Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Tue, 03/17/2015 - 15:19

 

I am trying to decode the output notation found in the General Catalog of Photometric Data.  I can't find full documentation on the website and the mail addresses for its creators no longer work.  For instance, here is the UBV output for HD 161242:

V B-V U-B N
7.799 +1.282 +1.089 9
7.80 +1.281 / 1
7.83 +1.279 +1.10 2
7.816 +1.276 +1.081 * 5
7.806 +1.280 +1.100 * 3
7.804 +1.285 96

Does each row contain averaged values from a single observer?  I presume N is the number of values, but what do / and * indicate?  What is the actual weighting function?

Tom