Harvard University Astronomy Lab and Clay Telescope

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Combining Color Images with MaximDL

• Open images to be combined in MaximDL
• Under the top menu bar, goto color --> color combine (this opens the color combine window)
• In color combine window, set conversion type to 'RGB'
• Select the images for the corresponding filter
  • For red, select the reddest filter (H-alpha, I, R)
  • For green, select the middle filter (R or V)
  • For blue, select the bluest filter (most likely B)
• For the output section, the default is 1, 1, 1. This is fine if all the images are the same exposuretime. If, for instance, the B filter exposure is half the exposure time the other two filters, then B's output value will need to be set at 2.

When you are done adjusting the color scale, you need to align the images...

• In the color combine window, click the align button (this brings up another window).
• Set align mode --> Auto-star matching ( this will use the stars in the image to align the images)
• Click Overlay all images and then the images should be aligned
• Click OK

You should now be back to the color combine window. You can then click OK in this window and you have your color image in a separate window. NOTE: There is a preview window that is in the color combine window. It is very helpful when playing with the input to ouput color scale.

** To save as a JPEG - click file save as -> change file type to JPEG and be sure to click the "auto stretch" box for proper formatting!**