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A Practical Guide to Lightcurve Photometry and Analysis

  • Book
  • © 2006

Overview

Authors:
  1. Brian D. Warner

    1. Minor Planet Observer, Colorado Springs, USA

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  • The next step after CCD imaging for amateur astronomers
  • Provides a solid but not overly technical background in photometry theory and practice and suggestions for specific easy-to-implement projects
  • Worked examples of photometry reductions using simple spreadsheets
  • Many detailed "finder charts" with magnitudes for reference fields that allow putting observations on standard systems
  • Detailed steps on how to go about gathering data for specific projects
  • Covers lightcurve period analysis, and how to avoid common mistakes, by showing examples of how things can be misinterpreted

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. Getting Started

    Pages 1-5

  3. Targets of Opportunity

    Pages 7-20

  4. Photometry Fundamentals

    Pages 21-26

  5. The Photometry Primer

    Pages 27-46

  6. Photometric Reductions

    Pages 47-76

  7. Second Order Extinction

    Pages 77-81

  8. Telescopes and Cameras

    Pages 83-97

  9. Imaging and Photometry Software

    Pages 99-110

  10. Collecting Photons

    Pages 111-132

  11. Analyzing the Data

    Pages 133-136

  12. Period Analysis

    Pages 137-160

  13. Building Star Systems

    Pages 161-172

  14. Publishing Your Data and Results

    Pages 173-179

  15. Back Matter

    Pages 181-297
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Keywords

About this book

It is a pleasure and an honor to offer a few words of forward to Brian Warner's guide to photometry. In his preface, he makes a considerable point about amateurs and professionals, and those who dare or deign to step across the line supposedly dividing the two. Here I would like to make a few observations about the two monikers, and suggest that there is not, or at least should not be, a distinction - tween "amateur" and "professional. " In preparing these remarks I referred to W- ster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1960 edition; not so new anymore, but that was when my collegiate experience began): am´a·teur, n. [F. , fr. L. amator lover, fr. amare to love. ] 1. One who cultivates a particular pursuit, study, or science, from taste, without pursuing it professionally; also, a dabbler. 2. In sports and esp. athletics, one who is not rated as a professional. Well. . . a "dabbler" eh? "not rated as a professional"? No wonder we have an identity problem here. Somehow in my youth as an amateur astronomer I missed this connotation of the term. To me, the meaning of the term amateur was do- nated by its root, "to love," that is, one who does what he does out of love of the subject, not for remuneration (to the extent one can get away with that).

Authors and Affiliations

  • Minor Planet Observer, Colorado Springs, USA

    Brian D. Warner

About the author

Brian Warner has been an astronomer for 40 years. He ran the Minor Planet Observer for ten years, and has contributed more than 60 papers to the Minor Planet Bulletin, along with regular articles. He lives in Colorado, USA.

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