StarTools

First of all, I see that you can bring up the steps you used to process an image. Unfortunately I guess I am not smart enough to figure out how that is done. Could someone tell me how to get to this information.

Secondly, I have been having trouble with getting rings around my stars, and in some cases, with the very bright stars, I am getting red rings. Has anyone discovered how to get rid of those rings, and in particular, the red rings.

I have a few others, though I think I should take just a couple at a time to get used to the procedures involved before I go harrying off on another set. Caley

Hi Caley
In the folder where the application is, there is a text file called "StarTools" that gets updated with each processing session. The location of the Startools app depends on where you put it when installed. as an example Mine is located at C:\Users\Che\Desktop\Astrostuff\StarTools_1_4_297_alpha\distro Unless you modify it, all your processing steps from each session will be there, the most current session at the end.
As far as the rings, maybe overexposed subs? not sure
Che

Cheman, I have that dratted Windows 8.1, and I have not found this anywhere. Navigating this version of Windows is not made easy. Guess I will have to just forget trying to find the location. I've been all over the program listings, and Star Tools isn't mentioned anywhere. Funny thing is that it does run from somewhere.

As for overexposure, I've been told I need more exposure time. Most of my photos of faint nebula are done at 240 to 300 seconds per sub, which isn't even close to what some people are doing. I have to contend with sky glow where I live until about midnight, and by that time, I am ready for bed. Definitely need to automate things so I can actually just set things up and take a nap. Caley

caley
you wont find StarTools in the program list as it is not set up that way, its sort of self contained. If you have a shortcut set up to start the program, right click on the shortcut, click on properties, click on the shortcut tab and in the "start in" section it will show you where the program is (I am running Windows 7 so it may be slightly different terminology in 8). Or you could do a search of your c: drive for distro and it should find the folder.
Che

p.s. you probably need more exposure time in the sense that you need more subs. Bright stars can oversaturate very quickley. Its sort of a matter of time of each sub so you dont over saturate, and as many of those subs as you can get. I usually aquire 50 or more subs and depending on how bright things are in the frame, sometimes I do not go over 300 sec per sub. If there are no bright stars in the field I may go as long as 15 or twenty minutes per sub. The more subs you stack, the better your signal to noise ratio will be. Are you using a dslr camera or a dedicated astro camera (ccd chip)

Cheman, Yes, after over a year of going crazy, zipping around the sky with my camera, I finally came to the conclusion that I need to slow down and concentrate on one object for a night or three, snapping as many subs as I can, and then weeding out the bad or so-so subs. I've really noticed the quality difference in my results, though processing is still a black art for me. Still trying to learn.

I am using Windows 8.1 for my astronomy computer, and so far haven't figured out how to pull up the documentation for the steps taken in processing a photo. But I will keep trying to figure it out. Will try that right click thing, and hope it will work. Windows 8.1 is really cranky compared to Windows 7. Things don't always work the same as I would expect. Caley

I am using Windows 8.1 for my astronomy computer, and so far haven't figured out how to pull up the documentation for the steps taken in processing a photo. But I will keep trying to figure it out. Will try that right click thing, and hope it will work. Windows 8.1 is really cranky compared to Windows 7. Things don't always work the same as I would expect. Caley[/quote]


Hi Caley,

On my 8.1 windows computer I found the txt file that Che is referring to in the the Programs 386 directory on the C drive. Like he said it is under Distro in the StarTools directory. You can also do a search for it by dragging the mouse from the upper right corner on your desktop.

Once I found it I right clicked on the file and created a shortcut which I sent to my desktop. Now I don't have to go thru the same process each time.

Hope this is more helpful than confusing.

Darryl