[Aavso-photometry] Beginner CCD Questions..

[arne]

Derek C Breit wrote:
> So from what I see, essentially I might be able to do, essentially, a
> whole lot of work to come up with essentially what the Visual observers
> can do, only I *might* be able to achieve a bit better precision and
> accuracy by using the CCD Charts on stars mag 11 and brighter..
> 
> This does not really fit in with anything listed on the AAVSO website..
> Not following a star beyond the reach of the Visual observers, that's
> for sure..
> 
> So, I will just familiarize myself with the process, so that when I buy
> or build a wedge, I will be ready to do something worthy of reporting..
> 
> Hopefully that doesn't take me another 5 years..
> 
> For now, I just can't see going to all this trouble when I can just do
> visual, and I have no real interest in putting the mobile 12" scope on a
> wedge. 
> 
> So back I go into my corner to watch..
> 
One of the first things in every book about CCD observing is the
warning that you should have an equatorially mounted telescope
with a good drive system.  You have invested thousands of dollars on
a nice LX200, and more thousands on a CCD camera; you should be
willing to spend a few more dollars on a wedge.  It will help your
visual observing as well, after all.

There are a lot of people who have to limit their exposure times,
usually because their telescope drive is not capable of holding
steady for long periods.  They do just fine.
If you limited yourself to 30-second exposures with your current
alt-az system, you can do one-percent photometry at 13th magnitude,
which may not be fainter than you can do with your eye, but 10-20x more
precise.  That is one reason you bought the camera, right?  As mentioned
by others, you can also derotate and stack multiple images to go
fainter - a bit of extra work that you would avoid with the wedge,
but not impossible.

Any telescope with any CCD system is capable of doing quality photometry.
You may have to initially limit yourself to a particular subset of
projects, which will expand as you improve your system.

I do not understand your comment about "this does not really fit in with
anything listed on the AAVSO website".  You might give more details
as to what you mean.
Arne