Thank you all for those who responded. So I'm approaching the end of the mono image with the FC100DF at least that's only the Squid and I tried to take your viewpoints into account (I agreed with (C) and I tried to find a bit more subtle version and also this a lot cleaner, with NR, etc.). Here're my top two choices. The two are very similar except the first one has LocalHistogramEqualization done to it which brings out some internal contrast but also makes it look a bit weird and then I also reduced the star sizes which causes some stars to disappear to I always worry about changes like this. Nonetheless, the second one is just after NR and stretching, and the first is with everything else after. In the old days I'd stop at the second one but now I don't think there's a process in
PI that goes by untouched eventually and that's reflected in the first image.
In terms of NR, I did MureDenoise, and Jon Rista's tutorial. I think that part came out pretty good. The SNRWeight of the second image is like 7000! But then it drops the moment I stretch it - hopefully that's a normal thing.
Also I've been comparing to the EZ Processing Suite available in
PI - I think it's highly convenient and very useful. I also got an answer back from Juan of
PI who explained to me why the SNR of the latest version 1.8.8-6 after ImageIntegration might drop a bit slightly. So that was reassuring. I'm still using 1.8.8-5 integration in the above example though.
Next step is taking an
RGB sky background when the moon diminishes, integration of the
Ha and S2 channels that's narrowfield, and then taking more widefield
Ha and S2 and perhaps additional O3 as well (matching the background noise in all these frames will be fun). There's actually some very very faint nebulosity that's all around the Squid IMO. It's hard to say given how much stretching has to occur here. Most people just focus on the Squid region and ignore everything that comes around it but there's some nebulosity here and there. Nonetheless I think this is a case where that takes away from focussing on the Squid unless one gets a better scope or puts in a lot more time (like 4x as much).
--Ram
Tubes: Celestron 9.25" 235mm f/10 XLT EdgeHD SCT; Meade ETX 80mm f/5 achromat; Coronado SolarMax II 60mm f/6.6 Hα <0.7Å BF10 solar; Stellarvue 70mm f/6 triplet apochromat; Obsession UC18 457mm f/4.2 with Argo Navis & ServoCAT; Takahashi FS128 5" f/8.1 and FC100DF 4" f/7.4 fluorite doublet apochromats.
Mounts: AVX; LXD75; Paramount MyT. Eyepieces: 2" Tele Vue Ethos 4.7/13/21mm, Paracorr, 2,4x Powermate; Stellarvue 0.8x, Takahashi 0.7x, 0.66x reducer/corrector.
Cameras: ZWO ASI120MC-S; Lodestar X2c; X2m; Canon T7i; QHY163M; QHY247C; QHY294M-Pro.
Filters: 1.25" Astrodon 5nm Ha, 3nm O3 and S2; Chroma LRGB.