Polaroid ST-7E, ST-8E, ST-9E manual Glossary

Section 8 - Glossary

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 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 of images of an object. These exposures can be taken unguided as long as the "Snapshot time" does not exceed the length of time before tracking errors of your clock drive become apparent. This allows you to image and track without guiding or the need to connect the CCD Relay port to your drive motors.

Track List - The Track List is an ASCII file generated by CCDOPS during a Track and Accumulate session. The Track List logs all the corrections made by CCDOPS for each of the images. Track lists are required when flat fielding Track and Accumulate images.

Tri-Color- Tri-Color refers to color images created using three different colors mixed into a balanced color image using red, green and blue filters. An object is imaged three times, once with each color filter. The three images are then co-added and color balanced with the appropriate software.

Vignetting - Vignetting is obstruction of the light paths by parts of the instrument. It results in an uneven illumination of the image plane. The effects of vignetting can be corrected using flat field images.

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