Many thanks guys!
Kuz, def give it a go! One thing I learned from this first go though is that frame rotation has a big impact on the real estate you're left with to merge. Would def be more anal about polar alignment and potentially even rotating camera between panels to ensure you get as much left to cut together.
Mike thanks for your kind words and fair call on the noise reduction. tiny bit plastic-y ill admit, though slightly less so on the non-200kb atrocity on the bin link
My cheap 6.5nm Oiii filter and low integration times forced my hand, that and I am really enjoying playing with Russell Croman's new NoiseXTerminator plugin
The field framing was borne out of necessity and inexperience more than anything
I actually wanted to just do the banana, but seeing this other guy just out of frame made me give the mosaic a go. my inexperience was not accounting for field rotation enough. lost more on the vertical axis than i wouldve liked!