The Seestar S50 produces two directories for each object.
e.g.
M81
M81_sub
The sub directory contains (for example):
Light_M 81_10.0s_IRCUT_20260328-224521.fit
Light_M 81_10.0s_IRCUT_20260328-224521_thn.jpg
Light_M 81_10.0s_IRCUT_20260328-224521.jpg
When archiving the data for later processing, is there any virtue whatsoever in keeping the _thn.jpg or .jpg files? I was thinking of just retaining the fit files.
What is the general view?
I only keep the .fit files.
I don’t see any point in keeping the JPEG files if you process your data externally.
I’m not a SeeStar user.
But, my filing “system” is to collect my images on an 2GB SSD drive, via my laptop USB. Then I stack them as .fits files, right click the stacked result, and save it as a .jpg
Reason being, I use my images mostly for the web and You Tube videos. So .jpg are the rule. fits files are not web friendly.
I save all the files for the date in a folder generated by NINA.
(Then, when my SSD gets crowded, usually once a year, I will just delete the past files and start anew. Reason being, my methods, equipment, and results are usually improved over the previous year. So out with the old, in with the new. Another trip around the Sun.)
I think the general view is, everybody does it their own way. I have a lot of old Carpe that I’ve decided I probably won’t look at again. So I delete.
I can’t see any reason to keep anything in .JPG format until processing is finished. There really is absolutely no use for them in any reasonable workflow. Once you’re done then sure, save a jpg for presentation on the web. Even then I would keep at least a 16 bit tiff version for archiving.