Taking session specific dark calibration frames with your Dwarf III telescope
I am looking for Language translators. If you can translate this page and any of the tutorial pages, and you are happy to volunteer your time to do it then I will be very grateful.
Online translators are not reliable and I would like to get the translations right.
Please contact me via email if you can help - paul@smartastro.co.uk
This tutorial will show you how to take your own session specific darks manually.
These dark calibration frames are taken purely for stacking in external software on a computer.
How to take session specific dark frames
You take these darks in exactly the same way as you would take any other astro picture. The only difference it that you put the supplied solar filter over the lenses.
Just put the solar filter on the lens. Then make sure that the capture settings are the same as your light frames (exposure time, gain etc....) and take about 20 of these exposures. Press the big red button to start taking the pictures.
DO NOT PUT THE Dwarf III IN ITS BAG OR COVER IT WITH ANYTHING
This will raise the temperature of the unit and make any darks taken useless. Just use the solar filters that come with the Dwarf III.
You will then add them along with your light frames in whichever software you use to stack.
You will also need to ensure that the binning settings are the same as your lights otherwise they may not stack due to the difference in resolution and pixel usage configuration. 4k = 1x1 bin. 2k = 2x2 bin.
Once you have taken you dark frames then you will add these along with your light frames during the stacking process. Click this link for the stacking tutorial.
