M101 reprocessed

[tomato]

Here is 19 hrs of Esprit 150/IMX571 OSC data reprocessed with the RC star and noise reduction tools, to try and reveal more of the fainter outer spiral arms. For comparison I have posted the somewhat oversaturated original, funny how it never seemed that blingy to me at the time. Definitely some fainter nebulosity has come through, but some dust detail has been lost or was that more artificial than real in the original? Maybe somewhere between the two would be the best rendition, I'm not sure.

[simmo39]

Think the second image has better detail but the stars in the first image look more controlled. thats with my untrained eye!

[ONIKKINEN]

Detail on the second one looks much better, and the background looks a bit richer too. More faint stuff in the outer regions of the galaxy in the first one though. Maybe worth trying a blend of the 2 with aggressive stretches for the faint stuff blended to the detailed image of the second one?

[tomato]

Thanks for the feedback, here is a 50/50 blend using PixelMath: