StarTools

Working through some old pics (well old for me since I just started shooting in the past 3 months). Prior images were processed with PI /PS elements and latter with star tools. These are by no way high quality but it is all about learning this pretty nifty tool. I think once I get this software down it will be epic the amount of processing I will complete in a much shorter amount of time. I am using iMac 8 ram, i7 processor without difficulty as long as I bin the image.

M42 PI and PS



M42 Startools




Sag. Wide field


Photoshop and DSS processing



StarTools



Still working on the lunar processing. That may take a while. The colors are a little off. I realize there is some green in M42. I kinda like it that way


Camera Canon T3i (unmod)
AVX Mount (not guided as of yet)
ES 102 APO refractor
BYEOS for capture and will add PHD when guide scope is up and running
Lens for wide field was 18-55 mm zoom that came with camera
Astronomik CLS filter for M42 and non for wide field (was in blue zone by my house)

Sag wide field 50mm guided with vixen polarie (pretty neat item)
Canon T3i unmodified
PI stacked with darks, bias (forgot to take flats)
StarTools processed

Sub were 60 sec and 15 min of exposure

Color is off but trying various different processes

Fantastic images!
The greenish color in the core of M42 is actually correct and is often destroyed in other software. The green stems from the 'forbidden' doubly ionized oxygen spectral line being dominant in that area of M42. The orion nebula exhibits 3 distinct colors in the visual spectrum, being red (Hydrogen-alpha), blue/violet (Hydrogen-beta) and green/teal (being Oxygen-III). It's a pity most images erroneously only show 2 (if a true visual representation is desired).
A lot of work went into enabling StarTools to preserve true colors, as they are significant features of DSOs and stars and tell the story of their chemical makeup, age and processes going on. For more information on what's going on with color retention in StarTools have a look here.