Official StarTools support forum

Thanks Ivo, that does make sense, now that I think on it after your explanation. To combine these would be more art, and not 'documentary'.

That said, I'm intrigued by the 'accent' approach you've tantalised us with --- will stay tuned!

The practices of adding Ha+R to become a new red channel, or using Ha (Ha+L) as luminance, are definitely more universal (note that the former will skew visual spectrum colors of course, while the latter does not and is usually preferred). A query Ivo --- in v7, how does one create a (n exposure we...

Packen, I've typically used Ha as a substitute for L. Others blend it with the R channel, but it tends to affect colour in unrealistic ways.

See here for an example of a HaRGB I did recently: http://forum.startools.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=737

You can always drizzle-stack your APO images to improve their pixel resolution. I managed to image a fairly small planetary nebula at 480mm focal length, thanks to drizzling! http://www.astrobin.com/125368/

You could also try opening the TIF in Fitsworks and then re-saving as a .FIT

Then StarTools will definitely be able to open it.

I've done both (applied dcraw manually to the RAW files and then used the TIFFs in DSS, or let DSS do the debayering). I get more consistent and controlled results with the former. Search around on this forum for dcraw and you'll find recommendations from Ivo on what settings to use to get the 'clea...

Did you get the debayering correct in DSS? My Sony NEX uses a RGGB pattern. You could also try applying dcraw directly - it should allocate the correct debayering. If you're happy that you've done this, and you can see the colour in DSS, then your image is probably desaturated, and the colours can b...

Best best is to use the "Synth" module - this allows you to modify the stars in various ways, including removing or modifying diffraction spikes, and even completely replacing your originals. YMMV.

Thanks Andy! It's actually a challenging target, because the Ha emission nebula is difficult to draw out without overstretching the background Milky Way stars (too much and the background degrades into a graininess). It can look like quite a different object if one just concentrates on the cluster s...

Thanks Ivo, I appreciate that - I put a fair bit of thought into the framing, and followed your SynthLum tutorial closely with the processing - it was really helpful. It was also a bit 'zen' like - I mucked about with the data for quite a while, then threw out my efforts and went with a fairly strai...