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I think your first go is good, there are some pink and blue pixels in the spirals but not enough to pull something visible from them. The stars did benefit from a shrink but they have a nice mix of colours on the process I ran. There was some chromatic aberration on the very bright stars that the f...

I think your first go is good, there are some pink and blue pixels in the spirals but not enough to pull something visible from them. The stars did benefit from a shrink but they have a nice mix of colours on the process I ran. There was some chromatic aberration on the very bright stars that the f...

"Now we're cooking with gas!" (as my South African friend would say) :thumbsup: That shows really nice detail How did you do the colouring though? Typically spiral galaxies have a yellowish core, but a bluer outer rim. Purple/pink HII areas are dotted around in the arms. Here your galaxy is mostly ...

Just wanted to say another big thanks Ivo.

Followed your advice and also stacked in DSS. Using your workflow as a guide I managed to get this, which, despite still not dithering I am sort of happy with, its certainly better than my other efforts I think.
Thanks again

Many thanks for uploading. As surmised, in this case too, the thing holding you back most is failing to dithering between frames - clear, correlated pattern noise and hot-pixel steaks can be seen in the vertical direction. If you go for any fainter objects, dithering is not really optional with mos...

Hi Ivo, Blotches and other correlated patterns should not occur in your datasets. Are you using flats and do you dither sufficiently between frames? Are you using the optimum ISO for your camera? These blotches are not correlated, only somewhat as they are similar in character and appear semi-perio...

Hi, Firstly, if you haven't done so, have a look at this section of the website about starting with a good dataset. Issues with background unevenness almost always find their origin in issues with with acquisition or pre-processing, the most common being neglecting to calibrate with flats or not di...

This is my first post, please bare with me :-) I keep having trouble with grainy/noisy/blotchy images. Regardless of how I use startools, or so it seems. I have recently being using a ZWO 178MC with 72mm semi apo scope. Using live stacking within sharpcap (including dark frame subtraction). The foll...

Please, if you know a better approach/workflow (than what is below) for minimizing blotches or patches, let us know. I've seen them on other forums and with Nikon, Canon 60Da, 5Diii, so it is a not-uncommon experience. Ivo, I will do a separate post in feature request about an idea with extra image...