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Twilight flat-fields

One way to produce good flat-fields are observations of the sky during twilight (recommended). For each image scale and wavelength used in your observations, record a series of images at a constant integration time, while the brightness of the sky is increasing (dawn) or decreasing (sunset). The root mean square in every pixel will give you its relative efficiency. Normalization of the resulting rms-frame (median or average) will return the flat-field. When recording flat-fields with the Fabry-Perot etalons, it will be necessary to observe the sky about 1 hour before sunset or 1 hour after sunrise. ESO staff will help you to setup a batch file for automatic frame recording.


Frank Eisenhauer
Wed Apr 23 16:00:15 MDT 1997