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Goals and Measurements

We normally plan an imaging session with an idea of the number of sub-exposures we want through each filter for a given target.  At the end of the session, the sub-frames are examined and those with poor guiding, excessive star sizes (Full Width Half Maximum or FWHM) are rejected.  We then note how many good ones we have and how many we need to pick up the next night.

CCDAutoPilot, working in concert with other programs, can help establish goals, measure sub-exposures on the fly as they are taken and either record them as successful frames or move them to a specified folder for later evaluation.  When setting up a session for a given target for the first time, you can enter the number of exposures as your goal.  As the session runs and each frame is evaluated, the number of frames meeting your goal is maintained.  At the end of the session, you can transfer the difference between the goal count and the good count as the goal for the next session.