Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Wed, 06/01/2011 - 21:12

I really enjoy using VPhot but I can't help thinking of little things to make the experience more enjoyable.  Allow me a bullet list?

1)  After uploading a bunch of image files (already tagged with TELESCOP, USERNAME, OBJ, etc in the FITS header), I look at the list, click on the radio buttons that identify, eg, a given OBJ and FILTER then click on Time Series.  At that point I'm asked to identify a sequence before going on.  IF I had tagged the desired sequence name in the FITS header, couldn't we skip this stop along the way and just start processing?

2) After the processing is done, we get to click another button to move on to the summary page.  Couldn't we just skip this step?  (Or maybe have a directive to do so in the FITS file?)

3) Once at the results page, I usually just click on the AAVSO Report button.  Don't want to sound like a broken record, but couldn't we tag this desire in the FITS header?

4) At the next page, we are asked for some items for the AAVSO report, but the USERNAME is already filled in (from the FITS header?).  Couldn't we include a FITS header tag for the sequence number and comments and just move right on through this page without manual intervention?

5) Next we are presented with a text file containing the AAVSO report simply titled FileName.txt.  Could we get that file titled something like "OBJ_USERNAME_YYYYMMDD_FILTER.txt" (with the appropriate substitutions for the variable place holders)?  Would save a lot of re-titling.

6)  Maybe someday that file could be sent directly to WebObs (ftp or whatever).  I would guess WebObs has a function to parse newly arrived files into the IDB?  It would be nice if an automated receipt could be emailed to USERNAME (I would guess AAVSO has a way to look up a preferred email address for USERNAMEs).

I suppose that all sounds like a lot of work but maybe it could be done piece meal?  My first 'druther would be #5.