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Hi Mike
Thanks for the image review and analysis, it provides some very useful feedback on my processing approach and techniques. I used the convolution filter (Positive Constraint) with default values in CCDStack and this may be the source of the background ripples, unless I have done a COBE!
I applied a gentle Micro Contrast Enhancement Filter (Topaz Labs) to lift the brighter parts of the image off the page and then had to apply a noise filter in CS5 to tone down some of the background texture in the noisier regions. Some of these filters seem to work reasonably well where there is strong data, but where the image converges to the left of the histogram, there just aren’t enough levels/tones to support these filters.
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All sounds very interesting
When trying to extract fine details in an image I think it is important to make sure you are enhancing or revealing detail that is
actually there and not just creating essentially processing artifacts that look like finner details. I see some images that have this look but when you blink them with another high res image it is clear that more detail hasn't really been revealed as such but rather the signal has been changed to look more filiamentous so to speak and maybe the stars a little smaller but no true increase in resolution. The most notorious filter for doing this is the minimum filter, which even with careful use of masks and blending, the levels of detail end up varying across the image so it is hard to tell where the processing artifacts end and the real details start and what is real detail and what isn't. Deconvolution and the shadow highlights filter in PS are easily missused in this regard too the combination of which, to untrained eyes, make an image look like a high res image but in reality it is a case of really only
mimicking higher res - if that makes sense
.
Not necessarily suggesting the above applies to your image of course, just something to think about
Mike