Hi All
I have been able to generate some B,V,R transformation coefficients for the S50. I outline the steps briefly as follows:
1. Coefficients are based on images of the standard field for NGC 3532. This is quite a crowded field with a large number of standard stars so I reduced the number to avoid stars close together, etc.
2. The hardest bit of the process has being trying to work out the Bayer pattern such that the correct B, G and R channels can be extracted. I have found out that it is a BGGR pattern. Do not crop your image prior to extracting the B, G and R channels. Cropping the image will impact the Bayer pattern assumed in the channel extraction. I use AstroArt 8 software for the extraction as it is very simple and requires no scripts to be developed. AstroArt 8 is a very good piece of software for astrometry, photometry and image processing in general.
3. Once the B, G and R images have been extracted and plate solved, I just follow the process of preparing data through Vphot for analysis in Transform Generator (TG).
The results are as detailed below:
Tbv= 1.819
Tb_bv= 0.457
Tbr= 1.652
Tb_br= 0.299
Tv_bv= 0.020
Tvr= 1.445
Tv_vr= 0.044
Tr_vr= -0.273
[Error]
Tbv= 0.022
Tb_bv= 0.006
Tbr= 0.011
Tb_br= 0.004
Tv_bv= 0.008
Tvr= 0.017
Tv_vr= 0.015
Tr_vr= 0.008
[R Squared Values]
Tbv= 0.990
Tb_bv= 0.988
Tbr= 0.997
Tb_br= 0.987
Tv_bv= 0.082
Tvr= 0.991
Tv_vr= 0.117
Tr_vr= 0.951
The errors are generally small and the "goodness of fit" is high. I have used these in successfully transforming some observations already made with the Seestar.
I hope this helps anyone else interested in determining coefficients for their Seestar.
Regards
Andrew
Andrew's results raise a point of interest relevant to those observers who do not use transformation coefficients, and for those who do, perhaps a point for discussion.
Tv_bv is 0.020. If non-transformed photometry is performed using the Seestar's G filter, this low coefficient means that, for a target-comp pair that differ in B-V colour index by 1.0 mag units, the error due only to the B-V difference will theoretically be 0.02 V mag. The relationship is linear, so the error for a B-V difference of 0.5 will theoretically be only 0.01 V mag.
Therefore, if the target-comp B-V difference could be kept to less than 0.5, the accuracy of a non-transformed V mag could theoretically be less than 0.01.
Given the possibility for such good results, could transformation coefficients be dispensed with? Would using them give more accurate results?
The answer to the first question, in my opinion, is yes, provided that: (1) the B-V for the comp and target are within or close to the B-V range of the stars used to determine the TCs, (2) the variable does not have a peculiar spectrum and (3) the observer was interested only in V mags.
Using non-transformed magnitudes in the above circumstances is particularly useful if the aim of the observations is to obtain time series for short period variables (for timing maxima or minima), since the complications inherent in trying to transform B and V magnitudes for stars changing rapidly in brightness (and perhaps in colour) could be avoided.
The answer to the second question would require experiment.
Of course, if it were necessary to use 'relatively large' target-comp B-V differences and to achieve high accuracy, it would be better to use transformed magnitudes.
Roy
How did you figure out the Bayer pattern? In the header it says 'GRBG'.
I just started doing some eclipsing binary follow ups and the Seestar can definitely do decent photometry, which makes this transformation worth the time. I'm still trying to figure out how to actually do it though :-D
It's GRBG if the software you use to extract the individual channels reads top down. It's BGGR if your software reads bottom up. You have to know how your software reads the images
Vphot now debayers Seestar images very well and so you don't need to be worried about this.