26th Annual Student Research Conference
Determining the Effects of Temperature and Exposure Time on CCD Camera Performance
Matthew Krafcik
Dr. Vayujeet Gokhale, Faculty Mentor
The purpose of this research is to determine the significance of temperature and exposure time on CCD camera image quality. Since astronomers collect light from distant and sometimes quite dim sources, electronic noise within the camera, dust, and even the temperature of the photosensitive chip may adversely affect the image quality. In order to obtain accurate brightness measurements, astronomers must account for these unwanted signals. We took dark, flat, and bias exposures to examine the resulting electronic noise based on the temperature and duration of the exposures. Our results suggest a relationship between the amount of unwanted noise and the factors of temperature and exposure time. Furthermore, our results show a relationship between the uniformity of this noise and the aforementioned factors. We continue to analyze these relationships and we hope to determine whether the unwanted signals are actually large enough to cause a noticeable discrepancy in brightness measurements.
Keywords: CCD camera, astronomy, solid state, dark frame, thermal noise, MaximDL
Topic(s):Physics
Physics-Astronomy
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 305-1
Location: MG 1096
Time: 1:00