Comparing BXT/NXT with tradicional methods (Ignacio Diaz Bobillo)

Comparing BXT/NXT with tradicional methods

As many others, I was intrigued by the performance of the new tools by RC-Astro, so I proceeded with this exercise in comparison (always imperfect, of course). For this, I took an image of M16 Pillars I did in 2020 under very good seeing conditions, and for which I already had made a comparison to HST´s Pillars, and reprocessed the masters using BTX and NTX on the linear SHO data. I tried to match the stretching and color tonalites for an easier comparison.

The results are very impressive, particularly given the easy of use of the RC-Astro tools. The comparison image shows the traditional LR-deconvoluted version on the left, the HST image at the center, and the new version processed with BXT and NXT (in that order) on the right.

In retrospect, the NXT process was a bit overdone.

In conclusion, I found these tools super easy to use, and the results are remarkable: tiny, well shaped stars with little to no halos, fine detail in the nebulosity, sharp edges on the molecular clouds, etc. The only artifact I can see, is a bit of erosion in parts of the molecular clouds with high contrast (as was pointed out to me by a friend).

BTW, the original data was acquired with an AP167 + QHY600 + 3nm Astron 2nd Gen filters.

Astrofotógrafos de Argentina
The refractors!

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Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

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