Using the Bradford Robotic Telescope & VPhot for Variable Star Photometry Richard ''Doc'' Kinne Astronomical Technologist AAVSO AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
What is the Bradford Robotic Telescope? A remote, robotic telescope. Operated by the University of Bradford, England Located in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain www.telescope.org AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Equipment Available Constellation Camera FLI MaxCam CM2-1 w 1k x1k pixel chip. Opticals are a Nikon 16mm f2.8 lens. Coverage: 40 sq. degrees Filters Red, Green, Blue (RGB system), ND2, Clear AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Equipment Available Cluster Camera FLI MaxCam CM2-1 w 1k x1k pixel chip. Opticals are a Nikon 200mm f2.8 lens. Coverage: ~4.3 sq. degrees Filters Red, Green, Blue (RGB system), ND3, Clear AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Equipment Available Galaxy Camera! Camera FLI MicroLine 1k x1k chip. Each pixel at 13um sq. Opticals: A Schmidt-Cassegrain Celestron C14 w an effective focal length of 1877mm at f5.3 Coverage: ~24 arc min. Filters: Johnson BVRI, OIII, ND3, HA Yea, This is the One! AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Setting up a Job AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Setting up an Object AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Selecting a Scope AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Selecting Exposure Time & Filter AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Interlude – Waiting for the Job Strengths of the Bradford Robotic Telescope Simple Interface – meant for education. Excellent to monitor LPV. Weaknesses of the Bradford Robotic Telescope It is not an interactive scope. You have no control over queue wait time. Not good for monitoring CVs or quickly following up on on anything. Cannot do time series. AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Retrieving your Job – You've Got Mail! AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Job Details AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Job Details AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
VPhot AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Vphot – Uploading Images AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
VPhot – Quick Upload AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
VPhot - Uploading AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
VPhot – The Uploaded Image AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
VPhot – Image Analysis AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
VPhot – Image Analysis AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
VPhot – Image Analysis AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
VPhot – The Photometry Report AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
VPhot – The AAVSO Report AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Downloaded to your Computer – aavso_report.txt #TYPE=EXTENDED #OBSCODE=KQR #SOFTWARE=VPhot 3.1 #DELIM=, #DATE=JD #OBSTYPE=CCD #NAME,DATE,MAG,MERR,FILT,TRANS,MTYPE,CNAME,CMAG,KNAME,KMAG,AMASS,GROUP,CHART,NOTES RV Tau,2455563.52330,9.597,0.085,V,NO,ABS,ENSEMBLE,na,126,12.625,na,na,4620VM,From the BRT AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
To WebObs, Star Boy! AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
WebObs – Upload the File AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
WebObs – Review the Observation AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
WebObs – SUCCESS! AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Thanks! Mike Simonsen – for CCD concept assistance. Dr. Arne Henden – for filter concept assistance. Dr. Aaron Price, Kate Davis, & Will McMain – for WebObs and the AAVSO Website Geir Klingenberg & Michael Kran – for VPhot! The BRT Team – for maintaining and keeping the Bradford Robotic Scope available and open! AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011
Special Thanks! Gary Poyner, FRAS – For introducing me to the Bradford Robotic Telescope in particular, and robotic telescope observing in general. Thanks, Mate! AAVSO Spring Meeting, 2011