Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Wed, 08/10/2016 - 19:55

I am a little confused concerning how to report observations in AAVSO extended format

https://www.aavso.org/aavso-extended-file-format

In this document there are fine examples. In example 2 the CHART for SS CYG is given as

070613

But when I look at the chart for SS CYG, then I find a chart with the designation

X16382L  (sequence)  X16382M (Chart)

Which one to report?

Yours

Sören Toft, TSCB,   Goetheanum, Switzerland

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Chart Number

Sören,

The chart number/designation is for Visual Observers.when reporting obs

The sequence number/designation is for CCD Observers when reporting obs

Good Observing,

Tim Crawford, CTX

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Chart number to report

Hi Sören,

Thank you for your comment and sorry for the confusion.

You should report the sequence ID (X16382L in your example) if that is where you got your comparison star magnitudes. If you are doing visual observing and use the comparison star magnitudes printed on the chart, then you should use the Chart ID (X16382M in your example). Of course, each time you create a new chart or photometry table, it will have a new ID.

In the example on the AAVSO Extended File Format page (https://www.aavso.org/aavso-extended-file-format), the chart IDs given in the example were based on the old nomenclature. I have just updated that page to show an example that looks more realistic (in fact I used your example!).

I hope that helps to clarify things.

-Sara