Grasshopper Marcus, your Sidonio technique is coming along nicely
Is it an improvement..?...overall, probably but only subtly. The first has a nice glow about the core though that gives the galaxy a solid feel, the second shows a little more detail in the inner core but looks flatter. The first looks to show some more detail in places half way out the arms
Look out, acting like me can drive you mad
...at least you have a laptop
Mike