Orion PARSEC 8300M User Manual download pdf (Page 12)

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7. Select the ﬁle folder in which you

would like to save the images with

Select Image Save Path found by

clicking the arrow in the Autosave

Setup window (Figure 18.2)

and set the name of the ﬁle in

Autosave Filename. Typically the

name of the object being imaged,

such as “OrionNebula1”, will be

entered here. If “OrionNebula1”

is the Autosave Filename,

and you choose to save ﬁve

images, then the images will

appear in the selected ﬁle

folder as “OrionNebula1_0001.

ﬁt”, “OrionNebula1_0002.

ﬁt”, “OrionNebula1_0003.ﬁt”,

“OrionNebula1_0004.ﬁt”, and

“OrionNebula1_0005.ﬁt”. Try

exposures of 30-60 Seconds to

start.

8. Click Expose, and the camera will commence taking the images.

Note: When the camera is taking long exposure images, it is critically important

not to touch, shake, or otherwise disturb the telescope, or a blurred image will

result. Also, make sure no surrounding light shines into the telescope during the

exposure.

Dark Frames

Dark frames are images taken with no light coming into the camera. A dark frame

is typically taken with the telescope’s objective capped. The only data in the image

is the inherent camera noise (Figure 19). The noise contains the dark current

(background noise level), read noise (noise introduced during camera readout and

download) and hot pixels (bright dots in the image). All of this noise exists in your

raw astro-image too, which distracts from the detail you want to see.

To eliminate most of the camera noise, you can take several dark frames, average

them, then subtract them from your astro-images, also called, “light” images.

Note: Make sure the cooler set point and CCD temperature are the same as they

were when you took your light frames.

To take dark frames for subtraction from “light” images:

1. Set the Frame Type in the Camera Control Window’s Expose tab to Dark.

Or if you are taking a sequence of images, set the Type in the Autosave

Setup window to Dark (Figure 20). Even though MaxIm DL will already know

which of your images are dark frames, it’s a good idea to assign a preset,

such as D to better organize your different images.

Note to Parsec 8300C and 10100 users: You must take Raw Light frames in mono-

chrome BEFORE converting to color in order to utilize dark frames.

2. Use the same exposure time as the “light” images you have or will take. If

your “light” image is 60 seconds, the dark frame must also be 60 seconds.

3. Set the number of dark frames you would like the camera to take under (3 to

10 will generally sufﬁce, as these will be averaged together).

4. Click OK, and proceed to click Expose in the Expose tab. Since the Parsec

has a shutter, you to not need to be present when the dark frames are taken,

it will occur automatically during the sequence!

Figure 18.2. Select Set Image Save Path.

Figure 19. A dark frame contains the

thermal and background noise, as well as

any read noise. The same noise appears

in your “light” images. Dark frames isolate

the noise so it can later be subtracted from

your “light” images.

Figure 20. Set the Type to Dark in the Autosave Setup window.

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Orion PARSEC 8300M User Manual Page 12

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