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Mira AP Software
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Accurate Results that are Easy to Get
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Display, plot, animate, blink, and visually enhance images using some
of the fastest, most powerful tools available.
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Correct instrumental effects by Calibrating, Processing, Registering,
and Combining images using accurate, cutting-edge algorithms.
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Measure high-precision coordinates, distance, angle, FWHM, magnitudes,
and statistics, pixel units and FITS World Coordinates.
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Use FITS, TIFF, JPEG, BMP, and other images of any size, 8 to 64 bit,
including 24 bit colour.
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Outline
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Mira AP is suitable for a wide number of applications including:
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Variable star research, exosolar planet search, milli-mag level photometry,
supernova patrol, minor planet rotation studies, data mining, and other research
topics.
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Teaching college level astronomy labs involving image calibration and data
reduction.
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Professional level "quick look" data screening and many general research
applications.
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Amateur / professional collaboration in astronomy.
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Mira AP™ provides world-class software tools for processing, analyzing,
and viewing images from CCD cameras and digitized photos. Educators,
university students, and serious amateur astronomers alike will find
Mira AP the ideal solution for getting the best results with a minimum
of effort. And like other members of the Mira family, Mira AP is no
performance slouch! Using today's Pentium IV and Athlon class PC's,
you can dynamically stretch the palette or fluidly pan around large images,
say 8k x 8k, with 64 bit real pixels, even when zoomed 16x.
Internally, Mira AP relies on many of the same cutting-edge mathematical
techniques used in the professional level Mira Pro.
Mira AP gives you research quality results in a fraction of the time
you would spend fumbling with other software.
In 1990, Mirametrics made astronomical image processing on the PC a
reality. Since then, providing high-end solutions for cutting-edge applications
in astronomy and other fields has taught the company many things. Since then, user
feedback has taught Mirametrics even more. Mira Version 7 shows their commitment to more
than just a lot of great features---it shows their attention to "human
engineering". This translates as "Easy to understand and use".
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Computer Requirements
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Operating System: Windows ME/2000/XP.
Hard Drive Space: 80 MB.
Processor: Pentium 3 @ 550 MHz minimum; Athlon or Pentium 4 recommended.
Memory: 256MB RAM
Graphics: 16-bit colour minimum; 24-bit or 32-bit colour recommended.
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Displaying Images
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- Single or multiple images (image sets).
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Work with images having 8 to 64 bits per pixel, integer or real, plus 24-bit RGB images.
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Multiple image blinking and animation, ranging from manual blinking to many
frames per second, for any format, image size, or bit depth.
- Monochrome, pseudo-colour, and RGB colour.
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Real time contrast stretching and palette manipulation of one image
or an image stack, even during animation.
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Image Bar control panel with thumbnail magnifier and full-image views;
provides coordinate readout and commonly used command buttons;
displays current settings.
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Zoom ratios of 1/16 to 16x, live panning at any magnification, live image
cursor sizing and adjustment. You can even adjust these parameters and the
image palette during animation!
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Animation Bar control panel for image sets; controls animation,
blinking, speed, frame selection.
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Overall, Mira's image display and animation performance are unparalleled
on the Windows platform.
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Visual Enhancements (palettes, transfer functions)
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Interactive adjustment of R, G, and B, as well as total contrast and
brightness stretch in real time, even during high speed image animation.
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Includes grayscale, random, and level-slice palettes as well as a host of
other standard pseudo-colour options. Adjust these in an infinite variety
of ways or create new palettes.
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Highly versatile transfer function adjustment, with fine control
over sampling, range enhancement, and stretch parameters.
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Linear, Logarithmic, and Gamma Power adjustments, Percentiles,
and Absolute limits.
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Make transfer function adjustments for one or all images in a stack in real
time, even during high speed image animation.
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Plotting
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- Plot intensity along an individual column or row.
- Intensity along a range of columns or rows (separately or as a single, average line).
- Choose mean or median of adjacent lines.
- Plot single image or stack of images (image set).
- Plot data along an angled line between two points.
- Histogram of pixel values inside a rectangular image region.
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Radial brightness profile with a fit to a Gaussian + Constant model; gives
estimate the Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM), peak value, and background.
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Choose to plot in pixel coordinates (column, row, value) or in celestial
coordinates and brightness units for WCS and/or BUNIT calibrated images.
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Live cursor readout displays in plot coordinates, including celestial
coordinates for WCS calibrated images.
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Publication quality plots with changeable fonts, axes, labels, grid, etc.
May be copied to the Windows clipboard or pasted into other applications
such as Word for publication.
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Plots can be printed in grayscale, strict black & white, or colour.
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Image Cursor
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Dedicated image crosshair, rectangle, or full-image lines used
for plotting, marking coordinate positions, statistics, etc.
- Adjustable position, width, and height.
- Independent of the mouse pointer and toolbar mode cursors.
- Live readout of pixel coordinate and world coordinate positions.
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Image Headers
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- FITS format header editor. Automatic handling of string and number
keywords so you can simply enter image data without understanding
the details of FITS format.
- Non-FITS format image information editor.
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Image Math
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- Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide, and Blend images with other
images or a numeric value.
- Change sign, Byte swap, or compute the Base 10 logarithm,
Square root, or Reciprocal of image values.
- Remove scattered light and background irregularities using polynomial
surface flattening (1--100 terms, up to 10 x 10 including all cross terms).
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Data Types
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- Native data formats: 8, 16, and 32-bit integer, 32 and 64 bit real,
24-bit colour.
- Mira AP opens, saves, displays, plots, measures, processes, and
converts images with the data types described above.
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Image Calibration
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- Automated correction with full configuration of processing steps.
- Create and apply corrections for CCD bias, dark, and flat field
signatures; correct cosmetic defects; correct image header data and keywords.
- Process 1 image or a stack of displayed images or a folder of images
meeting keyword criteria.
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Image Combining
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Increase S/N ratio, identify and analyze similarities and differences
between images, and discover transient or changing objects (e.g.,
minor planets and variable stars). Mira AP offers these 7 methods:
- Mean methods: Arithmetic mean, Arithmetic Sum, Mean masked by 0 value.
- Clipping Methods: Min/max Clip, Sigma Clip.
- Ranking methods: Median Value, Minimum value.
Normalization is a critical part of many combining operations.
During the combining operation, Mira AP can normalize the image set by scaling
or offsetting images to a common statistical value. This is a critical part of
most clipping and ranking operations.
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FITS WCS support
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Support for FITS World Coordinate System standard. Exchange images with a
celestial coordinate calibration intact (see coordinate readout in the image
window example, above).
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Measure astrometric quality, precision positions, angles, and distances
in celestial coordinates on WCS calibrated images.
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Aperture Photometry
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Measure any number of objects in 1 or more images using accurate
automatic background subtraction.
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Reports 20 parameters for each measurement, including magnitude, flux,
background, S/N ratio, 2 error estimates, date, time, Julian Date, and more.
(The table at left shows some of the more than 20 columns of data for the
measurements.)
- Julian Date can be reported for beginning, middle, or end of exposure.
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Track defined objects through a stack of images and measure the
entire image set.
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Measure through circular or elliptical apertures with adjustable parameters
and radius of sky annulus.
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Markers & Labels
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- Interactively add markers to images with multi-line text labels.
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Choose from a selection of marker styles, including crosshairs,
circles, and lines.
- Choose position of marker relative to location and select the font.
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Spatial Filters
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Unsharp mask and high pass filters for general sharpening, boxcar,
elliptical, Gaussian, block averaging, and median filters.
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Digital Development Processing (DDP) for emulating the response curve of
photographic emulsion. An optional Maximum Entropy module is also available
for enhancing sharpness while suppressing noise.
- Custom 3x3 filter lets you design your own filter kernels.
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Rotational gradient for revealing detail in axially symmetric
objects such as comets.
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Measurements
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Measure statistics over a region of interest or the entire image
(mean, median, min, max, standard deviation).
- Measure positions using astrometric quality centroid calculations.
- Measure FWHM, peak, and local background using a Gaussian profile + Sky model.
- Measure distance, position angle, and endpoint coordinates between any two points.
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Perform high precision aperture photometry on one or more objects in one or
more images using circular or elliptical apertures. Includes adjustments for
aperture shape, size, and orientation, placement of precision local background
measurement annulus, bad data rejection, etc. Includes the world's only exact
area method for both circular and elliptical apertures (essential for accuracy
using small apertures). Reports more than 20 quantities for each object,
including position, magnitude, theoretical and empirical error estimates, S/N,
flux, background, Julian Date, and other quantities.
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All measurements are reported in tables in Report windows. Reports share a
common user interface. Table data may be exported to editors or to applications
such as MS Word® or Excel®, or it may be sorted, compared,
or saved (see pictures at left). Measurements are listed in pixel coordinates
and also in celestial coordinates if the image has a WCS calibration.
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A roaming crosshair reads image coordinates and pixel value at full
precision depending upon the screen zoom.
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RGB Image Support
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Display, plot, print, process, combine, register, measure,
and filter colour images.
- Convert numeric data (8 to 64 bit pixels) to or from RGB data.
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Merge monochrome images to make RGB images; merge with luminance
data to make LRGB images.
- Convert numeric data or RGB data to grayscale RGB.
- Split RGB channels into monochrome images.
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Compute world coordinates, region statistics, centroid positions,
distance, and angle on RGB images.
- Open or save using TIFF, JPEG, and BMP formats.
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Geometric Transformations
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Perform precision image registration on any number of images of any data
type; correct for drift and offsets between images or correct for rotation,
offset, image scale, unequal scale, and parallelogram deformations. Performs
auto pattern matching on point sets to calculate transformation equations.
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Apply sub-pixel accurate shifts, rotation, and scaling; flip horizontal or
vertical, rotate 90, 180, or 270° without re-sampling.
- Scale uniformly or unequally in each axis (e.g., squaring pixels).
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Expand image canvas; embed images into other images using opaque or
adjustable transparent insertion.
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Text Editor
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Integrated Mira Text window for logging of results and preparing reports.
Text Windows may be created by Mira commands to receive messages from
processing functions or may be created by the user.
- Mixes Mira messages and user content that can be edited by the user.
- Supports copy/paste between windows or from inside/outside Mira.
- Window contents may be saved to a file, opened from a text file, or printed.
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Printing
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- Print images, plots, text, and measurement tables.
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Get publication quality results on any monochrome or
colour printer supported by your Windows operating system.
- Set print scale, size, and location.
- Print rulers, grid overlay, and text comments.
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Supported Image Formats
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- FITS, TIFF, JPEG, BMP standard formats.
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Camera formats: Princeton/Roper SPE format, Photometrics/Roper
IMG format, Photometrics Star-1, SBIG STx format, PixCel images,
and Spectrasource Lynxx and other camera images.
- All CCD Camera image formats that save images in FITS or TIFF format.
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Mira provides a standard programming interface for using plug-ins to open
files that have non-standard, unsupported, or user defined formats.
File Open Plug-ins specify file filters that appear in the normal File |
Open dialog. Plug-ins may be written by Mirametrics, the Mira user,
or acquired from other authors.
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Expandability
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Standard Plug-in Interface; add plug-ins for opening new image format
and for processing images and image sets.
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Optional MaxEnt module for Maximum Entropy
Deconvolution of images.
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Mira AP Benefits
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Get the best results for astronomical image data acquired with CCD cameras,
digitized photos, and the Internet.
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Experience an effective GUI design that assures a short learning curve,
helping you achieve better results faster. Not only does Mira put commonly used
tools where you are looking, but it integrates visualization, processing, and
measurement in a way that quickly becomes second nature, making it easier to get
what you need from your data. Mira brings together image visualization, stacks,
processing, measurements, and multi-image graphics in an efficient and intuitive
way that no other software has been able to copy.
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Mira's superior image display and processing code makes it easier and faster
to work with today’s large images, especially when displaying many images
simultaneously or working with stacks containing 100’s of images. Mira users
routinely process stacks of 200-400 images in a single window. Using today's P4
and Athlon-class machines, users can smoothly zoom, pan, and adjust a grayscale
or pseudo-colour palette while animating tens or hundreds of 1k x 1k, 32 bit real
images at 20-30 frames per second.
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Use a broad selection of advanced tools to reduce noise, remove artifacts,
maximize detail, and reveal virtually undetectable features. Combined with
Mira's superior visualization tools, you will be able to see more detail and
detect fainter objects than with other software.
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Achieve maximum signal-to-noise ratio with maximum sharpness using Mira's
superior, yet easy to use image combining and registration. Registration and
combining are critically important steps in scientific image processing
applications. Mira not only provides a greater number of useful options, but
also more effectively integrates these tasks into your work flow.
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Characterize and compute image properties, luminance, statistics, FWHM, and
more; Measure precision coordinates, distance, and angles—including world
coordinate when using a FITS WCS calibration. No other software makes these
measurements so easily and accurately and presents them in a common, readily
usable format.
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Versatile, highly accurate aperture photometry package measures multiple
point sources on single images, image sets, and time series containing 100's of
images. Mira' s exact elliptical/circular aperture algorithm is not available
elsewhere. Especially using small apertures, it assures the greatest accuracy
and smallest photometric errors.
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Comparing Features Across Mira Platforms
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| Feature |
AL |
AP |
Pro |
MX |
| High Performance Image Display |
√ |
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√ |
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| Image Sets (1 to n images per window) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image set management (add, delete, re-order) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Open image sets (blocks and disjunct image files) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Save image sets (save all, save to folder, save with suffix) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Sort image set by properties (FWHM, Exposure, date, etc) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Image Set Toolbar |
- |
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√ |
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| File list support: create, merge, save, and open collections of images. |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Image Blinking and Animation, 0 to 100 frames/sec |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image Toolbar: shows Magnified view, thumbnail view, commonly used buttons, and image adjustment command modes. |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Single cycle, continuous, or rocking animation |
- |
- |
√1 |
√ |
| Dynamic palette manipulation |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Pseudo-colour, grayscale, and RGB palettes |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| High Performance Transfer Function management |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image cursor (separate from mouse pointer) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Zoom 1/16 to 16x, dynamic panning, mouse wheel |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Copy and Paste images between windows |
- |
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√ |
√ |
| View table of pixel values (any number of columns and rows) |
- |
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√ |
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| Interactively edit pixel values in tabular format |
- |
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√ |
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| Print images, grayscale or colour |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Print image to scale, size, or placement on page |
√ |
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√ |
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| Print overlay grid, keyword text, and comments |
√ |
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| Copy image to Windows clipboard |
√ |
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√ |
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| 1-D plotting of image data |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Configurable plot scale, ticks, fonts, labels, colors, borders, and direction |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Configurable plot window colours and size |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| WYSIWYG Printing of plots with preview |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Plot printing page placement, size, and scale |
√ |
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√ |
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| Plot Series support |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Plot series blinking and animation |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Single cycle, continuous, and rocking plot animation |
- |
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√1 |
√ |
| Dynamic plot coordinate readout |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Plot zoom, expand, and pan |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Dynamic plot scaling and positioning |
- |
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- |
√ |
| Plot Single column and row intensity profile |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Plot Multiple column and row intensity profiles |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Plot Averaged column and row intensity profile |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Mean, Median, and Sum plot averaging modes |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Plot intensity profile along a drawn line |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Overplot lines parallel to a drawn line |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Plot 1-D data in world coordinates or pixel coordinates |
√ |
√ |
√ |
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| Copy and paste plots between windows |
- |
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√ |
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| Configure marker and line size, colour, symbols |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Modify marker and line size, colour symbols |
- |
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√ |
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| List plot point data in tabular format |
- |
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√ |
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| Plot points at same coordinates in an image set |
- |
- |
√ |
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| Scatter plot of tabular data (all cells or specific cells or rows) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Histogram Plotting |
- |
√ |
√ |
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| Configurable histogram binning strategies |
- |
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√1 |
√ |
| Plot bit histograms for camera diagnostics |
- |
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√ |
√ |
| Radial Profile Plot with Gaussian + Constant fit |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Interactive Polynomial fitting to 1-D plot data |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| Fit 1 to 10-th order with sigma rejection, forced coefficients |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| Fit selected regions, manually delete or weight points. |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| Fit all points or only selected plot series |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| 3-D Plotting |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| 3-D Surface, Illuminated, Wireframe, and Z-shaded plots |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| 3-D dynamic tilt and rotation (manual or automated) |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| 3-D Quad and triangular pixel facets |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| 3-D Ribbon, Stepped Ribbon, Column, and Simple pixel facets |
- |
- |
√1 |
√ |
| 3-D Z-axis scaling |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| 3-D dynamic palettes and pseudo-colour |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Multiple 3-D plots from a 2-D image set |
- |
- |
√1 |
√ |
| 3-D dynamic blinking, animation, and rotation |
- |
- |
√1 |
√ |
| 3-D Dynamic adjustable viewpoint, illumination, and attributes |
- |
- |
√ |
- |
| Contour plotting, 1 to 100 levels, auto or user specified |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Interactive Contour Plotting |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Multi-level interactive contour plotting |
- |
- |
√1 |
√ |
| Measure positions in pixel and world coordinate units |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| List measurements in tabular format with common table tools |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Measure distance and angle in pixel and world coordinates |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Measure FWHM in pixel and world coordinates |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Measure centroid positions in world and pixel coordinates |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Measure image statistics inside a rectangular region |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Measure point coordinates and intensities |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| Measure angle between two lines and base angle |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| Measure distances along line between points |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| Measure polygon area, perimeter, and intensity statistics |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| Measure magnitude using aperture photometry (circular apertures) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√2 |
| Elliptical apertures with adjustable ellipticity and orientation |
- |
√ |
√ |
√2 |
| Unlimited star apertures, standard apertures, and sequential images |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√2 |
| Single Object Photometry, Series Photometry, Ensemble Photometry |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√2 |
| Import photometry catalogs using (X,Y) coordinates |
- |
√ |
√ |
√2 |
| Import photometry catalogs by (RA,Dec) coordinates |
- |
- |
√ |
√2 |
| Edit photometry data, print, save to file, copy to clipboard, scatter plot |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Support for FITS World Coordinate System ("WCS") Standard |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Add linear coordinate scale (mm. microns, km, etc.) |
√ |
- |
- |
√ |
| Interactively calibrate linear coordinate scale |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| Add arcsecond coordinate scale |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Astrometric Calibration (plate solution), saved as WCS |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Add simple, low precision equatorial coordinate scale |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√2 |
| Delete world coordinate scale |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| List world coordinate keywords from image header |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Image cursor go-to pixel or go-to world coordinate |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Send image cursor and displayed center to world coordinate |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Draw text labels and markers on images |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Set label options (marker shapes, size, colours, font, placement) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Display and edit FITS header (FITS format images) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Display and edit image information (TIFF, and other image formats) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Set Author & Copyright information (or equivalent) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| View HISTORY or COMMENT keywords |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Crop image to image cursor bounds (interactive) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Crop or trim image to specified (column,row) bounds |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Set pixel value |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Set region value with optional Gaussian random noise |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Image Arithmetic: add, subtract, divide, blend |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image Arithmetic: multiply, remainder |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Image Value Arithmetic: add, subtract, multiply, divide |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image Value Arithmetic: divide into, blend, remainder |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Image Operations: byte swap, change data type, square root |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image Operations: change sign, exponential, log 10 |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image Operations: log e, absolute value, reciprocal |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Flatten background with 1x1 up to 10x10 polynomial surface |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Subtract or divide polynomial surface or create image of the surface |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Rotate 90, 180, 270, or transpose image |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Rotate a specified angle about center or about a point. |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Mirror flip left/right, or up/down |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Scale image by a specified factor |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Scale image differently in x and y directions |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Shift image (whole pixel or fractional pixel amounts |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Expand image to larger size |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Imbed image into another image |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Affine transformation (scale, rotate, and shift) |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| High precision image registration (alignment) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Shift alignment |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Skew alignment (rotate, shift, scale x, scale y, non-perpendicular axes) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Align on extended object (planet, comet head, etc.) |
√ |
- |
- |
- |
| Extract byte plane from 8 to 64 bit image |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Extract color plane from RGB image |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Convert to grayscale or RGB image |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Convert to luminance image using channel weights |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Merge channel images to make RGB image |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Merge channel images to make LRGB image |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| De-speckle to remove colour channel point noise |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Basic filters: Sharpen, De-speckle, Custom 3x3 kernel |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Custom filter kernel, m x n pixels |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Unsharp masking filter |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Sharpening Filters: Unsharp Mask, High Pass (m x n pixels) |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Smoothing Filters: Rectangle, Elliptical, Gaussian, Block Average |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Smoothing Filters: Binomial (m x n pixels) |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Noise Reduction: Median, Boxcar (all m x n pixels) |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Noise Reduction: Clip High, Clip Low |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Noise Reduction: Cosmic Ray filter (various options) |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Rank Filters: Median, Minimum Value |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Rank Filters: Maximum value, Percentile Rank |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Operator Kernels: Rotational Gradient, DDP |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Operator Kernels: Compass Gradient, Laplacian (various) |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Operator Kernels: Prewitt gradient, Linear Feature |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| Maximum Entropy deconvolution for image enhancement |
- |
√4 |
√4 |
√4 |
| Interactive pixel repair |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Advanced interactive pixel repair |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Image Combining with offset and scale normalization |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image Combining: Mean, Median, Sum, Zero-masked mean |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image Combining: Min/max clipped, Sigma clipped, Minimum Value |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image Combining: Modified clipped mean, Keyword weighted mean |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Image Combining: Maximum value, Rank statistic |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Image Combining: Standard deviation, Range, MTM Mean |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Image Combining: Alpha Clipped Mean, Geometric Mean, Yp Mean |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| Image Combining: Rank clipped mean, Min/max clipped range |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| Image Normalization |
- |
- |
- |
√ |
| Basic Image Calibration (manually create & apply bias, dark, flat frames) |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Express Calibration (apply bias, dark, and flat field corrections to an image set using existing calibration frames) |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image Calibration pipeline: create and apply bias corrections (bias value, bias frame, reference bias) |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image Calibration pipeline: apply underscan and overscan bias corrections, mean and median overscan, polynomial fitting, or erase line removal. |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Image Calibration pipeline: create and apply dark corrections (dark frame, scale by dark exposure time, optimize by statistics), create or apply a library of master dark frames by exposure time or temperature. |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image Calibration pipeline: create and apply flat field corrections, create or apply a library of master flats according to filter. |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image Calibration pipeline: cosmic ray filtering |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Image Calibration pipeline: Trim finished images, convert data type |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Cosmetic repair: blemish masks (columns, rows, regions) |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Cosmetic repair: pixel mask correction (isolated points) |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Cosmetic repair: create and edit pixel masks and blemish masks |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Cosmetic Repair: auto-create pixel masks |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Data Type support: Mira opens, saves, displays, measures, processes images in 8, 16, 32 bit integer, 32 and 64 bit real, and 24 bit colour format. |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image format support: FITS, TIFF, BMP, JPEG |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Image format extensions: ASCII text read and write, formatted or unformatted |
- |
- |
√3 |
√ |
| Image format extensions: Raw binary read and write |
- |
- |
√3 |
√ |
| Supports file opening plug-ins for alien formats |
√ |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Supports image processing plug-ins for measurements and processing. |
- |
√ |
√ |
√ |
| Calculate Image Scale from header data |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Calculate CCD camera gain from images |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Calculate CCD readout noise from images |
- |
- |
√ |
√ |
| Image processing extension language for custom applications |
- |
- |
√5 |
√5 |
| Detect and measure object properties ("Source Extraction") |
- |
- |
√6 |
√6 |
|
1 Requires Pro Graphics II module
2 Requires astronomy extensions (no cost option)
3 Requires Import/Export module
4 Requires MaxEnt module
5 Requires Pro Script module
6 Requires MExtract module
|
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Notice
|
We are constantly checking the accuracy of the technical data. We are prepared to provide
more detailed information on request. Technical data is subject to change without notice.
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Opticstar Showroom
|
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Opening Hours
|
|
updated: 2nd January 2013
|
 |
Day Opening Hours
Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm
Sunday CLOSED
We are closed on Sundays and public holidays.
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| more |
|
Willmann Bell
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Books for Astronomy
|
|
updated: 15th May 2012
|
 |
|
Acclaimed books from Willmann Bell...
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| more |
|
Opticstar News
|
|
Imaging Brochure
|
|
posted: 17th August 2012
|
 |
|
Download the Opticstar imaging catalogue here.
|
|
|
| more |
|
Sample Images
|
|
Opticstar PL-130M CoolAir
|
|
posted: 10th February 2009
|
 |
|
An impressive 9.4 megapixel mosaic of the Moon by Herwig Sulzbacher with
the Opticstar PL-130M.
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Articles
|
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Pixel Response Effects On CCD Gain Calibration
|
 |
|
The gain of a CCD camera is the conversion between...
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| more |
|
A&M 152mm f/8 Review
|
|
"Fantastic Performance" "Beauty of a Ferrari"
|
|
updated: 25th March 2009
|
 |
|
Read the latest review about the A&M 152mm f/8 A&M/TMB on
Cloudy Nights.
According to the review this telescope combines the "beauty of a Ferrari" with
"fantastic performance". The review also states that "the manufacturer's claims are valid".
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Feedback
|
|
We want to hear your comments.
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| contact |
|
Online Shopping
|
|
Credit & Debit Cards
|
|
updated: 21st February 2012
|
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We accept all the credit and debit cards shown above. Online payments are
cleared by Barclays. Online payment integration by Worldpay. Please read our
Terms & Conditions
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