CCD - defect pixels?

[sunka]

Hello,

I am testing camera with sensor KAF-1603ME. On my first M51 test without cooling I noticed there are white lines present on all photos. It is also noticable when stacked (first attachment, it is uncalibrated). Then I did another test next day. First I cooled camera to -20 degrees Celsius and start taking darks. Then I turned cooler off and keep on taking darks until sensor heated up to 23 degress Celsius. Those lines were just a few pixels on -20 photo but as the camera heated up again stretched down (attachments 2, 3 and 4). What I am worried about is that these pixels are 100% saturated on fixed positions which means I cannot clean them up with darks.

Does that mean those pixels are defect? Did any of you encounter similar problems?

Pardon my bad english!

[ollypenrice]

This shouldn't be a problem. First of all a hot pixel filter should nail them without either darks or a bad pixel map but with those applied they should also disappear. This kind of thing is common enough in CCD imaging and should calibrate out without difficulty. I stack and calibrate in AstroArt 5. You could download a trial copy and run their hot pixel filter to see if it worked for you.

Olly

[sunka]

Ollypenrice, this is very good to hear, because I just love this camera - great SNR

Thank you very much for your help!

CS!