First Light X2c unguided/ no tracking

[f15p5]

Was cloudy & hazy with a few sucker holes.

[f15p5]

Few more images in my album

[Paul81]

Nice - I am surprised we don't see more stellar images on the forum - double stars etc. Some of the doubles would be great captured in colour, or carbon stars amongst the usual blue / yellow are always very striking and great to see visually.

[f15p5]

Hi Paul,

Thanks. I would never had been able to figure this out without your software, makes it simple. Quick questions about dark frames.

Should you use equal amount (can you use more than one?) as light frames exposing at same length? Also if done first does LL automatically use them? If not, how does it work?

Thanks,

Richard

[Paul81]

Hi Richard,

Thank you for the kind words and I am glad you are enjoying using the app!

With regards to dark frames, you don't need to use an equal quantity. I tend to grab about 6-8 at the start of a session - enough to get a good sample. You should use the same length exposure though (so for example, if you are using 30s light exposures then use 30s dark exposures). When each dark is downloaded from the camera, LL stacks each dark and maintains a live master dark (which is a median combination of the darks acquired). 6-8 darks gives a good median so should give you good results during use. When you switch over to image accession mode, once a light is downloaded the master dark is subtracted and then the result is put forward into the stacking process.

You can also save and restore master darks - to reuse them or so you can easily switch between exposure lengths during a session.

I also tend to top-up my dark every 30 mins or so with 2-3 dark exposures. This just caters for any changes in the temperature of the camera during continuous use.

I posted some further info on another recent post so its probably worth having a read of that too: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/233299-advice-on-lodestar-live-for-beginner/

Paul