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INDI Library v2.0.7 is Released (01 Apr 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Bias frames - No data/empty?

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No, but I don’t think that’ll help since Ekos automatically sets the bias exposure time to 3.2E-5 s, no matter what I enter as exposure time.
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4 years 3 months ago #47334

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I understand.

That's when you set the tab for 'Bias'.

What I meant was that you should set the tab for 'Light' frames, then take images at the shortest exposure your camera will allow (Probably 1/1000s). Then use those as bias frames.
4 years 3 months ago #47335

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Let's try Science.
There's a hypothesis that the camera collects no data if the exposure is too short.
Try taking dark frames at shorter times until you see that the data goes to all zeroes.
Or try lights with the camera covered, it's the same thing.

Maybe there's a point where if the exposure is too short the camera does nothing.
4 years 3 months ago #47336

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There is an excellent book/tutorial CCD Data Reduction Guide
that explains in very great detail with Python (astropy) code how actually an astronomical CCD image is formed.
In chapter Understanding an astronomical CCD image
is written:

In sub chapter Construction of an artificial (but realistic) image
is explained in detail how a offset (bias) image is formed.
4 years 3 months ago #47337

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My bias frame was (automatically) taken with 3.200000E-05 exposure time (pulldown menu set to BIAS in Ekos) too and it is NOT empty. So something different is not right with andefeldt's setup.

Last edit: 4 years 3 months ago by Alfred.
4 years 3 months ago #47351
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It is possible that nothing is wrong with the Bias subs but rather with the way they are processed with PixInsight. Perhaps this should be asked in the PixInsight forum first? Either this leads to a correct way of processing them or to the conclusion that indeed the bias subs are wrong. In my experience it is best to start debugging at the end of the chain rather than at the start.


Wouter
4 years 3 months ago #47352

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This may be a stupid question, but how can the value for image resolution (arcsec/pixel) be negative in the FITS header?

SCALE = -9.551690E+02 / arcsecs per pixel
4 years 3 months ago #47353

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So I'm not sure about the bias frame values, but the scale could be to missing focal length value. I just added more checks in INDI::CCD to prevent against generating bogus scale values.
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4 years 3 months ago #47363

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Wouter, all my Bias frames are produced in Kstars/Ekos and they show up as emtpy in all fits viewers. Values are 0 for min, max, std dev, median etc. Loading the fits files in KStars/Ekos doesn't give me a view as "Herrhausen" produces. My view is just completely white i Kstars (completely black in all other fits viewer programs) even after I've auto-stretched them. So I really don't think the problem is with PixInsight?
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4 years 3 months ago #47364

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@knro, my focal length are written in Ekos, but maybe it's not transfered to the Bias info?
SkyWatcher ED80 Pro
Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod with EQDIR cable
ZWO ASI294MC Pro imaging camera
QHY5L-II-C guide camera on 50mm guidescope
DeepSkyDad AF3 autofocuser
Raspberry Pi 4 4GB running Kstars/Ekos
4 years 3 months ago #47365

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Replied by Alfred on topic Bias frames - No data/empty?

Since light, dark and flat frames work fine, camera and connection must be OK. I've been using the same camera, same exposure time, etc. but the result is different. The only difference I can think of is software version. I'm on nightlies, what version of Indi/Kstars do you use?
4 years 3 months ago #47366

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I’m not home to check the version (but I’ve used the astropi3 script). I’ve so far used two or three different versions for my images since august. Some for Mac and some for the Raspberry Pi 4. They all (all bias frames from August till now) show the same “empty” files, but still with a 23.4 MB filesize.
SkyWatcher ED80 Pro
Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod with EQDIR cable
ZWO ASI294MC Pro imaging camera
QHY5L-II-C guide camera on 50mm guidescope
DeepSkyDad AF3 autofocuser
Raspberry Pi 4 4GB running Kstars/Ekos
4 years 3 months ago #47367

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