Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 04/04/2019 - 06:24

I was about to submit my first CHET report, but I hesitated because I felt unsure that it's the correct tool. In the CHET submission form, the list of problem types don't seem to apply to my need.

My need is for better comp stars around a number of LPV targets. I have started re-reviewing all my LPV charts, and in alphabetical order the very first target was AA Aur (old 2016 chart table X15912H; newly generated chart table X24325IB). Already, most of AA Aur's comp stars list I-band uncertainties exceeding 0.250 magnitudes, which does not seem an entirely reasonable state of affairs.

So I seek advice on how should I proceed, to improve the comp stars for a number of LPVs. I'm sure that on my own I could improve them radically by arranging to slew back and forth between AA Aur's field of view and a Landolt field at the same sky elevation--but then how would I document that with my submitted LPV results, and what Chart ID would I specify with my data? Then I wondered: when I could do that with my modest equipment, has really no one anywhere done the same so that we could benefit from it?

Is CHET the proper channel to ask for improved comp stars for LPV sky positions? Be aware that over the next few weeks I expect to find about 100-120 such LPV sky positions with problematic comp stars (similar to AA Aur). Or if CHET is not the proper channel, can I get guidance on how to proceed?

High quality comp stars (having listed uncertainties < 0.02 mag & repeatedly demonstrated consistency) for other LPVs are a great help in reporting high-quality, high-confidence data. My questions here arise from wanting to help bring reported data up to the same quality for the other LPVs.

Thank you.

Affiliation
Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand, Variable Star Section (RASNZ-VSS)
Question on CHET

Eric, I have submitted A LOT of requests for UGs, RCBs, NLs etc. I wouldn't worry about the numbers you submit (although the CHET Team may have different ideas!).
I'll leave someone else to comment on the other matter you raise.

Cheers

Stephen[HSP]
New Zealand