Instrumental Magnitude in reports

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Tue, 03/22/2011 - 14:22

I'm a little confused what I should report in the fields for instrumental magnitudes of the check star.

When I view the details of these stars, there is a field called "Instr.Mag" which usually gives me a negative number.

When I use only one comp star and one check star, the instr. magn. in the AAVSO-report-files also give me negative numbers, the same as the detail-list of these stars. But when I use more than one comp star, the instr. magn. in the report field gives me the measured std-magnitude of my check star, not its instr. magn.

What should I report in this case?

 

greetings

katy

Affiliation
Norwegian Astronomical Society, Variable Star Section (NAS)
Instrumental Magnitude in reports

Hi Katy,

What you observe is by design. When only one comp star is used instrumental magnitudes are reported for the check star. When more that one comp star is used (ensemble) the check star estimated magnitude is reported.

This is taken care of in the VPHOT AAVSO report files, so if you use these you do not have to be concerned about those details.

Geir

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Hi Geir,

Thank you.

Maybe

Hi Geir,

Thank you.

Maybe a hint in the discription of the extended file format would be nice.

I like to always check if the software I use, really does what it is suppose to. Therefore I got confused, since the discription says otherwise than VPhot does.

greetings

Katy

Affiliation
Norwegian Astronomical Society, Variable Star Section (NAS)
Instrumental Magnitude in reports

Checking your software is a very sound priciple. :)

Agreed, this should be mentioned in the description. You are not the first one being confused. I'll send a msg to HQ.

Thanks.

Geir