Since I published my first image of M55 on Astrobin
here, I've leaned a lot about astronomy, and even more about image processing.
It's taken me a long time to realise that the camera I used to capture that image was massively under-sampled for the OTA, and that the original data might contain a lot more information that I was able to bring out in my first attempt. So, I thought it would be interesting to see whether I could improve the original image by re-processing the original data.
One of the biggest advances in my astrophotography was switching to PixInsight. I used Drizzle to bring out hidden detail in the original, under-sampled images, which totally transformed my blocky, washed out stars into nice round stars with a smooth profile. Coupled with BlurX and NoiseX, it was very easy to develop the finer detail in the cluster, and to distinguish some of the subtle colour various between the hotter and cooler stars.
Reprocessing the original data has completely transformed the image, and showcases some of the subtle beauty of this cluster.
Thanks again to
Rowan for his patient guidance and great advice on the finer aspects of PixInsight.
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