Processing advice please

[wimvb]

1 hour ago, Rallemikken said:

How would this look without BlurXtermiinator?

Starry. BlurXterminator does a great job reducing stars. In this case, it is possible to get decent results by applying a light stretch first and then separate the stars from the nebula. Stretch the nebula more (levels and curves), and put the stars back in. The combination of BXT and SXT beats anything else that you could throw at this data.

[Rallemikken]

9 hours ago, wimvb said:

BlurXterminator does a great job reducing stars.

I'm a Linux guy, and use Siril and Gimp only. As Pixinsight is developed under Linux, I should feel at home. I'll download the trial later this summer.

I use StarNet++ in Siril, but can't get the starmask as I would like it. I can have well defined spikes and small stars, but not bright and shiny at the same time. If I want bright stars they get fat, and the spikes becomes diamonds... Have to work on that a bit more. Maybe Pixinsight will be the right choice.

[wimvb]

1 hour ago, Rallemikken said:

I'm a Linux guy, and use Siril and Gimp only. As Pixinsight is developed under Linux, I should feel at home.

I used to have PixInsight under windows, but got regular crashes, which according to Pleiades Software, was due to windows. Now I run PixInsight under linux and it’s as stable as can be. PixInsight is one of the best astro investments I’ve made.

[ollypenrice]

5 hours ago, Rallemikken said:

I'm a Linux guy, and use Siril and Gimp only. As Pixinsight is developed under Linux, I should feel at home. I'll download the trial later this summer.

I use StarNet++ in Siril, but can't get the starmask as I would like it. I can have well defined spikes and small stars, but not bright and shiny at the same time. If I want bright stars they get fat, and the spikes becomes diamonds... Have to work on that a bit more. Maybe Pixinsight will be the right choice.

Essentially stars which are both small and bright will arise from a very high contrast curve. If you're working on a stars only layer, don't hesitate to black clip the layer, either. What you do with this high contrast curve is pull down the outer, fainter, parts of the stars while holding up the cores.

Olly