Darned darks driving me dotty

[BrendanC]

Yes, this is about amp glow, but my other trials and tribulations have been about light leaks, flats, bugs in software, exposure times, gain, offset, ADUs, and a bazillion other things with this mono setup. It's very like when I moved from an AZ mount to EQ, the increased sensitivity and different workflow have both been quite tough to surmount.

Aaaaanyway, to cut a long story short I lost my mind I think that, as of last night, the way ahead is clear. The new flats from my light box seem to have made a big difference, as does going down to -20C, and wrapping the snood around the focus tube, well, I'm not sure what positive difference it made, but it didn't cause a problem so it's staying.

Very first cut of the Sunflower Galaxy, still to add luminance and a touch of Ha:

I possibly could have done this with the previous calibration files and at -15C, but this was a dream to process. I almost didn't have to denoise at all.

I have tried without darks, but I didn't like the result. I may try it again sometime, but at least I've overcome some more hurdles with a lot of help from the good folk here.

Edited May 7, 2022 by BrendanC