Harvard University Astronomy Lab and Clay Telescope

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Taking CCD Images with MaximDL

Taking Single Images

• Set filter application (on desktop) to whatever filter you want to use
• Under Expose Tab make sure type is set to light  for regular images and if you want auto darks then check under Setting Tab that Auto Calibration is set to Simple Auto Dark
• Check binning under Setting Tab
• Under Expose Tab, set exposure time and click Expose
• Generally targets should be ~15,000-25,000 counts. 65,000 counts is saturation level. You can check this by hovering your mouse over the object on the image and on the bottom right of the window you will see i:#####. This is your counts.

Taking Multiple Images

• Determine correct exposure time by going through the Taking Single Images directions above
• Under the Expose tab, click on Autosave which will open a new window box...
  • Enter Autosave Filename. This is what your files will all be saved as.. FILENAME_#.
  • Make sure Delay Between is set to 1sec
  • Click on slot 1 and...
    • Set type to light
    • Set exposure time
    • Set binning
    • Set filter
    • Enter repeat - this will be the number of images you take in the sequence
    • Click on Apply or OK
  • Back in the Expose tab, click on options and set image save path
    • Set the path to Network --> computer name (ASTR-MIZAR) --> astroadmin --> Documents --> class folder (e.g. Ay16) --> create a folder for yourself
  • Click OK.
• Click Start! To stop a sequence, click Stop!