Starlight Xpress Oculus - Manual (Page 8)

Oculus handbook Issue 2 January 2013
generator will add an image file number at the bottom left of your AVI images and this can be useful
when searching for frames that contain interesting events. Some software, such as ‘Windows Media
Viewer’, will sometimes hide this legend behind their control slider and so I recommend checking the
‘Frame label offset’ option to shift it up be about 200 lines. You will see that a ‘Hot pixel map’ can be
applied to your AVI frames during AVI generation. This will remove the random hot pixels which are
always present in CCD images, without affecting the rest of the image frame, and so may be preferred
to dark frame subtraction. To use the hot pixel removal, you need to record a fairly long exposure dark
frame (say 60 seconds) and then open the hot pixel map generator from the ‘Edit’ menu. The slider will
permit you to set a threshold for the hot pixels and you should adjust this so that it detects no more than
100, or so. Setting it too low will damage your image quality. Record the resulting map and then select
this from the AVI generator menu.
As your source images are unaffected by the creation of the AVI, you can search through them for
meteors, satellites etc., as seen in the AVI, and then select, process and save these images to another
folder.
Oculus maintenance
The Oculus head is designed for a long and reliable lifespan and needs very little maintenance to keep
it in good working order. The only common issue is with dust and dirt particles which collect on the
dome and can shade areas of the image field. These are best removed with a quick blast of compressed
air from a ‘Dust off’ aerosol, or similar air blower. More permanent marks may be removed with a
drop of spectacle lens cleaner on a soft cloth. Try to avoid vigorous rubbing, especially when removing