[BAA Comets] Introduction

Thu Jul 24 17:57:49 BST 2014

Hi Roger,

Thank you for the response.  The other problems I am having are fairly 
cosmetic ones.  I have just worked out how to add text to the bottom of a 
image by using notepad, doing a cntr printscreen and then cutting and 
pasting. That leaves the compass and the two lines to indicate the position 
of a faint comet.  I do not have any programmes similar to photoshop as I 
find them expensive and in the main I have no use for them. It is possible 
to do it in Sinbad?

The programmes I use on a daily basis are Megastar, The Sky, CCDSoft, MaxIm 
5, Astrometrica, Microsoft Photo Editor

Yes I am in Southern Spain. If you paste the location into Google Maps it 
will show my place, (including the observatories apart from the new one for 
the 24") which is on top of the Sierra Contraviesa mountain range at 4,500 
feet.  The coordinates centre on the Clamshell which I operate from the farm 
house.  The Clamshell (and the 24") belong to an organisation I belong to, 
though I use them on its behalf. The other observatories are mine.  If you 
zoom out you can see that the location is isolated, though there is some low 
altitude light pollution when there are thin clouds.

I recently obtained an observatory code. Z85 356.75028 0.801058 +0.596932 
Observatorio Sierra Contraviesa, so I do intend sending observations to the 
MPC. In fact it was two American chaps, initially Charles Bell and then 
Loren Ball who said that I ought to get one. I will send to the TA once I 
have rejoined.

I have AIPS and Excel so I will try that first, but I will also look at 
GRIP.  I obviously need to work on FoCAs to understand what the limits are. 
For example with C/2013 R1 last night I used 30 second exposures. Although I 
can see the comet in a single exposure the SNR is only 4.6. so too low to be 
used. As the speed is 0.22" per min I could have gone to 2 minutes an 
exposure - subject to tracking.

Again, Thanks

Tony.

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Roger Dymock" <roger.dymock at ntlworld.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2014 12:06 PM
To: "'BAA Comets discussion list'" <comets-disc at britastro.org>
Subject: Re: [BAA Comets] Introduction

> Hi Tony,
>
> Pleased to hear from you and that you are finding the Project Alcock 
> website useful. Please do
> contact me if you run into any problems.
>
> A few points;
> - you can't use stacked images with FoCAs
> - although Jon Shanklin doesn't use MPC formatted reports you should still 
> send them to the MPC (and
> TA if you wish)
> - any software that will draw a profile through the head of the comet and 
> allow you to work out the
> size of the coma can be used. I just happen to have AIP4WIN and Excel. I 
> believe Graham Relf's GRIP
> will do the trick and you could also try Iris and they are both free. I 
> must check them out sometime
> - I usually take 5 images of any particular comet with somewhere between 
> 10 and 20 mins between
> images. This usually allows for the comet to move away from any nearby 
> star that might interfere
> with astrometry or photometry
>
> Your map ref puts you somewhere near the south coast of Spain - is that 
> correct?
>
> Regards
>
> Roger Dymock
> Email: roger.dymock at ntlworld.com
> Tel: 023 92647986
> Skype: rogerdymock67 or
> Skype: rjvdymock
> MPC Observatory Code: 940
> Project Alcock http://www.britastro.org/projectalcock/
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: comets-disc-bounces at britastro.org 
> [mailto:comets-disc-bounces at britastro.org] On Behalf Of Tony
> Angel
> Sent: 23 July 2014 23:53
> To: Comets-disc at britastro.org
> Subject: [BAA Comets] Introduction
>
> Hi,
>
> Thank you for letting me join this group.  After reading through the past 
> messages on here I can see
> that there are a few people I know. For those who do not know me I have 
> been a member of the BAA for
> about twenty years, (though most of the time sitting at the back).  I have 
> been spending a fair
> amount of time observing comets for the past twelve months. I am still low 
> down on the comet
> learning curve.
>
> I have mainly been doing basic imaging  - on average about five comets a 
> night with exposure times
> between 5 and 30 seconds and between 20 and 240 per comet. Mainly I first 
> image the popular ones and
> then go for dimmer mag 14 to 20 ones - though at the top end I get more 
> negatives than positives, (
> I have only managed one of C/2013 UQ4) . I have submitted a small number 
> of images to the section.
>
> I started to use Astrometrica with the help of Richard Miles (a lot of 
> help!). I can get the
> astrometry to less than 1 arc second.  I have been reading George Alcock 
> project pages so I know
> that I need to use two catalogues with Astrometrica to obtain the 
> astrometry and photometry. I also
> realise that I need to learn FoCAs, Kphot, AIP4WIN,  Aladin and COBS to be 
> able to produce results
> good enough for submission to the Comet Section as from what I can see the 
> section is not interested
> in MPC formatted reports - is that correct? As I mentioned I am still low 
> on the learning curve, so
> do not know how long it will take me to learn this tools, though I am 
> slightly familiar with AIP4WIN
> and Aladin.
>
> There are a couple of things I am not clear about. The main one is to do 
> with the number of
> observations and the time gaps per comet per observing session. Chatting 
> to Charles Bell in the USA,
> he tells me that he takes a set of timed exposures and make 3 stacks, one 
> stack per submitted
> observation, each observation being 9 or more exposures . This usually 
> gives him 3 observations over
> 30 to 60 minutes per target, though if it was a new target then the time 
> span would be longer.  Does
> this fit in with the Section requirements.  He did mention that what he 
> does was the same or similar
> to what Peter Birtwhistle does (I do not know Peter, but have seen his web 
> site).
>
> Most of the time I use a 2x2 binned ST8 with a C14 at F11 which gives me 
> roughly an arc sec per
> pixel. I sometimes also use an ST7 on a 4" F4 Refractor for wider fields. 
> I am just starting to
> test a 24" F4 Newtonian which I have just installed, though I expect to 
> have some teething problems.
> I have a reasonable horizon. My location is 36.876426, -3.249940 on Google 
> maps.  I normally manage
> to squeeze in about 200 nights a year.
>
> Again thanks for letting me join.
>
> Tony Angel
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