Specifications

SBIG STF-8300 Manual
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Readout Noise - Readout noise is associated with errors generated by the
actual interrogation and readout of each of the CCD pixels at the
end of an exposure. This is the result of fixed pattern noise in the
CCD, residual charge in the readout capacitors and to a small
extent the noise from the A/D converter and preamplifier.
Resolution Mode - The resolution of a CCD camera is determined by pixel
size. Pixel size can be increased by combining or binning more
than one pixel and displaying it as one pixel. Doing so decreases
the effective resolution but speeds up the download time of the
image. Maximum resolution is determined by the size of the
individual CCD pixel. The STF-8300 can run in High, Medium,
Low and Auto resolution modes.
Response Factor - Response Factor is a multiplier used by CCDOps to
calibrate CCDOps to a given telescope for photometric
calculations.
Saturation - Saturation refers to the full well capacity of a CCD pixel as
well as the maximum counts available in the A/D converter. The
pixel is saturated when the number of electrons accumulated in the
pixel reaches its full well capacity. The A/D is saturated when the
input voltage exceeds the maximum.
Sky Background - The sky background illumination or brightness is the
number of counts in the image in areas free of stars or nebulosity
and is due to city lights and sky glow. High levels of sky
background can increase the noise in images just like dark current.
For some objects deep sky filters can be used to reduce the sky
background level.
Seeing - Seeing refers to the steadiness and the clarity of the atmosphere
during an observing session.
TE Cooler - The TE Cooler is a Thermal Electric cooling device used to
cool the CCD down to operating temperature. The CCD is
mounted to the TE Cooler which is mounted to a heat sink, usually
the camera head housing.
TIFF Image File Format - The TIFF image file format (which stands for
Tagged Interchange File Format) was developed jointly by
Microsoft and Aldus Corporations to allow easy interchange of
graphics images between programs in areas such as presentation
and desktop publishing. CCDOps can save image files in this
format but unless they’re color images it can not read them.
Track and Accumulate - The Track and Accumulate function is a SBIG
patented feature of CCDOps that allows the user to automatically
co-register and co-add (including dark frame subtraction) a series