File Naming and Folder Structure

updated: 2025-09-06

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

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

Examples:

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 PUCTURE# (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
EXT	.xxx	YES	All known picture or video formats like JPG, JPEG, RAW, TIF, GIF, MOV, AVI, XISF, FIT, …

Master file name example:

New File Naming example since ASI2600MC AIR:

MasterFlat_Stack20_50.0ms_Bin1_2600MC_filter-NoFilter_gain100_20250221_1.6C.xisf

Old:

masterflat_BIN-1_COUNT-20_FILTER-OleN_EXPOSURE-0.001_CONFIG-TS600AS294_TEMP-10_20231111

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

used in PixInsight Fast or Weighted Batch Preprocessing (FBP or WBP)

used in PixInsight

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

{ImageType}_Binning_Count_Filter_Exposure_Config_CamTemperature_Date

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