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Old 13-03-2008, 11:39 PM
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Peter Ward
Galaxy hitchhiking guide

Peter Ward is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: The Shire
Posts: 8,475
Quote:
Originally Posted by skwinty View Post
Hi Peter
Thanks for detail.Could you give some idea of calibration procedures applied for this shot.ie dark, flats etc.
I continually update both my dark and flat library, as the closer in time they are to the data frames , the better the calibration seems to be.

For flats, median (i.e at least 3) combined sky flats are essential. Aim for about 1/3 full well capacity. Move the scope around a few degrees from flat to flat.

Darks with a temperature regulated astro CCD are pretty easy. Just match the temperature and time of the light exposure. Again use about 3 or more median combined to avoid cosmic rays producing black "holes".

Also make sure you use the same focus, filter and camera orientation for any of the above (yes...*a lot* of work) and even then when shooting from urban areas smog, haze etc. will conspire to still give gradients.
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