Is that K2 I can see?!

[PhotoGav]

With so few opportunities to image recently, I have contravened my usual rules and have set up a run on M51 despite the bright moon. Thought I'd share this little screen grab with those who are still up...

That's some guiding graph in PHD2! Though the 900s subs are looking good. Pretty moon washed, but will hopefully give me something to play with in processing.

The question is - do I shoot the flats at the end of the run, approx. 2am, or do I swiftly dismantle the setup to the dining room, go to bed, get some sleep and do the flats in the morning...?!

[Tinker1947]

I believe its the temperature you need to be the same as when the lights were taken.....

[wxsatuser]

They don't have to be at same temperature or same iso, just same setup as imaging.

[RobH]

Shoot your flats before you dismantle the setup. They are a record of your optical train the way it is when you're shooting your lights. If you take it apart, reassemble later, then shoot your flats, dust etc will have moved and your flats won't work. Flats don't need to be the same temperature as your lights, it's darks that need the temperature to be the same.

[swag72]

Regarding your guide graph Gav - An excellent reason why we should look at the results of exposures without becoming a slave to the guide graph How I've learnt that the hard way 

[Zakalwe]

Regarding your guide graph Gav - An excellent reason why we should look at the results of exposures without becoming a slave to the guide graph How I've learnt that the hard way 

This is so, so true. You can make the graph look flat and pretty by playing with the hysteresis and aggression settings in PHD. A nice flat graph doesn't automatically equal sharp stars. The exposure is king.

[wxsatuser]

I had a dead flat graph the other night and subs all but one we ok.

Thought the graph cannot be dead flat so on investigation I had moved star

to one quite close to the original as the original would not stop saturating.......

I had chosen a hot pixel and originally forgot to take a dark, doh!

[PhotoGav]

Well, I was keen to use the new EL Panel, so shot the flats while still setup outside. A three minute job and a good sense of 'job done' when trying to get to sleep!

The subs look good, though lost the last 15 minutes as APT had crashed when I went out to check at 1:30am... Not sure why. Never mind!

Will process the data when I get the chance, though a few busy days at work now will slow me down.

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[Vega]

With flats, the setup should ideally be untouched from the imaging session so that the optical train is exactly the same (camera orientation, filters, flatteners etc). Temperature is not an issue for flats.

With darks, the equipment can be changed/moved and darks taken as long as the temperature is the same as during the imaging session.

[PhotoGav]

Absolutely. What I sometimes do is remove scope with camera etc all still attached, leave everything assembled on the dining room table and shoot flats the next morning. Never quite sure whether it makes any difference or not. Anyway, initial processing shows that it worked well last night and the new flats panel is a good investment.

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