Hi all,
While creating master bias and dark libraries for new cameras or refreshing masters for older cameras, there is one particularly repetitive and manual procedure one must do to the master frames after their creation by ImageIntegration that could possibly be automated.
When ImageIntegration produces an integrated image product, only certain keywords from the source frames are included in the product's header. INSTRUME, X/YPIXSZ, IMAGETYP, and so-on. However there are some common keywords that are critical for identifying frames such as a master bias or dark that are missing even though the information exists in all source frames for the integration:
EXPTIME
GAIN and/or EGAIN
CCD-TEMP
Additionally, some non-standard but widely-used keywords could also be included, if present in the source frames:
READOUTM (text string, readout mode name)
OFFSET (integer, histogram offset)
The lack of EXPTIME finding its way into the FITS header or XISF image properties is particularly annoying, as that prevents it from being properly categorized when loaded into batch preprocessing scripts such as WBPP. So, when I create an integrated master calibration frame of some sort, I usually add an additional finishing step of adding these keywords and their proper values using the FITSHeader tool.
I'm not sure how this could be implemented, but perhaps an additional metadata field in ImageIntegration would allow the user to arbitrarily specify properties or keywords that ImageIntegration would carry over from the source files into the integrated product it produces. There would need to be some consideration for fields with data that might vary from source frame to source frame (eg; CCD-TEMP reading -10.0 on some frames and -9.90 on others. Annoying but common). Even just allowing EXPTIME and EXPOSURE keywords to be transcribed would be helpful, as the value for those keywords/properties should be consistent across the source frames and would allow the master calibration frames to be immediately used in tools such as WBPP.
While creating master bias and dark libraries for new cameras or refreshing masters for older cameras, there is one particularly repetitive and manual procedure one must do to the master frames after their creation by ImageIntegration that could possibly be automated.
When ImageIntegration produces an integrated image product, only certain keywords from the source frames are included in the product's header. INSTRUME, X/YPIXSZ, IMAGETYP, and so-on. However there are some common keywords that are critical for identifying frames such as a master bias or dark that are missing even though the information exists in all source frames for the integration:
EXPTIME
GAIN and/or EGAIN
CCD-TEMP
Additionally, some non-standard but widely-used keywords could also be included, if present in the source frames:
READOUTM (text string, readout mode name)
OFFSET (integer, histogram offset)
The lack of EXPTIME finding its way into the FITS header or XISF image properties is particularly annoying, as that prevents it from being properly categorized when loaded into batch preprocessing scripts such as WBPP. So, when I create an integrated master calibration frame of some sort, I usually add an additional finishing step of adding these keywords and their proper values using the FITSHeader tool.
I'm not sure how this could be implemented, but perhaps an additional metadata field in ImageIntegration would allow the user to arbitrarily specify properties or keywords that ImageIntegration would carry over from the source files into the integrated product it produces. There would need to be some consideration for fields with data that might vary from source frame to source frame (eg; CCD-TEMP reading -10.0 on some frames and -9.90 on others. Annoying but common). Even just allowing EXPTIME and EXPOSURE keywords to be transcribed would be helpful, as the value for those keywords/properties should be consistent across the source frames and would allow the master calibration frames to be immediately used in tools such as WBPP.