Starless images, StarNet2 and StarXTerminator

In my last image of M16, I decided to present it in a version without stars to focus attention on the "Pillars of Creation". To arrive to the starless version I used in this image, StarXTerminator from Russell Croman.

Two years ago I made some kind of comparison between StarNet2 and StarXTerminator (you can find it here) and I came then to this conclusion: "... I found StarNet v2 achieves clearly a better result (naturally, only tested with my imaging equipment: STL-11000 + TOA-150)...". I would like to explain why I have changed my mind and I have purchased a licence of StarXTerminator.

First of all, I have always had difficulties when “big stars” appear on the image. For example, take a look at the first image on the right (VdB 152). In this example, it is clear that the present implementation of StarXTerminator, (which in this case is version 2.2.0, AI 11) does a better job (again, only tested with my imaging equipment: STL-11000 + TOA-150).

Then please have a look at the M16 image (second on the right). I can appreciate now a better detail preservation on StarXTerminator treated image. Click on the images for a higher resolution version (all images presented here are linear) 

This better detail preservation is perhaps even more evident after application of BlurXTerminator (with default parameters) in the third image.

Image processing: Pixinsight.

Observatory automation and remote operation with Talon6.