Tables

File Naming and Folder Structure

updated: 2025-10-15

File Name Convention for Finalized Images


NEW: [DATE]_[OBJECT]_[CAMERA]_[OBSERVATION-ID]-{VARIANT#}.[EXT]

OLD: [DATE]-{TIME_}_[OBJECT_][CAMERA]_{ PICTURE #}{-VARIANT#}.[EXT]

Examples:

    • 20240729_M13_ASI294_0331-03.jpg
    • 20230924_M27_ASI294_0300-01 
    • 20230214-201600_B33_ZWOASI294_0001-00.jpg
    • 20251002_NGC6946_ASI2600_0410-01WM.jpg


Item

Format

Mandatory

Description

DATE

YYYYMMDD_

YES

YYYY – year, MM - month, DD - day
like 20210815 = 08/15/2021 or 15.08.2021

TIME

hhmmss_

NO

hh – hour,  mm – minute, ss - second

like 201600  = 21h16m00s

OBJECT

xxxx_

YES

Name of the object, like NGC2174 or Sun

DEVICE / CAMERA

xxxxnnn_

YES

Camera or scanner (brand + model)

see table Camera Keywords like:
ZWOASI194 or FUXT3

observation ID

nnnn

YES

like 0137, replaces old PICTURE# (source: StarlustDB)

PICTURE#

nnnn_

YES

Picture number (4 digits)

VARIANT#

nn_

NO

Picture version number , typically 2-digits like 02, depicts a version derived from an original, e.g. xxx0003_02 is the second variant from picture 0003

WM

WM

NO

Image with StarLust logo watermark

EXT

.xxx

YES

All known picture or video formats like JPG, JPEG, RAW, TIF, GIF, MOV, AVI, XISF, FIT, …


Standard Image Folder Structure (FBPP, WBPP Image Integration)

used in PixInsight  Fast or Weighted Batch Preprocessing (FBPP or WBPP)

  • Example: IC1805 observation #0312 










Standard Image Folder Structure (Manual Image Integration)

used in PixInsight 

  • Example: M101 session





















File and Folder Conventions for Calibration Master Frames


Important: 

  • At the very least, the flat frames should be taken immediately before or after the light frames so that any contamination of the sensor can be taken into account during calibration.
  • In addition, at least the flat frames should be stored together with the light frames in the same folder structure associated with the observation in the “Calibration” subdirectory to facilitate later post-processing.


Calibration File Naming Convention in this project:

Sections are separated by a underscore sign "_"


{IMAGETYPE}_Stack{COUNT} _{EXPOSURE}_{BINNING}_{CAMERA}_gain{GAIN}_FILTER{Filter}_{Config}_{Date}_{Temperature}


  • {IMAGETYPE} (recognized by PI): must be one of: {Masterbias | Masterdark | Masterflat | Masterlight}
  • {COUNT} (not recognized  by PI): number of used subframes, e.g. COUNT-20, COUNT-100
  • {EXPOSURE} (recognized  by PI): exposure time in seconds, e.g. EXPOSURE-0.001 or EXPOSURE-200 
  • {BINNING} (recognized  by PI):  one of {BIN1 | BIN2 | BIN3 | BIN4}
  • {CAMERA}: automatically set by AI camera, e.g. 6200MM
  • {GAIN} (recognized by PI): e.g. gain100
  • {FILTER} (recognized  by PI): examples: FILTER-NoFilter, FILTER-OLeN, FILTER-UHC2. Must be set manually if no filter wheel is used.
  • {CONFIG} (not recognized  by PI): optical configuration used, e.g. TS1624sAS294rt, TS1624cASI2600CAA etc. Must be set manually.
  • {DATE} (not recognized  by PI): a date string like 20231116
  • {TEMP} (not recognized  by PI): camera temperature during subframe capture, e.g. TEMP-10, TEMP20

Old Calibration File Naming Convention (discontinued) :

{ImageType}_Binning_Count_Filter_Exposure_Config_CamTemperature_Date


Calibration Master File Naming Examples:


Master Dark Calibration Frames

      • MasterDark_Stack20_180.0s_Bin1_2600MC_gain100_20250305-10.0C.fit
      • MasterDark_Stack20_30.0s_Bin1_FUXT3-16-55_ISO3200_20251015.xisf

Master Flat Calibration Frames

      • MasterFlat_Stack20_50.0ms_Bin1_2600MC_filter-NoFilter_gain100_20250221_1.6C.xisf
      • MasterFlat_Stack20_1.4s_Bin1_2600MC_filter-OLeN_gain100_20250824-203328_22.2C
      • MasterFlat_Stack20_30s_Bin1_FUXT3-16-55_filter-NoFilter_ISO3200_20251015.xisf

Master Bias Calibration Frames

      • MasterBias_Stack50_1.0ms_Bin1_2600MM_gain100_20250219_-10C.xisf
      • MasterBias_Stack20_0.123ms_Bin1_FUXT3-16-55_ISO3200_20251015.xisf


 The master file names must at least contain the word "master" in order to be accepted by PixInsight.

Standard Master Calibration Folder Structure

Important: Flat



see also chapter Capturing Calibration Frames using the ASIAIR 












Created with the Personal Edition of HelpNDoc: Effortlessly optimize your documentation website for search engines