[Aavso-photometry] Automated star finding

[Michael Newberry]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Roe" <jroe at jamesroe.com>
Cc: <aavso-photometry at mira.aavso.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 5:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Aavso-photometry] Automated star finding


>
>
> Michael Newberry wrote:
>>    It sounds like your problem is a matter of database software. You get
>> the photometry from your favorite astronomical IP software and then you
>> save it to your master database for subsequent mining. Is your problem
>> is that you match by (RA,Dec) and the database program doesn't know how
>> to handle the format? If someone could write a macro to process the RA
>> and Dec, and maybe do some precession if needed, then couldn't you use
>> something as generic as Microsoft Access?
>>
>
> I can handle the database challenge.  I can take images in V and Ic.  I
> can plate solve and save WCS in the FITS header.  What I can't do (yet)
> is, in one automatic operation, pull each and every detectable star from
> each and every image in a CSV (or other) listing with RA, DEC,
> instrumental magnitude, etc on each line.  From there I can easily input
> into the database.
>
> AIP4Win will do the listing I want in PixelX and PixelY, but it doesn't
>   seem like they can use the WCS info in the header and their
> astrometric procedure seems primitive because it is manual.  I suppose I
> can write a routine to transform their PixelX and PixelY coordinates to
> RA and DEC using the WCS info but I was hoping to find a faster solution.
>
> Maxim and Charon will let me manually select any star I want and give me
> the RA and DEC and photometry numbers but some of these images could
> well contain 1,000 stars or more.  I'm too lazy for that.
>
    Mira does those things too. But no one can seriously be accused of being 
"lazy" for not wanting to manually mark 1000 stars!

> In my limited study of Mira, I'm not yet sure if it will do what I want.
>  I see pieces of the puzzle laying around everywhere but haven't found
> the missing piece (yet). :-)

    You are right. Mira will *not* solve the problem you have posed. I can't 
think of anything that will. You have laid out a highly targeted and highly 
techincal task. You probably will have to write the software yourself or at 
least write the glue to splice together the pieces.

Regards,

Michael Newberry


>
> Jim Roe
> _______________________________________________
>
> Aavso-photometry mailing list
> Aavso-photometry at mira.aavso.org
> http://www.aavso.org/mailman/listinfo/aavso-photometry
>
>