Star Alignment

[extolstudios]

I've been using PixInsight for a while and I don't think I've ever seen this issue I'm having. I shot images of Comet NEOWISE with my Canon DSLR. Images are 4 seconds with a 200mm lens. Overall, each sub frame looks pretty good but the stars are slightly streaked if you zoom in on the image due to the fact that I shot them from a tripod with no tracking. Images have been calibrated with dark frames and have been de-bayered. Star alignment finds stars and completes successfully but the output images are NOT aligned. The only thing I can figure is that the stars are not round and maybe that's affecting the alignment process. Any help would be appreciated. I attached a screenshot of the Star Alignment parameters and included the process log:

StarAlignment: Global context

Loading reference image:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9688_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map: done

Detecting stars: done

127 stars found.



Registration of 12 target files.

* Using 10 worker threads.

[000] /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9688_c_d.xisf

[001] /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9689_c_d.xisf

[002] /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9690_c_d.xisf

[003] /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9691_c_d.xisf

[004] /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9692_c_d.xisf

[005] /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9693_c_d.xisf

[006] /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9694_c_d.xisf

[007] /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9695_c_d.xisf

[008] /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9696_c_d.xisf

[009] /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9697_c_d.xisf

Loading target file:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9688_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map:

Detecting stars: done

127 stars found.

Matching stars:

127 putative star pair matches.

Performing RANSAC: done

127 star pair matches in 30 RANSAC iterations.

* Summary of model properties:

Inliers : 1.000

Overlapping : 1.000

Regularity : 0.960

Quality : 0.990

Root mean square error:

delta_RMS : 0.000 px

RMS error deviation:

sigma_RMS : 0.000 px

Peak errors:

delta_x_max : 0.000 px

delta_y_max : 0.000 px

* Projective transformation matrix:

+1.000000 -0.000000 -0.000000

-0.000000 +1.000000 +0.000000

-0.000000 -0.000000 +1.000000

translation : 0.00 px

translation_x : -0.00 px

translation_y : +0.00 px

rotation : -0.00 deg

scale : 1.000

scale_x : 1.000

scale_y : 1.000

Generating registered image

Homographic Projection / Lanczos-3 interpolation, c=0.30:

Registration successful.

Writing output file: /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Star Align/IMG_9688_c_d_r.xisf

Writing image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

59 FITS keyword(s) embedded.

12 image properties embedded.



[000] /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9698_c_d.xisf



Loading target file:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9689_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map:

Detecting stars: done

130 stars found.

Matching stars:

123 putative star pair matches.

Performing RANSAC: done

107 star pair matches in 78 RANSAC iterations.

* Summary of model properties:

Inliers : 0.870

Overlapping : 1.000

Regularity : 0.919

Quality : 0.946

Root mean square error:

delta_RMS : 0.012 px

RMS error deviation:

sigma_RMS : 0.001 px

Peak errors:

delta_x_max : 0.029 px

delta_y_max : 0.071 px

* Projective transformation matrix:

+1.000001 +0.000000 -0.000352

-0.000000 +1.000001 -0.000904

+0.000000 +0.000000 +1.000000

translation : 0.00 px

translation_x : -0.00 px

translation_y : -0.00 px

rotation : -0.00 deg

scale : 1.000

scale_x : 1.000

scale_y : 1.000

Generating registered image

Homographic Projection / Lanczos-3 interpolation, c=0.30:

Registration successful.

Writing output file: /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Star Align/IMG_9689_c_d_r.xisf

Writing image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

59 FITS keyword(s) embedded.

12 image properties embedded.



[001] /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9699_c_d.xisf



* Waiting for running tasks to terminate...



Loading target file:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9690_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map:

Detecting stars: done

124 stars found.

Matching stars:

117 putative star pair matches.

Performing RANSAC: done

105 star pair matches in 14 RANSAC iterations.

* Summary of model properties:

Inliers : 0.897

Overlapping : 1.000

Regularity : 0.919

Quality : 0.953

Root mean square error:

delta_RMS : 0.013 px

RMS error deviation:

sigma_RMS : 0.001 px

Peak errors:

delta_x_max : 0.070 px

delta_y_max : 0.046 px

* Projective transformation matrix:

+0.999999 +0.000000 -0.001884

-0.000001 +0.999999 +0.003398

-0.000000 +0.000000 +1.000000

translation : 0.00 px

translation_x : -0.00 px

translation_y : +0.00 px

rotation : -0.00 deg

scale : 1.000

scale_x : 1.000

scale_y : 1.000

Generating registered image

Homographic Projection / Lanczos-3 interpolation, c=0.30:

Registration successful.

Writing output file: /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Star Align/IMG_9690_c_d_r.xisf

Writing image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

59 FITS keyword(s) embedded.

12 image properties embedded.



Loading target file:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9691_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map:

Detecting stars: done

130 stars found.

Matching stars:

122 putative star pair matches.

Performing RANSAC: done

107 star pair matches in 110 RANSAC iterations.

* Summary of model properties:

Inliers : 0.877

Overlapping : 1.000

Regularity : 0.919

Quality : 0.947

Root mean square error:

delta_RMS : 0.014 px

RMS error deviation:

sigma_RMS : 0.001 px

Peak errors:

delta_x_max : 0.036 px

delta_y_max : 0.090 px

* Projective transformation matrix:

+1.000000 +0.000000 -0.000957

-0.000001 +1.000002 -0.001634

+0.000000 +0.000000 +1.000000

translation : 0.00 px

translation_x : -0.00 px

translation_y : -0.00 px

rotation : +0.00 deg

scale : 1.000

scale_x : 1.000

scale_y : 1.000

Generating registered image

Homographic Projection / Lanczos-3 interpolation, c=0.30:

Registration successful.

Writing output file: /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Star Align/IMG_9691_c_d_r.xisf

Writing image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

59 FITS keyword(s) embedded.

12 image properties embedded.



Loading target file:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9692_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map:

Detecting stars: done

120 stars found.

Matching stars:

114 putative star pair matches.

Performing RANSAC: done

106 star pair matches in 33 RANSAC iterations.

* Summary of model properties:

Inliers : 0.930

Overlapping : 1.000

Regularity : 0.919

Quality : 0.960

Root mean square error:

delta_RMS : 0.017 px

RMS error deviation:

sigma_RMS : 0.002 px

Peak errors:

delta_x_max : 0.075 px

delta_y_max : 0.092 px

* Projective transformation matrix:

+1.000001 +0.000003 -0.002175

+0.000000 +1.000007 -0.006980

-0.000000 +0.000000 +1.000000

translation : 0.01 px

translation_x : -0.00 px

translation_y : -0.01 px

rotation : +0.00 deg

scale : 1.000

scale_x : 1.000

scale_y : 1.000

Generating registered image

Homographic Projection / Lanczos-3 interpolation, c=0.30:

Registration successful.

Writing output file: /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Star Align/IMG_9692_c_d_r.xisf

Writing image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

59 FITS keyword(s) embedded.

12 image properties embedded.



Loading target file:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9693_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map:

Detecting stars: done

119 stars found.

Matching stars:

103 putative star pair matches.

Performing RANSAC: done

101 star pair matches in 64 RANSAC iterations.

* Summary of model properties:

Inliers : 0.981

Overlapping : 1.000

Regularity : 0.919

Quality : 0.974

Root mean square error:

delta_RMS : 0.010 px

RMS error deviation:

sigma_RMS : 0.001 px

Peak errors:

delta_x_max : 0.010 px

delta_y_max : 0.046 px

* Projective transformation matrix:

+1.000000 -0.000001 +0.000980

-0.000001 +0.999999 +0.002296

+0.000000 -0.000000 +1.000000

translation : 0.00 px

translation_x : +0.00 px

translation_y : +0.00 px

rotation : -0.00 deg

scale : 1.000

scale_x : 1.000

scale_y : 1.000

Generating registered image

Homographic Projection / Lanczos-3 interpolation, c=0.30:

Registration successful.

Writing output file: /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Star Align/IMG_9693_c_d_r.xisf

Writing image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

59 FITS keyword(s) embedded.

12 image properties embedded.



Loading target file:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9694_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map:

Detecting stars: done

137 stars found.

Matching stars:

109 putative star pair matches.

Performing RANSAC: done

104 star pair matches in 13 RANSAC iterations.

* Summary of model properties:

Inliers : 0.954

Overlapping : 1.000

Regularity : 0.919

Quality : 0.967

Root mean square error:

delta_RMS : 0.015 px

RMS error deviation:

sigma_RMS : 0.002 px

Peak errors:

delta_x_max : 0.073 px

delta_y_max : 0.068 px

* Projective transformation matrix:

+0.999997 +0.000000 +0.001592

-0.000003 +0.999999 +0.004166

-0.000000 -0.000000 +1.000000

translation : 0.00 px

translation_x : +0.00 px

translation_y : +0.00 px

rotation : -0.00 deg

scale : 1.000

scale_x : 1.000

scale_y : 1.000

Generating registered image

Homographic Projection / Lanczos-3 interpolation, c=0.30:

Registration successful.

Writing output file: /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Star Align/IMG_9694_c_d_r.xisf

Writing image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

59 FITS keyword(s) embedded.

12 image properties embedded.



Loading target file:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9695_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map:

Detecting stars: done

123 stars found.

Matching stars:

107 putative star pair matches.

Performing RANSAC: done

104 star pair matches in 51 RANSAC iterations.

* Summary of model properties:

Inliers : 0.972

Overlapping : 1.000

Regularity : 0.919

Quality : 0.971

Root mean square error:

delta_RMS : 0.013 px

RMS error deviation:

sigma_RMS : 0.001 px

Peak errors:

delta_x_max : 0.037 px

delta_y_max : 0.070 px

* Projective transformation matrix:

+0.999999 -0.000000 +0.000895

-0.000002 +1.000000 +0.003197

-0.000000 -0.000000 +1.000000

translation : 0.00 px

translation_x : +0.00 px

translation_y : +0.00 px

rotation : -0.00 deg

scale : 1.000

scale_x : 1.000

scale_y : 1.000

Generating registered image

Homographic Projection / Lanczos-3 interpolation, c=0.30:

Registration successful.

Writing output file: /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Star Align/IMG_9695_c_d_r.xisf

Writing image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

59 FITS keyword(s) embedded.

12 image properties embedded.



Loading target file:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9696_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map:

Detecting stars: done

135 stars found.

Matching stars:

107 putative star pair matches.

Performing RANSAC: done

107 star pair matches in 11 RANSAC iterations.

* Summary of model properties:

Inliers : 1.000

Overlapping : 1.000

Regularity : 0.919

Quality : 0.978

Root mean square error:

delta_RMS : 0.011 px

RMS error deviation:

sigma_RMS : 0.001 px

Peak errors:

delta_x_max : 0.040 px

delta_y_max : 0.046 px

* Projective transformation matrix:

+1.000000 +0.000000 +0.000104

-0.000001 +0.999999 +0.002327

-0.000000 -0.000000 +1.000000

translation : 0.00 px

translation_x : +0.00 px

translation_y : +0.00 px

rotation : -0.00 deg

scale : 1.000

scale_x : 1.000

scale_y : 1.000

Generating registered image

Homographic Projection / Lanczos-3 interpolation, c=0.30:

Registration successful.

Writing output file: /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Star Align/IMG_9696_c_d_r.xisf

Writing image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

59 FITS keyword(s) embedded.

12 image properties embedded.



Loading target file:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9697_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map:

Detecting stars: done

128 stars found.

Matching stars:

109 putative star pair matches.

Performing RANSAC: done

106 star pair matches in 87 RANSAC iterations.

* Summary of model properties:

Inliers : 0.972

Overlapping : 1.000

Regularity : 0.919

Quality : 0.971

Root mean square error:

delta_RMS : 0.013 px

RMS error deviation:

sigma_RMS : 0.001 px

Peak errors:

delta_x_max : 0.046 px

delta_y_max : 0.068 px

* Projective transformation matrix:

+1.000000 +0.000000 +0.000553

+0.000000 +0.999999 +0.001187

-0.000000 +0.000000 +1.000000

translation : 0.00 px

translation_x : +0.00 px

translation_y : +0.00 px

rotation : -0.00 deg

scale : 1.000

scale_x : 1.000

scale_y : 1.000

Generating registered image

Homographic Projection / Lanczos-3 interpolation, c=0.30:

Registration successful.

Writing output file: /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Star Align/IMG_9697_c_d_r.xisf

Writing image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

59 FITS keyword(s) embedded.

12 image properties embedded.



Loading target file:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9698_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map:

Detecting stars: done

129 stars found.

Matching stars:

109 putative star pair matches.

Performing RANSAC: done

106 star pair matches in 71 RANSAC iterations.

* Summary of model properties:

Inliers : 0.972

Overlapping : 1.000

Regularity : 0.919

Quality : 0.972

Root mean square error:

delta_RMS : 0.009 px

RMS error deviation:

sigma_RMS : 0.001 px

Peak errors:

delta_x_max : 0.036 px

delta_y_max : 0.046 px

* Projective transformation matrix:

+1.000000 +0.000000 +0.000057

-0.000001 +0.999999 +0.002236

-0.000000 -0.000000 +1.000000

translation : 0.00 px

translation_x : +0.00 px

translation_y : +0.00 px

rotation : -0.00 deg

scale : 1.000

scale_x : 1.000

scale_y : 1.000

Generating registered image

Homographic Projection / Lanczos-3 interpolation, c=0.30:

Registration successful.

Writing output file: /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Star Align/IMG_9698_c_d_r.xisf

Writing image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

59 FITS keyword(s) embedded.

12 image properties embedded.



Loading target file:

/Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Lights Debayer/IMG_9699_c_d.xisf

Loading image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

12 image properties

38 FITS keyword(s) extracted.

Structure map:

Detecting stars: done

115 stars found.

Matching stars:

108 putative star pair matches.

Performing RANSAC: done

105 star pair matches in 3 RANSAC iterations.

* Summary of model properties:

Inliers : 0.972

Overlapping : 1.000

Regularity : 0.919

Quality : 0.971

Root mean square error:

delta_RMS : 0.011 px

RMS error deviation:

sigma_RMS : 0.001 px

Peak errors:

delta_x_max : 0.060 px

delta_y_max : 0.045 px

* Projective transformation matrix:

+1.000001 -0.000000 +0.000146

-0.000000 +1.000001 +0.000798

+0.000000 +0.000000 +1.000000

translation : 0.00 px

translation_x : +0.00 px

translation_y : +0.00 px

rotation : -0.00 deg

scale : 1.000

scale_x : 1.000

scale_y : 1.000

Generating registered image

Homographic Projection / Lanczos-3 interpolation, c=0.30:

Registration successful.

Writing output file: /Volumes/G-DRIVE slim/Comet Neowise/Star Align/IMG_9699_c_d_r.xisf

Writing image: w=5208 h=3476 n=3 RGB Float32

59 FITS keyword(s) embedded.

12 image properties embedded.





===== StarAlignment: 12 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped =====

01:25.75

 

[extolstudios]

And just as a test... I was able to star align the images with Deep Sky Stacker so I assume the images are good enough and it's something in my settings for star alignment.

 

[pfile]

more than likely SA has latched on to hot pixels as stars and since they appear in the same place on every frame, each frame is translated/rotated by exactly 0 pixels. under "star detection" try setting "noise scales" and "hot pixel removal" to 2 and see if that helps. if it's not finding any stars, you can try increasing the "peak response" slider to 0.9 or something like that.

 

[johnpane]

You could solve your image, use the CatalogStarGenerator script to create a synthetic image of the star field, and use that as the reference for registration.