The initial image was the sum of two years of collected data and 20 hours of accumulated LRGB filter subs.
At that point it was decided to add some detail to the image using data from the MAST Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (
https://mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup/Clients/Mast/Portal.html). The data from the five filters of Pan-STARRS1 for NGC 4559 were downloaded and integrated to produce a single luminance image. That image was registered to an enlarged version of our LRGB so as to create the more detailed insert that you see on the image.
The color of the insert image came from our LRGB image and the detail (luminance) came from Pan-STARRS1 data. The Pan-Starrs1 filters cover not only the visible spectrum, but regions in the IR, and should therefore produce not only a more detailed image but one potentially showing or emphasizing additional structures in the galaxy.
To see the additional detail in the insert, go to the full resolution image and make the comparison.
Enjoy.
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