CaLIGHTs V3.1.9 Released

StarSatGuard [SSG] has been modified quite a lot. I removed access to the SSG Threshold value. This threshold is now permanently set at 65,534. I discovered that SSG can be used in tandem with a custom Multiplier to achieve the equivalent of a large histogram stretch which will protect the stars from saturating. The net result is that faint nebulosity in your astrophotos are much brighter and the color of bright stars is retained. The bloating of bright stars is avoided but their halos are brighter. I posted a write-up…

CaLIGHTs Version 3.1.8.2 released

I decided to stay with a 32b application for this version of CaLIGHTs. Microsoft had discontinued support for Windows 7 a while ago but I just learned that Microsoft has made changes to Windows 11 that prevents programming environments from building applications that can be supported not only for Windows 7 but for all 32 bit operating systems. The error messages I have seen indicate that the minimum requirement is now Windows 10. I didn’t want to leave Windows 7 users or 32b operating system users out in the cold…

Optimum Exposure Times

This tends to be a “Holy Grail” kind of topic. I have experienced far too many evenings where I have imaged for hours but the sky glow corrupted the images so badly that the images were not usable. I end up asking myself “would a longer exposure been a better choice?” or “was this just a night to keep the telescope in the house?I decided that I need to research this subject more. I have read lots about “swamping the Read Noise” which sounds like a good scheme. If I…