After completing the capture my other most recent image last month, (my first IOTD!) LDN 1448, I was able to get a couple of nights on Messier 45 with the same camera orientation, thus letting me use the same flats and flat darks, which was convenient.

While blinking my subs, I realized that I had pretty decently resolved IC 349 next to Merope. I have wanted to get this, and may try again at some point in the future when I eventually upgrade to a bigger scope, but I was pretty stoked on the amount of detail I got on that object with this FL and resolution. I am posting a crop with a different stretch here to highlight IC 349.

It was a funny adventure processing this bright object after I have been focusing on so many very dark/dim objects. Just because an object is bright doesn't mean it's easy to process.

This is my first foray into using @Russell Croman's BlurXTerminator, although I have had some success in the past in using Deconvolution. His tools are easy to use, but not magic. I tried numerous iterations of settings because I didn't want to overdo the star sharpening with this cluster of such bright stars, however being able to tighten up the stars was useful in giving IC 349 some separation from Merope.

Also, while using StarXTerminator,  I found that using the "Large Overlap" setting on a stretched image did a better job of isolating stars, although this still wasn't perfect and a bunch of small galaxies and some nebulosity was actually screened back in with the stars rather than being preserved in the starless layer. I think the very bright stars in the Pleiades coupled with the striations in the nebulosity are a challenge for StarX, maybe especially with diffraction spikes?

Please do not interpret anything I am saying to disparage Russell's tools! His stuff is amazing and worth every penny, (if not more..), but subject to the laws of mathematics like anything, so I am sharing some ways that I found to address certain challenges I have found during my use of the various "XTerminators" while processing with them. Go buy his stuff here now: RC Astro.