New VSP Beta Test

Hi Will,

initial impression is that the interface is neat and organised. One question - under "WOULD YOU LIKE A SPECIAL CHART?" there is an option for DSLR, how are these different from normal CCD charts? Cheers,

Mark

I have a utility that can download the photometry data directly, e.g., by using a base URL of

http://www.aavso.org/cgi-bin/vsp.pl?<parameters&gt;

Will this still be possible? I tried changing the URL to access the new location and the routine failed.

Clear Skies,
Brian D. Warner

Next to Field of View it gives the range 0-1200. 
How about doing the same for resolution. ie Must be in the range 75-300 rather than have it come up in the error message.
Overall I like it :-)
Stephen [HSP]

Hello William,

I tried to use new VSP and seems that all I did (plotting, FOVs, magnitude limits, photometry table etc etc) was working well. I'd have just few comments and questions.

One can enter coordinates of the field in three ways, could you add fourth (very common in e.g. catalogues) format for RA, too - namely RA in degrees.

I really like that input forms have examples and more comments next to them. That would avoid so many unsuccessful attempts to guess 'what kind of input that @$!£# form wants from me'. Everyday reality is that 'a true hacker reads manual as a final resort' ;-)
Selecting which filters to display in photometry table is also a great feature.

Would it be possible to get a computer readable output of photometry table? E.g. Save CSV file or something like that.

I'm just not aware if there is also a query interface for VSP. That would be extra cool, but I also realize that this is not a small and simple thing to do :-)

Best wishes,
Tõnis

[quote=willmcmain]

Keep in mind this is a beta test, and nothing is final yet. I encourage everyone to use the beta and send me feedback on how it can be improved. Feel free to leave feedback in this thread or email me at will@aavso.org

[/quote]

[quote=willmcmain]

If you're interested, please try out the new VSP and send me your feedback!

[/quote]

Hi, Well similar to the old VSP, the simple defaults at the top do not work so well for me, I have to go to the more custom lower section and change them all the time. The main issues I have are:

1. Default display should be the actual sky, the DSS, not the artificially created star "dots". The algorithm that creates these cartoons, is easily tricked to show stars which are not stars (galaxies, dense clusters or nebulae, smudges, etc.), as well as omitting stars that actually exist. This can cause confusion, especially for visual observers in identifying the fields.

2. N up, E left is the standard orientation.

3. Comp star labels should have lines to the star by default, to avoid the common issue of which star the label refers to.

Thanks,

Mike LMK

Hi Will,

Work's well for me, neat and uncluttered.

Thanks for all the time you've put into this.

Douglas.

Bill,

I like your new format. I suggest that you also have the limiting magnitude print out at the bottom of the chart.

Thank you for all your hard work.

Dan