subs,flats and darks

[freeflyjay]

hi all only got my scope (a skywatcher 250 dob) on sunday and love it seen orion nebula and jupiter and got a nice pic of the moon with a compact camera up against the lens, i realise i can not really photograph long exposures without tracking ect but i am new to this and know little 9f photography so was wondering what subs, darks and flats were. i know my kit can never be used for serious ap

but ordered a mountl for my compact and! will probably have a little play

[jgs001]

Sounds like you're having fun with your new kit... nice one...

Subs - Sub Exposures... this is the exposures to capture the stars... called subs, as numerous of them go into the final image.

Darks - Same exposure time/ISO/Temperature as the Subs, but with the lens/telescope capped.

Flats - These are used to remove optical problems in the imaging train, for instance, dust on an SLR sensor and vignetting.

[freeflyjay]

ok, but why do you need darks and how do you take flats then

[Tinker1947]

Download DSS, there's a help file in there tell all there is to know...