What free Mac software can I use to stack astrophotography images?
Asked 2/12/2011
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2 answers
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I'm using Mac OS X Snow Leopard and want free or open-source software that can automate astrophotography image stacking as much as possible. I know PixInsight is powerful, but I'm specifically looking for no-cost alternatives for Mac. What options are available, and are any of them suitable for general astro stacking rather than only star trails?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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Hugin might be your answer. At least it is available for the Mac and handles stacking of images (also into EXR-format), masking and distortion-correction of images. It is not per se meant for astrophotography, so you would have to know what to do.
As for automation (of the aligning) - I put each of my Stacks/Stitches into separate directories and just let a script run over all these directories, applying "autopano" or "align_image_stack" on all files in the directory. You have to check and correct the ready .pto-file afterwards.
Originally by user2317. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2317
15y ago
0
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There doesn’t seem to be a fully free Mac app that matches PixInsight for general astrophotography stacking and automation.
From the suggestions given:
- Hugin is the closest Mac-friendly option. It can align/stack images, supports masking and distortion correction, and can output EXR files. However, it isn’t designed specifically for astrophotography, so it may require more manual setup and checking.
- StarStaX is free and easy to use on Mac, but it’s mainly for star trail stacking rather than general deep-sky astro stacking.
- CombineZP was mentioned as a strong free stacker, but not as a native Mac solution; the suggestion was to run Windows on Intel Mac hardware.
So if you need a native free Mac tool, Hugin is probably the best fit, with the caveat that it’s not astro-specific. If your goal is specifically star trails, StarStaX is a good choice.
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