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VPhot and images from U.I. Gemini telescope

DJD
Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 06/16/2016 - 01:29

For the past few years I have been using  the Sierra Stars Observatory Network  ( SSON) to obtain my target images which work nicely with VPhot.

Recently the University of Iowa replaced their Rigel telescope with their new Gemini telescope.

The older Rigel ’scope, which has been replaced by Gemini, worked perfectly with VPhot. 

I  now keep getting images from Gemini telescope that are not plate solved.

Images from the SSON  0.61 'scope work perfectly on VPhot.

This problem has prevented me from doing more variable star studies as the other ’scope at SSON has had inclimate weather issues these past 5 months.

Is anybody else having this problem  with the Gemini telescope ?

Dave  DDJ

uis01
Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 06/16/2016 - 05:46
Try nova.astrometry.net

Try using the solving engine at http://nova.astrometry.net then uploading those to VPHOT.

If uploading them one at a time to astrometry.net becomes tedious, they do provide their software for download and running yourself.

MZK
Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 06/16/2016 - 11:42
SSON Gemini Scope on VPhot

Dave:

There is probably a simple answer to your question. If you look at the telescope setups under admin in VPhot, you will notice that there is not a listed public scope for the SSON Gemini scope. Since it is new and no one has mentioned this before, I have not set up a scope with the correct plate scale, etc. Assuming the plate scale is not close to the default value of 2, the image would fail VPhot Pinpoint plate solving. If you share an image with me at MZK, I will set one up. This should fix the problem?

 Alternatively, you should ask Rich at SSON if they normally plate solve the Gemini images before upload to VPhot, I thought his pipeline normally did this? It would also be nice to have a complete set of transformation coefficients for this scope as well. Perhaps he can provide them, or a user needs to run them.

Ken

 

MZK
Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Fri, 06/17/2016 - 12:42
SSON Gemini Setup in VPhot

Dave et al:

I have added a new telescope set up for the SSON Gemini scope in VPhot. I tested it in an alternative fashion and I think it works properly. So new images uploaded from SSON Gemini should plate solve and work properly? Give it a try.

Lets' talk off-line to get your old images solved.

Ken