewintospace]

Whatever you do in Astrophotography - BXT is a must! Well worth its price!

[@nguyenhoailinh7516]

thêm video mặt trăng hay ảnh chụp mặt trăng vào pipp đều được đúng không ạ

[@viewintospace]

PIPP only works with Videos

[@nguyenhoailinh7516]

@@viewintospace vâng, con cảm ơn ạ

[@josiptomljenovic1187]

When i put in PIPP my four clips each minute and a half..It gives me only few bites output..Not my clips..

[@viewintospace]

You should add only 1 file - not four - and then if you have all the settings the same it should work fine

[@Chorge1972]

An welcher Stelle findet denn dass DeBayering statt?!

[@viewintospace]

Hier arbeiten wir mit Farbvideos, da brauchen wir das nicht.

[@chrismcgrew4692]

It drives me crazy that there isn't Autostakkert for Mac, or that there isn't a lunar stacking script in PI.

[@viewintospace]

It might soon work - someone in a German forum has used the new Gameport Toolkit to port Autostakkert and he said it worked perfectly and blazing fast.

[@chrismcgrew4692]

@@viewintospace Any idea why using your method a TIFF works fine in PixInsight, but when I stack photos in Lightroom or Photoshop from my terrestrial camera, export a TIFF, and try to edit in PixInsight, the file behaves different. For example, BXT completely freaks out using the second method I explain.

[@viewintospace]

@@chrismcgrew4692 PixInsight is not made for working with TIFFs and BXT is not made for working with stretched pics. So it is a mere miracle that it works so good with the method that I show, but yea, given that other softwares do different things in relation to how they stretch - I'm not surprised....

[@Chorge1972]

Hmmmm - OK, ich zeichne mit RAW auf… daher… 👍

[@chrismcgrew4692]

It's weird - sometimes BxT works great using this method, but most of the time BxT completely freaks out and ruins the moon using this method.