Flat Frames

[robindurant]

I have been advised to take Dark Frames along with my subs at the same period of time, which I have done, what I want to know is what I do with them. Do I stack them with the subs together, when I have it produces a very dark image. I see on Registax a "Flat/Dark" drop menu to Load Dark frames or Create ? and on Deepskystacker there is " Open Pictures / dark frames / flat files bias" Is this where I open my darks. Also how many should I take - Sorry for being dim.

[daz]

Hi Robin

Rule of thumb is that the darks should match the lights in no. of exposures, length of exposures, ISO setting, temperature (well, nearly!), etc., etc.

In DeepSkyStacker, you just open the darks along with the lights and change the type accordingly. It will do everything automatically for you.

In registax (and I might be wrong here) you stack the darks together and save the image, then when you stack your lights, load the dark frame and registax will do the rest.

Dark frames are designed to remove the electronic noise from the CCD image.

Flat Frames are designed to remove imperfections in the optical system - dust and the like. Don't worry about these for now is my advice - concentrate on the darks.

Bias are also taken with the lens cap on, but are as fast as possible - ideally 0 length, but I think only dedicated CCD's do 0 length.

HTH

[robindurant]

Thanks Daz

[daz]

Welcome