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Thanks for the replies Gents. I was just about to go to sleep when I found all of these replies. Am now out of bed, reading through this and trying to digest things.
I'm starting to understand the depth of my question, by the multiple facets discussed in the replies.
I understand that dimmer objects will have a lower SNR initially, so will benefit from more exposures to improve that SNR. Also, taking more lets you throw a few out. I'm fortunate with my mount and guiding, that I'm not having trouble with egg shaped stars. What criteria are you throwing images out on, other than egg shaped stars? What sort of FWHM numbers defines good focus? What about the other quality indices in Maxim?
Dithering also makes sense - again the accuracy of my mount means the stars aren't shifting much between exposures. I'll have to try guiding through Maxim rather than PHD to get that working.
I've been using 20 darks & flats for 10-15 lights. I don't have a regulated camera, so a dark library isn't an option yet. I've only had my decent rig out under dark skies for 2 nights so far (and at home under ugly skies for 3 nights), so I'm a long way from finding the balance between quality and quantity. I have been imaging for longer runs each night I setup.
Multiweb - what do you mean by "normalisation" as opposed to "calibration"?
Peter - I'm ticking a couple of boxes already, but will have to throw more money at this to tick the rest, namely aperture and sensor quality...
What other books would you recommend to help one come to terms with the world of post processing. I'm a bit baffled at the moment as to where to start.
Thanks again,
DT
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