Built in Automation of Photometry reference stars

[Forum_2014]

Hi,

I could not find anywhere in the manual that states how the automatic reference star file can be implimented.
If you are wishing to collect Photometry on the same set of stars over many nights then this is definitely for you!!

After you have done your preprocessing and Find Coordinates you have a RA DEC calibrated image.

View (pulldown)
(select)Stars

You get a window Stars.
Right Click
(Select)Open
File Type 'Text Files'

This is for all the reference stars you ever want to use. However, you have to generate the file yourself or I could?
I have a tool to do this now.
Example file is as follows:

Astroart Photometry
Var RA Var Dec R RA R Dec R Mag
20 12 13.60 +42 45 51.50 20 13 18.62 +42 44 23.00 15.120 20 12 27.06 +42 43 08.30 13.057 20 12 36.14 +42 48 32.20 13.251
20 12 13.18 +42 43 37.60
20 41 44.00 +25 35 09.70 20 41 47.77 +25 36 14.20 14.467 20 41 41.04 +25 34 17.40 13.780 20 41 47.77 +26 36 14.20 14.476
20 41 44.19 +25 36 21.40
11 04 25.68 +45 03 14.00 11 04 36.69 +45 02 53.10 12.021 11 04 03.10 +45 00 20.40 16.268 11 04 14.47 +45 00 34.70 15.534
11 04 08.40 +45 02 52.90
10 15 34.68 +09 04 42.40 10 15 32.77 +09 05 55.00 14.422 10 15 44.65 +09 01 19.10 15.056 10 15 25.74 +09 03 26.20 16.453
10 15 29.64 +08 55 21.00
05 15 41.00 +01 04 41.00 05 15 40.27 +01 03 30.80 15.154 05 15 43.01 +01 01 07.40 15.776 05 15 29.35 +00 59 16.60 16.074
05 15 33.78 +01 05 06.30
11 43 38.51 +71 41 20.60 11 43 23.27 +71 42 43.40 14.297 11 43 17.72 +71 44 24.70 15.250 11 43 52.51 +71 40 14.20 15.800
11 44 27.81 +71 43 07.60
00 43 45.06 +30 56 19.60 00 44 23.60 +30 55 27.60 12.028 00 43 43.05 +30 00 24.10 13.203 00 43 41.33 +31 07 26.90 11.559
00 43 24.52 +30 53 59.70
02 00 33.74 +27 53 19.20 01 59 38.55 +27 47 45.50 10.674 02 00 18.73 +28 00 22.10 11.035 02 00 47.78 +27 56 57.30 11.560
02 00 30.66 +27 47 05.90
04 35 27.38 +24 14 58.90 04 35 18.95 +24 15 37.40 12.918 04 35 00.06 +24 18 53.70 13.211 04 35 06.50 +24 20 10.80 13.835
04 35 03.76 +24 20 49.80
04 21 57.41 +28 26 35.60 04 22 00.32 +28 25 00.40 12.533 04 21 58.85 +28 18 06.50 9.001 04 22 31.86 +28 33 14.90 11.169
04 21 47.39 +28 26 33.70
05 39 30.00 +26 22 27.80 05 39 52.73 +26 19 37.40 11.812 05 39 27.03 +26 24 30.80 13.015 05 40 00.64 +26 31 09.20 13.283
05 38 57.39 +26 26 00.70
20 37 40.09 +18 17 03.80 20 37 50.45 +18 12 08.80 10.805 20 37 36.33 +18 19 47.80 11.332 20 37 53.44 +18 06 15.20 9.548
20 38 00.21 +18 18 17.10

First two lines are needed.
Next line is the RA DEC of the star to be measured followed by as many reference stars as you need ALL on one line! (above splits this due to field width of messages.
If you need a check star this is the line with just an RA DEC.

Software AA5 does all the finding, marking and identification of the ref stars.
All you need to do is just go and select the Photometry symbol down the left of AA5 or SHIFT CTRL F12 and you are done!!

Works really well and takes ages off the routine task of Photometry for my variable list!!

Need help

Regards,

John

[Forum_2014]

Very interesting. Depending how it works, the tool may also use the Copy command of the
Star Window (which recalculates centroids and photometry) or interact with the
Batch Photometry command (?)

[Forum_2014]

Not sure that either Copy or Batch does anything to help really.

The process I currently use is:

1.0 Prepare the script using my tool ObsMgr5 which takes a target list for the night and checks my field of view and adds waits for the scope if an obstruction exists.
2.0 Use the AA5 Obs Manager to start up the Observatory and check it is all working.
3.0 Run the script by telling Obs Manager to start script.
4.0 Monitor progress throughout run from the report. (can also use the status window on the Obs Manager)
5.0 Take each target folder and PreProcess - Darks,Flats,V images and Median stack
6.0 Take each resulting frame (one per target) and 'Find Coordinates' then 'Stars' then Open the text file of reference and check stars.
7.0 record the mags in my log for the variable and check star.
8.0 Complete AAVSO data entry.

Repeat 5-8 for each target.
Final task is to save all the date stamped target folders and logs to the backup disk. Clear the scope disk ready for next clear night.

Be nice to be able to automate the complete task but the reference and check star file has saved a lot of time.

Oh I forgot to say....

The tool I wrote to generate the text file of reference stars, check stars, and the variable target.

All this software does is take the AAVSO reference stars for my target list and create the text file format for AA5 reference stars

All the best,

John
Selsey Observatory
UK
Twitter: @astrojohn