MPO Canopus and PhotoRed Reference Guide Copyright 1999-2011 Bdw Publishing Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Copyright Notice 1 System Requirements 2 Technical Support 3 International Issues 3 Credits and References 4 Asteroid Databases 6 The Minor Planet Center 6 Lowell Observatory 6 About Asteroid Numbering 6 Star Catalogs 7 MPOSC3 7 Support for Other Star Catalogs 8 USNO SA1.0/2.0 Support 8 UCAC2 Support 8 UCAC3 Support 8 Dual Support 8 Manual Conventions 9 Converting Data from Previous Versions 10 The “Mighty Five” 10 Prior to Version 9.0 10 Version 9 to Version 10 10 Running the Conversion Wizard 10 Overview 11 Users Guide 11 CHM Help Files 11 Multiple Instances 12 MPO Server Application 12 StarBGone!© 12 Magnitude/Intensity Relationship (M/IR) 12 Derived Magnitudes 12 PhotoRed Reduction Methods 13 Canopus and PhotoRed 13 Main Form Pages 13 Main Menu 14 Binary Maker Support 23 The Magnitude/Intensity Relationship 25 Controlling the M/IR Solution 25 A Matter of Magnitudes 25 How Does Canopus Work? 26 Configuration 27 Configuration - General Page 27 Configuration - MPC Page 32 Configuration - Catalogs Page 34 Configuration - Charting Page 36 Configuration - Photometry Page 38 Generating Quick Charts 45 Generating a Quick Chart 45 General Information 45 Generating a Chart by Orbital Elements 45 Generating a Chart by Position 46 Blinking Images 47 Astrometry Overview 49 Users Guide Tutorials 49 Astrometry/Photometry Measuring Apertures 49 What is Chart Matching? 50 Generating a Chart for Astrometry 50 The Chart Generator Form 51 Reading the FITS/SBIG Header for AutoMatching 52 Manual Astrometry 53 The Photometry Residuals Form 53 Astrometry - Changing the M/IR Solution 54 AutoMeasure (AutoMatching) 55 Astrometry Reductions Page 55 Reductions Page - Astrometry Data Table 56 Reductions Page - Object Information 57 Reductions Page - Observation Codes / Processing 58 Reductions Page - Fixed Data 59 Reductions Page - File Operation 60 Astrometry - Changing the Astrometry Solution 61 Changing the Reference Star Set 62 Creating an MPC Report 62 Locating and Measuring Other Asteroids 63 Photometry - Overview 65 The Users Guide 65 Some Definitions 65 The Basic Steps 65 Photometry Tutorials 66 The Sessions Form 67 Sessions Form - Sessions Data Page 70 Sessions Form - Entering Session Data 73 Sessions Form - Observations Page 79 Sessions Form - Comparison Plots Page 81 Sessions Form – Catalog Check Page 83 The Lightcurve Wizard 85 Using the Wizard 89 The Comp Star Selector 89 Lightcurve Wizard - Remeasuring and Picking Up Later 91 Finding the Period of a Lightcurve 93 It’s Easy to Be Hard 93 Period Determination – One or Two Periods? 93 Period Search Parameters 94 Analyzing the Fourier Analysis 96 The Period vs. RMS values – The Period Spectrum 98 A Detailed Look at the Fourier Analysis Routine 99 Automatic Period Scan 99 Harmonic Order Scan 100 Refining the Search Again 101 A Final Look 102 Period Determination - The Comp Adjust Form 103 Period Determination - Manipulating Phased Data 104 Period Determination – Changing Plotting Options 105 Period Determination - Editing Data Using the Plot 105 Saving Plots 106 Pan and Zoom 106 Period Determination - Viewing the Lightcurve Data 108 Period Determination - Normalized Plots 109 Period Determination - Finding the Time of Extreme Amplitude (TOM) 110 Period Determination - TOM Calculator 111 Exchanging Canopus Photometry Data 113 Export Sets 113 Working with Export Sets 113 Exporting Data 115 Importing Export Sets 115 Importing Data from Other Programs 115 Rules for Import Fields 116 Photometry Data Management 121 Database Conversions and Internet Links 125 ASTORB - Lowell Observatory Database 125 MPCORB - Minor Planet Center Asteroid Table 125 LONEOS - Lowell Observatory LONEOS Catalog 125 User Star 126 User Elements 126 Links to Other Sites 126 ASTORB Conversion 127 Steps to Convert the ASTORB file 127 ASTORB Update 128 Steps to Convert the Files 128 MPCORB Conversion 129 Steps to Convert the Files 130 MPCORB Daily Orbit Update Import 130 Steps to Import the DOU file 131 LONEOS Conversion 131 Steps to Convert the LONEOS file 131 User Star Conversion 132 Importing Henden Sequences 133 Converting User Star Data from Other Catalogs 133 Manually Entering and Editing Data 136 Managing User Elements 137 MPO Canopus Utility Programs 141 The Orbits Utility 143 Determining Elements from Positions 143 The Orbits Page 143 Orbits - Finding an Orbit 145 Orbits - Generating Elements 146 The List of Observations 147 Orbits - Analyzing the Results 147 Orbits - Vaisala Orbits 149 The Moving Object Search Utility 151 How the MOS Works 151 Using the MOS 152 MOS - Setting the Search Parameters 152 MOS - Reviewing the Results 154 The Variable Star Search Utility 157 Users Guide Tutorial 157 Two Review Methods 157 How the VSS Works 158 There’s No Substitute for the Real Thing 159 VSS - Search Parameters 160 The Extraction Data 162 VSS - Reviewing the Results (Mean/SD Tab) 162 VSS - Reviewing the Results (Targets Tab) 164 Asteroid Browser 167 The Browser Form 167 Asteroid Search 171 Types of Searches 171 Search Setup 171 Sorting the Search Results 173 H/G Calculator 175 H/G Calculator – Data Input 175 H/G Calculator – Calculating H/G 177 Double Star Observations 181 How Double Stars Are Measured 181 Users Guide 181 Adding Double Stars Data 181 The Double Star Measurements Form 183 Double Stars – Generating A Report 185 JD Calculator 191 Lightcurve Ephemeris 193 Users Guide 193 Generating an Ephemeris Lightcurve 193 Star Profile 195 Image Processing 197 Scaling Images 197 Biases, Darks, and Flats 198 General Requirements 199 Working with Flat Fields 200 Image Processing - Creating a Master Dark 200 Image Processing - Creating a Master Flat 201 Image Processing - Converting Images 201 Batch Image Processing 203 Image Processing - Stacking Images 207 Image Processing - Stacking (Multi) 208 Image Processing - Editing FITS/SBIG Headers 211 Editing the Header for a Single Image 213 The User Star Form 217 LONEOS Catalog Viewer 218 The MPC Report Editor 219 PhotoRed Overview 223 The Users Guide 223 About Clear to Other Band Conversions 224 The Main Form Pages 224 To-do List Help 224 Image Processing 225 Main Menu 225 Configuration 229 Using PhotoRed 231 Using PhotoRed - The PhotoRed Philosophy 231 Using PhotoRed - Getting and Measuring Images 233 Using PhotoRed - The Measurements Page 235 The Users Guide 235 Using PhotoRed – Working with Data from Canopus 236 Using PhotoRed – Working with Observation Data 238 The Photometry Wizards 241 Users Guide 241 The PhotoRed Image List 241 Photometry Wizards - The Transforms Wizard 243 Photometry Wizards - The Differential Photometry Wizard 245 Reduction Methods 247 First Order Extinctions and Transforms 248 Users Guide Tutorials 249 CI Means Color Index 249 Reductions: Transforms (Normal and 1-Filter) 251 The “Hidden” Transforms 252 Reductions: First Order - Hardie 253 Reductions: First Order - Comps 255 Reductions: Second Order 256 Reductions: Nightly Zero Points 257 Reduction Methods: Errors 258 Reductions: Color Index (Comps/Target) 259 Reductions: Comps Standard Magnitudes 260 First Order Extinction Considerations 260 Manually Entering Standard Magnitudes for Comparisons. 261 Reductions: Target Standard Magnitudes 262 Reductions: AAVSO Batch Processing 265 The AAVSO Format – Beware the Check Star 265 The Process Outline 265 The Batch Reference File Generator 267 Users Guide Tutorial 267 Defining and Running a Batch Process 270 The AAVSO Report Form 273 Observed Stars Tab 273 Observations Tab 273 Batch Edit/Delete/Archive Tab 274 Batch Editing 275 Batch Edit – Update Mags 275 Batch Delete 277 Archiving AAVSO Data 277 AAVSO Reporting Tab 278 Extended Reports Tab 280 FITS Keywords 283 Copyright Notice The MPODVD, including programs, original data files, and documentation, is copyright 1993-2011 by Bdw Pub- lishing and Brian D. Warner. Unauthorized distribution by, in, or on any media is prohibited. Trademarks are the property of their respective companies. Disclaimer of Warranty and Limited Liability All software and reference material is provided "as-is", without any warranty as to its performance or fitness for any particular purpose. Further, Bdw Publishing does not warrant, guarantee, or make any claims in regards to the cor- rectness, accuracy, reliability, or otherwise of the software. These are the only warranties of any kind, either ex- pressed or implied that are made by Bdw Publishing regarding any software it produces and sells. The MPO CD and accompanying manuals are copyright © 1993-2011 by Bdw Publishing. All Rights Reserved. No part of the data or information contained in any file on the CD nor any part of this manual may be duplicated or re- transmitted by any means without the express written consent of Bdw Publishing. UCAC3 Copyright Notice The UCAC3 Catalog (Third U.S. Naval Observatory CCD Astrograph Catalog) supplied on a separate DVD with the MPO software is an original or direct copy of the original double-sided DVD as supplied by the United States Naval Observatory (http://www.usno.navy.mil) © June 2009 by USNO. See the README_UA3 file on the DVD for copyright and attribution information. 1 System Requirements Screen and Color Settings All MPO programs are optimized for screen resolutions of at least 800x600 at 256 colors and using the Small Fonts settings. Higher screen and color resolutions will enhance use of the programs. Using Large Fonts at 800x600 or any size font at 640x480 will make some windows larger than the screen can display.