Hi Greg,
Is this the photo from Mike that you refer to?
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/97061387
Mike somehow captured more of the faint nebulosity of
the background as well as the galaxy.
You still have more resolution in the dust lanes.
I think you have a great picture but you may want
to have another go at re-processing it.
The problem is that when you have a 17" Planewave people expect a lot more -
maybe too much as the seeing conditions are the real limitation.
I only wish I had your kind of data to play with.
cheers
Allan