Editing Stacking: Planets (section)

=== Calibration frames ===
----Calibration frames are important for planetary as with DSOs. Flats are very useful for removing giant dust spots, especially on lunar and solar images, which make stacking inaccurate. Similarly, darks are useful for dealing with noise.

Flats can be taken in a similar manner to how you would take them for deep sky, i.e. putting a white sheet over the end of your telescope and adjusting the camera exposure until it isn't overexposed. You can also take flats by defocusing your telescope and pointing at the moon. You can then take a short (30 seconds is fine) video, and import it into Autostakkert. From there, select "image calibration" and select "create a master frame". You can then save it as a flat TIFF.

Darks are also taken in the same manner as DSO darks, i.e. by covering the telescope and taking a short video with the same settings as your lights. Do the same as you did with the flat frame in Autostakkert, and save it as a dark TIFF.