Multi-Night Data and PixInsight WBPP (Weighted Batch Preprocessing)

[@rameshtahlan]

Loved it. Your pace of explaining every step was perfect. Made notes of it all. Now I am going to follow your video for multiple nights. Many Thanks

[@joedenisco6033]

You and Steve have been a God send for me in this hobby. Thank you Shawn.

[@VisibledarkAstro]

Thank you! Great to know I've helped. 👍

[@julianmatthews3262]

Thanks Shawn, well explained and resolved my question just nicely. Take care & clear skies

[@VisibledarkAstro]

@julianmatthews3262 fabulous! Glad to know this. Clear skies!

[@rogerbailey608]

Thank you for this. Short, concise, easy to understand, and to the point.

[@davidbyrd6534]

Thank you Shawn for bringing clarity to the subject. Now I can do mulit-night processing with confidence and no fear.

[@Denny_963]

Every time I watch your videos, I learn something new! Thank you.

[@richardcullip8468]

Thank you for the clear directions. I now know how to handle multiple nights with separate calibration images for each nights. Just one point of clarification about your terminology around flats and dark flats. In your example the darks were shot at the same exposure time as the flats so they should be referred to as flat darks( or dark flats) and they will be used to calibrate your flats. If you want to calibrate your lights with darks those darks need to be the same exposure time as the lights.

[@Steve_The_Ignorant_Astronomer]

So much to learn

[@VisibledarkAstro]

Yes there always is!

[@tristb9196]

As usual, fantastic video. Great information and clearly explained. I had a couple of nights of data that I wanted to couple together and this worked like a charm for what I wanted to do. Thank you.

[@TheMje1963]

This is grate for those who didn't know this. I've been using this for some time now since most of my images are over 4 or 5 nights. Great feature that was added.

[@secretstill]

Excellent, Shawn. Great explanation and so simple! Thanks.

[@IronMan-2024]

Hi! Thanks that explains it nicely. Clear skies!

[@thepuffybird]

Perfect timing for this! I have 3 nights of data I want to run thru wbpp. Thanks.

[@mark2220]

This channel is such a good resource. I can't thank you enough!

[@DeepSpaceAstro]

Damn! That was easier than I thought it would be! Thanks!

[@enteringintospace4685]

Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for the strait to the point info on stacking multiple nights in wbpp.

[@trevorgreen2232]

Thanks for another easy to follow very informative presentation

[@thomaskallenbach87]

I just worked through this two days ago. Thank you for the lesson.

[@CarpeNoctem42]

Great little nugget of knowledge, recently started to gather data from multiple nights by just adding lights from multiple dates using one set of calibration frames. I somehow seem to get away with it just fine, but I attribute that to luck. So this is a welcome addition! Nicely done, man.

[@rachaelfranklin4659]

Perfect, great demo again, much appreciated.

[@lawrencepizzi9068]

Thanks!

[@VisibledarkAstro]

Thank you! Appreciate the super thanks 😊

[@tammyfoley273]

Thanks for this Shawn!!

[@VisibledarkAstro]

You're welcome! :)

[@petesastrophotography]

Great video once again Shawn. I have been using Pixinsight for quite a while now (your tutorials have been especially helpful👍) but have resisted using WBPP as I am used to using DSS. To improve my astro photos I have accepted that I now have to start doing multi-night projects to get much more data. WBPP can look a little daunting, but this guide makes it look relatively simple. Keep up the good work!🙂

[@cherylwildey8883]

Another great tutorial Shawn

[@intergalacticastro]

Thanks Shawn another great video clear skies 🔭🍻

[@curtisbreslin2077]

Very clear and helpful video, thanks!

[@SKYST0RY]

I always appreciate your videos. Lean, practical and to the point. Just curious: You mentioned a student provided the data. What do you teach?

[@bengterlandsson7921]

As usual an excellent tutorial Shawn! Thanks for taking the time to explain this feature.

[@ianwatson8599]

Great video Shawn, I was one of the viewers asking for this video after your other wbpp video. I managed to work it out myself but do it slightly differently to this. Each night I have separate folders with ‘session01, session02 etc’.

[@glennschiffer1742]

good as usual

[@Ekuy1]

great video and straight to the point

[@Northof40cdn]

Hi Shawn. I have yet to combine multi-nights of data and I will use this the first chance I get. Thanks!

[@VisibledarkAstro]

Best of luck! And thank you for the super thanks! Much appreciated. :)

[@AstroBurak23]

Very nice video 🔥

[@Aerostar509]

PI just keeps getting better.

[@joell8433]

Nice video, thanks

[@crm114.]

That’s extremely useful, thanks.

[@MrMrduke1975]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@xtctaz]

great tip! thanks

[@kurtbauch5491]

Excellent video (again)!! You make it simple and easy to understand (I did request, but not sure if you were referring to me or not - I like to flatter myself!). It failed miserably the first time (& always in the past). This time I didn’t realize that I needed to but the _ in the directory file name: M82 Nite1 vs. M82_Nite1. I just ran 6 nights and all worked well (Actually, the first time, I left the room with less than five minutes to go and when I came back into the room, my cat sat on my computer keyboard and completely shutdown PI!😮).

[@rodbell4222]

Thanks again for another great video! I had a hell of a time finding one which explained this in easy to understand terms...Working like a charm..! If I use different filters, on my OSC will WBPP see these as well?

[@Bogfra1]

Best I can assume that this is very useful if there is a long time span between the recording nights: but if I shoot for 4 nights in a row and make my Flats- darks and flat darks on the last night this is not going to affect the end result or am I wrong about it.

[@VisibledarkAstro]

You're correct. Unless something has changed in your optical train, you can use one set of flats, darks etc for multiple nights. That's what I do. But some folks like to shoot flats, darks etc for each night so this method will help them.

[@javierfigueroa6567]

Thanks for the valuable information, the only thing I would like to get some clarification on is drizzle data, will I be able to combine all the drizzle files into a one single file? Again thanks for the video, regards.

[@VisibledarkAstro]

Yes you can. In the keyword grouping tab you have to select "post" and it will then combine all into one master light for each channel.

[@nikivan]

Hmm, maybe they've updated the script, but the last time I tried that, it wasn't working for me. My directories are named in the YYYYMMDD format. I also have separate subdirectories for flats and flat darks. I wish there was a dialog window, like in APP, where you can assign a session name to the files.

[@christopherleveck6835]

Ok, so i just did my first big mono narrowband project. I thought id get two decent nights but ended up with SEVEN. So each night i shot one or maybe two filters. I did an autofocus every hour. So multiple filters had multiple focus settings. I have a Moonlite focuser with no backlash so i was able to take a set of flats for each set of lights with different focus settings.... I assume i can use my dark and bias frames with everything because i have a ZWO ASI1600mm Pro cooled camera. So do i just make each filter with its own focus setting specific flats as a different "night"? I ended up with well over 30 hours worth of total exposure. The target is NGC6960 veil nebula. I shot Ha, Oiii and Sii. I also shot Luminance for 2 hours with an hour each of red, green and blue to be used for stars. My narrowband subs are all 5 minites each. Luminance is 2 minutes and RGB are 1 minute each. Any thoughts are appreciated. Can make all the data available if you want to make a video out of it that i can follow along with ....

[@JeffHorne]

Super helpful, Shawn. Thank you! Curious how you’d use this is this scenario: you have one set of flats for your first night of hydrogen, and another set of flats for all other nights of hydrogen.

[@johnadastra1754]

This is a problem for me too. How to avoid taking flats for every night out is the question.

[@VisibledarkAstro]

Interesting question. I don't have a good answer really. Never ran into this. I'll think on it and get back to you.

[@davidf9494]

Hello Shawn, Another great video - only just found this one! Regarding Flats, Dark Flats and Darks, isn't only one set required unless (i) your image train changes; (ii) the temperature of your camera is different on different nights and/or (iii) the camera sensor has changed orientation and therefore new flats would be needed. If none of these change, then one set of each should suffice for a specific target and multiple evening? Any thoughts? With thanks and clear skies!

[@dugstruble]

Great video! Is there a way to manually separate the subs into groups in WBPP? Reason I ask is because I do my darks and bias seasonally and have an operate directory with masters I make of each, so I don't keep them with the lights and flats.

[@michaelthunquest3341]

Hi Shawn, can you tell me what are the 'rules' for combining multiple nights of data? I.e., do I need to have used the same camera, same telescope, same exposure length, same BIN, same filters, etc. or can they be different and Pixinsight will know what to do? Mike

[@marcuswalmsley8445]

Is this needed when you use a cooled astro cam?

[@astrojourneyuk]

So I had been using Groups but I couldn’t seem to get it to work for folders only file names! Thanks for this.

[@nickambrose8606]

Nice. I figured this was possible but never put the time in to figure it out. Can it so hand multi night multi filters ?

[@VisibledarkAstro]

Yes it can handle multiple filters as well.

[@janelubenskyi1177]

Hi …❤️🔭🌌 Question: Please if you could you make a tutorial on how to deal with the Directory set up method and Keyword Grouping and using the Auto link drop-down box where the two nights have a filter set that has a different exposure time for example both nights 1 and 2 have Ha 120, O111 120 but S11 has 180 sec exposure.

[@JeffFishman]

Pretty good - Thank You Question- i know have 3 rigs (different ZWO cameras). If they all shoot the same target, can i combine like this in WBPP? And, what i used filters on 2 rigs and not on 3rd rig, can i stack in WBPP? Thank You

[@xsplendor8075]

Hey Shawn, could you please make a video about how to combine a mosaic in Pixinsight in 2023? There is a good Tool PhotometricMosaic but I never really understood it. Would really appreciate a tutorial from you 🙂

[@benc7102]

Gday Shawn Great to see more tutorials Mate I actually have a question. I currently run a Askar FRA 400 ( FL 400mm ) with ZWO 533MC, Cheryl has scope with FL 450mm with ZWO 533 MC also. If we both imaged same object at same night using same filters & Cameras, can you use both sets of data to creat final image? Hope this makes sense Cheers mate

[@VisibledarkAstro]

Hi Ben! Yes you could combine your data easily doing this. Both you and Cheryl just need to shoot the lights, flats, darks, flat darks and then create the seperate folders and define a keyword. It will calibrate all the lights respectively and can combine both your data sets into one master light. If you need help just let me know. Email is best or messenger. I don't always get to read every YT comment. Cheers!

[@benc7102]

@@VisibledarkAstro cheers Shawn Thanks for taking time to reply

[@dandallolmo]

Hi Shawn, Thanks for another great instructional video. I have tried this in multiple ways: 1) WBPP each night to integration, Star align the integrated images and combine with either Image integration (sometimes I have to use 2 images of each integrated night since image integration requires at least 3 images) or Pixel Math. In Pixel math, I can weight each integrated image (especially if one night is done with a filter and another night is done without a filter. 2)throw all lights into WBPP and my latest night of flats and run. So far pretty lucky with this approach as far as flats go. Sometimes it's clear which final version is better, other times I can't tell the difference. My question to you is; do you have a preference or do you see an inherent problem with any of these methods that I may be overlooking? I really like the way you used flats from each night since I was worried about my method using only the last night of flats (lucky so far). This can easily be incorporated into any method above. Thanks again for you thoughts and your timely instructional videos. Dan Dall'Olmo

[@Dudleydogg]

freeeking Genius

[@CDigata]

what if they were different scopes?

[@VisibledarkAstro]

Won't matter. PixInsight will handle it.

[@alessandrogaldiero7796]

hello, I have a photo session in broadband and two in narrowband, how do you advise me to behave? sum of photos with wnpp per session and single master, is it equivalent to a hdr or are there better methods to exploit all the data collected? Thank you

[@jonathanritter7364]

I've stacked up to 50 hours of data over multiple nights and used the same calibrations from for all of them and came out with fantastic images. Is this really necessary? Does it make a different in the final product?

[@Chris_NGC6188Ara]

This would only be needed if you move something in your image train wouldn't it? I shoot multiple targets over multiple nights and WPPP does a great job.

[@VisibledarkAstro]

For sure. I actually just use one set of calibration frames for multiple nights too. Works well. Nothing has changed in the optical train. But some like to shoot flats, darks etc for each night so this will be handy for them.

[@jedidiahwest4619]

Awesome video for us who are too lazy to read the manual😅

[@Astrophotography_love]

Firstly night1 and night 2 came together total 11 photos for integration but after ı tried to use gear sembol and separate them , now again click gear icon but never integrate again all images …. how can I fix this problem … you click night 1 and night 2 and gear sembol …. hooop again multiple night data and result one frame …. ı got 2 frames :(((