Dark Pixels in my Atik 314L+ OSC

[gustavo_sanchez]

Hello to all,

Maybe you can help me this issue. I am currently getting some strange dark pixels in my exposures, like an "bug swarm" pattern. They only appear on the first few exposures I take, and disappear later. Last night, I was taking 15-minute exposures @ 0 degrees C and this artifact was present on the first three frames but disappeared by the fourth one.

Any idea what could this be? The attached screenshot shows a 200% zoom region of one of my uncalibrated lights with those black pixels.

I should note that they are difficult to remove during processing, and since my guiding is fairly good, they remain after stacking.

Please help!

[joelshort]

I think those are "cold pixels" but I'm not sure how to get rid of them.  Maybe try having your camera cool down slower or let it equalize for a longer time before imaging?