Post-processing
- After stacking, the details will still have low contrast and low colour saturation, so some post-processing will be necessary to make a photo with impact
- You need to use a program that can use the full depth of the image. Photoshop can do most operations at a maximum of 16 bits per colour
- My own GRIP can keep 32 bits per colour but it does not have such a wide range of operations
The full 32-bits-per-colour data are stored in FITS files. FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) was designed for astronomy and the standard is maintained by NASA. See fits.gsfc.nasa.gov