Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 12/02/2010 - 16:04
This forum is for anything concerning our robotic telescope network, AAVSOnet. There are often status updates that I want to give, interesting tid-bits regarding the operations or reductions, discussions about how to handle the images or robotic observing in general. If you are having problems, this is the place to raise your hand! If you are thinking about proposing an observing project, you can ask questions, get things clarified, get ideas from this forum. I want it to be very informal - no question is too ignorant. Enjoy!
Arne
Hi Arne,
This is a great idea! Much easier than fishing net-specific info out of the discussion or photometry groups. It will be interesting to see observers' questions, too (and the answers, of course :) ).
Elizabeth (weo)
Hi Arne,
count me in on this beautiful initiative. It's just what we needed! It will be very interesting to know how AAVSONet is doing, what the other AAVSONet users are experiencing and most of all to have a forum for specific questions regarding our ongoing or planned observations.
best regards (from a snowy Flanders...)
Bart
Hi Arne,
I think this is a wonderful way to communicate and discuss the AAVSOnet.
I am all for it.
Thomas C. Smith
Dark Ridge Observatory
(APASS north)
Hi Alastair,
The telescopes are robotic and controlled from AAVSO headquarters in Cambridge, MA. You don't physically go to the telescopes; you don't get interactive control of the telescopes. So you just submit a proposal and retrieve the data - being in the southern U.S. makes no difference! I'm currently making observations of my own on AAVSOnet telescopes in Chile and Australia, for example.
Arne
Hi...
it seems that i am the youngest members of aavso!
so...pleas lead me.
i want continue my experiences in variable stars filed.
ive a litle english,so if i had a writing mystake...exxcuse me!!!!
Hello Arne, I was curious what the process was once an observing project idea was proposed to use the AAVSOnet telescope(s). When can I expect a response to a proposal? You have probably guessed based on this question that I have proposed an observing project, and am awaiting a response.
Thanks! and Clear Skies!
Jerry Hubbell HGRA
Lake of the Woods Observatory (MPC I24)
Hi Jerry !
I was wondering if you had a reply from Arne about receiving a reply to your observing proposal ?
I have also submitted a proposal recently but have yet to hear whether it has been accepted. Some form of email aknowlegement or status update would realy be useful for such an excellent system for observing opportunities.
Regards
Les
Hello Les, sorry about the delay, I haven't checked on the status of this thread lately... Anyway, Arne did respond to me after I sent a private message, and he basically said that my specific proposal would be covered by the work done by the Bright Star Monitor (BSM) telescope, and that my requested objects should be added to the list. He said that I would be contacted when my images were available for analysis. That's the last I heard, and that was maybe 6 weeks - 8 weeks ago? Anyway, if you haven't already, you may want to shoot Arne a private email asking about your specific proposal.
Thanks
Jerry Hubbell
Hi Jerry
Thanks for getting back to me. Could you e-mail me a copy of Arne's e-mail address ? I will try and contact him directly about the status of the proposals.
Glad to see your group on the Citizen Sky project seemed to be enjoying the work you set them !
Best wishes
Les
I posted th e followingunder a different topic, but then realized this thread may be more appropriate.
I have been trying to submit a proposal, but keep getting an "oops. something is wrong with the page. Also, to save time trying to figure out the proper formats for the proposal data, it would be very helpful to forvide sample formats. Regarding exposure time, that should be determined for the telescope and equipment. As long as it is sufficient to produce an acceptable SNR it should just be specfied what exposure was used.
Jeff Hopkins (HPO)
Hopkins Phoenix Observatory
187283
2012 ASP Amateur Achievement Award
phxjeff@hposoft.com
Hi Jeff,
Email Will (will at aavso dot org) about your problems. I just submitted a test proposal with no problems, so I bet it is either some field that you are not filling in properly or something like having to log into the web site before filling out the form.
Arne
Hi Arne,
I will give it another try. I did have trouble with the RA and Dec format, but I thought I got that all straight finally.
Jeff
A couple of weeks ago I received an email stating my proposal was accepted. However, the link provided was incomplete. How do I access it? Did the images take? There was probably only about a window of a week after the proposal was finally accepted before the target might have gotten too low.
Hi Stan,
Your proposal was accepted from the scientific point of view, but the observations could only be made from one of our telescopes - the OC61 in New Zealand. Unfortunately, this telescope has been out of service for the past month, as Mt. John had a lightning strike in January and some of the instrumentation needed to be repaired. We're still waiting for the last piece of this (the Robofocus control board) and should be operational this week, but this is out of the window of your proposal.
To answer your basic question: once a proposal is accepted by the TAC, our intent is that the researcher gets an email when the target is placed in an observing queue (or an email stating why there might be a delay). Then new observations willl result in a "You've got Data!" automatic response. OC61 is just coming on-line for AAVSOnet, and so many of the pipeline steps are not in place; we're processing nights manually. We still should have let you know about the delay, and I apologize for this.
Arne
I'm a brand new user of the BSM system.
When making a proposal for observing time we are asked to provide the exposure times and the number of images we want for each filter. It would be very helpful to have some guidance for making these decisions. For example:
1) The maximum practical unguided exposure time for each system.
2) For each system (or the average BSM system), the required exposure time for FGK stars of mag 10V to reach a SNR of 100.
Even better, would be to provide the same information for stars with Vmag 12, 8, and 4. Another way would be an equation or table to give the approximate required total exposure time to reach a specified SNR for for stars with these V magnitudes (assuming good sky condition and no moon).
Of course, any of these methods would give only the approximate required exposure times since sky conditions would vary, but any guidance would be better than guessing. For my own first proposal my requested exposure times and the numbers of images per filter were no better than guesses. I think these were revised to more appropriate values by someone with knowledge of the systems.
Perhaps this is the better way to do it, at least for new users of the BSM system. The person making the proposal provides the range of magnitudes he/she expects, the B-V color for the targets, and the minimum SNR needed. The BSM official who decides which system is assigned to this project then decides the appropriate exposure time and the number of exposure that should be made per filter.
Phil