Drizzle integration of 950x20s subs (= 5.28 hours) acquired using Seestar S50 in equatorial mode in Washington D.C. May 3-5, 2026.
All processing was done entirely in PixInsight.
Used Subframe Selector to identify the sub with the highest weight*.
Ran Fast Batch Preprocessing script, with drizzle enabled, to integrate the subs to get a master image using the highest-weighted sub as the reference frame for alignment.
To the master image, applied Gradient Correction > Blur Xterminator > Spectrophotometric Color Calibration > Blur Xterminator > Delinearization using Histogram Transformation (HT) > Dynamic Crop.
To compress the dynamic range of the very bright galaxy core HDRMultiscale Transform (HDRMT) was applied to a clone of the above-processed master image. Pixel Math was then used to blend 60% of the HDRMT-modified clone with 40% of the unmodified master image.
Applied Star Xterminator to split the above blended result into starless (containing the galaxy) and stars-only images.
Created a mask from the starless image by extracting its L-channel using Channel Extraction, applying Binarize to adjust the size to cover the target image area, and applying Convolution to blur the mask’s edges.
Placed the resulting mask back on the starless image to protect its background and applied Local Histogram Equalization (LHE) to adjust local contrast and visibility of the galaxy. Inverted the mask to protect the galaxy and applied Noise Xterminator (NXT) to the background.
Used Pixel Math to combine the processed starless and stars-only images to create a rejoined image.
Placed the mask on the rejoined image to protect the galaxy and applied NXT and HT (to adjust shadows and midtones) to the background.
Inverted the mask to protect the background and applied LHE, Color Saturation (for hue shift), Curves Transformation (to adjust chroma and saturation), and NXT to the galaxy.
Reinverted the mask to protect the galaxy and applied HT, NXT, and SCNR to the background.
3 Comments
Drizzle integration of 950x20s subs (= 5.28 hours) acquired using Seestar S50 in equatorial mode in Washington D.C. May 3-5, 2026.
All processing was done entirely in PixInsight.
Used Subframe Selector to identify the sub with the highest weight*.
Ran Fast Batch Preprocessing script, with drizzle enabled, to integrate the subs to get a master image using the highest-weighted sub as the reference frame for alignment.
To the master image, applied Gradient Correction > Blur Xterminator > Spectrophotometric Color Calibration > Blur Xterminator > Delinearization using Histogram Transformation (HT) > Dynamic Crop.
To compress the dynamic range of the very bright galaxy core HDRMultiscale Transform (HDRMT) was applied to a clone of the above-processed master image. Pixel Math was then used to blend 60% of the HDRMT-modified clone with 40% of the unmodified master image.
Applied Star Xterminator to split the above blended result into starless (containing the galaxy) and stars-only images.
Created a mask from the starless image by extracting its L-channel using Channel Extraction, applying Binarize to adjust the size to cover the target image area, and applying Convolution to blur the mask’s edges.
Placed the resulting mask back on the starless image to protect its background and applied Local Histogram Equalization (LHE) to adjust local contrast and visibility of the galaxy. Inverted the mask to protect the galaxy and applied Noise Xterminator (NXT) to the background.
Used Pixel Math to combine the processed starless and stars-only images to create a rejoined image.
Placed the mask on the rejoined image to protect the galaxy and applied NXT and HT (to adjust shadows and midtones) to the background.
Inverted the mask to protect the background and applied LHE, Color Saturation (for hue shift), Curves Transformation (to adjust chroma and saturation), and NXT to the galaxy.
Reinverted the mask to protect the galaxy and applied HT, NXT, and SCNR to the background.
* Weighting expression: (15*(1-(FWHM-FWHMMin)/(FWHMMax-FWHMMin)) + (15*(1-(Eccentricity-EccentricityMin)/(EccentricityMax-EccentricityMin))) + (20*(PSFFlux-PSFFluxMin)/(PSFFluxMax-PSFFluxMin)))+50.
Forbidden donut
crazy to think what might be out there