TUTORIAL - FLAT FIELDING SOLAR IMAGES WITH AUTOSTAKKERT 2

[Cschur]

Hello solar friends!

I hope you will find this write up useful, It took me several weeks to put it together because I had to communicate back and forth with Emil the software author to get a few details worked out. Finally, here it is, a full scale tutorial with screen shots and images to show you not only what a flat field does for you, but how to make and implement it with Autostakkert. Enjoy:

http://www.schursastrophotography.com/s ... icle5.html


thanks for your support!

[marktownley]

Fantastic Chris! Thanks for taking the time to do that. The only thing I would add is that in 2nd Paragraph 'Taking A Solar Flat' - if etalon tuning is changed then a new solar flat is also needed. Now, I need to contact Emil for a copy of the Beta version... :whistle:

[edobosz]

Thanks for your efforts Chris! So much good work coming out of this group.
Ted

[Pedro]

That's great Chris. Another must have reference.

best regards and thanks again for all your efforts

[Montana]

Fantastic work Chris and many thanks for your effort, I shall study this tomorrow and yes I really should try flats again!

Regards
Alexandra

PS you have a lot of dust on that chip Chris, maybe you could try brushing it

[Cschur]

Mark, your right, tuning a tilting etalon will change the flat as well and subtraction of dust bunnies will only be complete if nothing is changed.

Alexandra - I DID clean the chip, the night before! That is what accumulated in ONE shooting session. My wife has allergies - I have dust bunnies!

[Pedro]

Your chip window is really dirty. I never get this many dust bunnies. I blow the window before each imaging session and I try to get rid of dust with coton buds. It works for me (I have very few if any dust bunnies).

best

[NandoPG]

Chris,
You are the man!! Thank you very much for your hard work and for sharing the result with us. All of us have a lot to try and experience.

Best Regards,

Fernando

[Cschur]

Pedro, you need to come visit me in Arizona some time and help me fight off the dust bunnies! We are very dry here, and even though I am in the mountains, the dust is very high. This time of year is especially bad because all of the pine trees are procreating, and even the smallest breezes blow a thick yellow dust everywhere. But dont forget another good reason for flats is to get rid of the vignetting in the optics.

[Pedro]

I see. It's a problem of pine trees. That's not easy to deal with. Just blow away and make flats. I once used a remote observatory and we had exactly the same problem (lots of pine trees and polen all over the place...).

best

[NandoPG]

Hi Chris,
Let me ask you: from where can I download the latest version of Autostakkert ? .

I noted the version that appears on the software's title bar in your tutorial is 2.1.0.7 whereas the latest version available for downloading in Autostakkert website is 2.1.0.5.

Thanks you,

Fernando.

[Cschur]

Fernando - this is a version he is still working on and has not released yet. You can still make flat corrections with the current version.