[Aavso-photometry] Submitting photometry estimates

[arne]

Ron Baker wrote:
> When the instrumental magnitude of a variable star and comps is measured and
> then averaged (say from 5 CCD images of 15 sec integrations each), should
> the average instrumental magnitude and error be reported to the AAVSO as a
> single observation?  Or is it better to report all 5 individual
> observations?
> 
I think as long as you are taking the data as a single observational set,
and not trying to obtain a time series, that it is better to report a
single mean measure and a standard deviation.  I'd include a comment to
indicate that this is the average of 5 individual frames, so that someone
who was really interested in the observation could contact you directly
if they wanted the raw data.

We will be recommending in the future that you consider taking observation
sets composed of 3-5 images, rather than a single image, so that you get
a better error analysis and guard against a single bad image.  This complicates
the reduction, of course, so we won't "require" it immediately, but as
we start discussing methodology during this next year, you will
hopefully see the advantages.  There will be more on this topic starting
in January.
Arne