Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Mon, 01/21/2019 - 17:05

Hi; I'm new to AASVO, so please bear with me.

I've reported observations over the last few weeks of several stars called out as overdue for observation on the SPP section of the Target Tool, and although my contributions show up when I check them on the Light Curve Generator, the Target Tool doesn't seem to be updated to reflect my reports.

Is there some substantial latency on the Target Tool? 

Or maybe my observations don't qualify?  

I've reported VX Hya, DH Hya, DG Hya, SZ Hya, TT Cnc, SS Leo and others.  My observations are limited to the TG filter of the Slooh C1 instrument in the Chilean Andes.  Maybe the TG filter does not constitute a valid observation for Target Tool purposes?

I'm aware that the Slooh telescopes are not optimum due to their lack of Photometric filters and fixed exposure duration, but my results (processed using VPhot) are not that far from the many reports using V filters as long as I limit target magnitudes to between 9 and 13 to avoid linearity and SNR issues with the fixed exposures.

I'm using the Slooh telescopes because they're well sited, much clearer and darker than my cloudy suburban backyard site; also they're very inexpensive to use (only $250 per year), and their quality is much better than I could afford for my personal use.  I see their biggest limitation as the limit of only 5 exposures per night.  I also use the iTelescope T005 (which has a full Photometric filter set and is fully controllable for duration), but that gets pretty expensive for long time series and only one reservation per night is permitted.

Pete DPOA

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Target Tool

Hi Pete,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are looking into it and I will get back to you, but there is no reason I can see right now, why your observations should not cause the "Last observed" field to update. As long as your observations show up in the LCG, and match the requested band for the Target Tool record (which in the case of the stars you mentioned is "All"), then they should cause the field to update.

We certainly are not excluding your data on purpose!

With best regards,
Sara

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Target Tool - Fixed!

Hi Pete,

I am happy to report that the Target Tool is now working correctly and that the observations you submitted are now included in the "Last Observed" column.

As it turns out, the table had stopped refreshing for some reason, but a server reboot fixed it. It is actually supposed to refresh itself every hour and there is a line of text near the bottom of the table (in the grey area) which should read somethng like this "Observations refresh every hour. Last update 11 minutes ago." If anyone notices that it says shows the "last update" as being greater than an hour, please let us know.

Clear Skies,
Sara