New member.. Which is the best filter to use with AstroImageJ

Tue, 11/02/2021 - 23:48

I am a new member to the group.  I have an On-Axis guider and I use PHD2 for guiding.  I am reading Dennis Conti's guide to Exoplanet best practices, but I have two questions.  My filter wheel contains the following filters from Astrodon: Luminance, Red, Green, Blue, CBB, NIR, i', z', V. 

Q1: Which is the best filter to use for general AstroImajeJ measurements (or is it a filter I do not yet have)?

Q2: Which is the best filter to use along with AstroImageJ to detect false positives (i.e. eclipsing binaries, vs. exoplanets)?  Or would it be a filter I do not yet have?

Thanks,

Ed

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Best filter to use

Hi Ed,

The choice of filter - whether with AstroImageJ or any other exoplanet analysis program - depends on the objective of the observation. For example, if you are trying refine the period of a confirmed exoplanet by trying to get an accurate estimate of the transit midpoint, then the filter that provides the highest SNR would be best. On the other hand, if you are part of an exoplanet follow-up team, such as with TESS, you may be asked to use a particular filter to help determine if there is a chromaticity difference in the transit depth from one filter (e.g., blue) to another (e.g., red). If there is such a difference then this indicates that the transit is most likely due to an eclipsing binary vs. an exoplanet.

So, for "casual" exoplanet observing, your CBB or V filter should work fine.

Hope this helps.

Dennis