|
Walter's LogBook |
| July 2003 |
Overview
This month I found free software for synchronizing my computer's clock with an atomic clock in the US and found a way to determine a site's latitude and longitude using a Ontario & Canadian Government websites.
The MX916 is the imaging camera, with exposures for variable stars of 30 seconds at 2x2 binning (unguided). This month's session notes are below the overview section.
| Monthly Statistics, July 2003 | ||||
| Night | Imaging Time (s) |
Exposure Time (s) |
# Targets |
# Exposures |
| 7/14/03 | 12074 | 5880 | 17 | 196 |
| 7/28/03 | 17849 | 8670 | 21 | 289 |
| 7/29/03 | 2421 | 1680 | 3 | 56 |
| 7/30/03 | 19698 | 10350 | 19 | 345 |
| 4 nights | 52042 (14.46 hr) |
26580 (7.38 hr) |
60 | 886 |
Session Notes
Mon/Tue, July 14/15, 2003
Session from 23:30 to 03:45. I did variables again with the MX916 and a Johnson V filter:
| 1 | V759 Oph | 5 | DH Aql | 9 | RV Aql | 13 | SS Del |
| 2 | BC Oph | 6 | UU Aql | 10 | TV Aql | 14 | AN Peg |
| 3 | V1493 Aql | 7 | RS Aql | 11 | SY Aql | 15 | RR Equ |
| 4 | FO Aql | 8 | TU Aql | 12 | XZ Del | 16 | SX Cyg |
| 17 | EY Cyg |
Mon/Tue, July 28/29, 2003
Session from 22:45 to 03:45. I did variables with the MX916 and a Johnson V filter:
| 1 | BC Oph | 6 | UW Lyr | 11 | AY Lyr | 16 | V516 Cyg |
| 2 | SV Her | 7 | EL Lyr | 12 | EY Cyg | 17 | EF Peg |
| 3 | CY Lyr | 8 | RS Lyr | 13 | SX Cyg | 18 | AN Peg |
| 4 | UV Lyr | 9 | AB Lyr | 14 | V503 Cyg | 19 | V368 Peg |
| 5 | TY Lyr | 10 | SU Lyr | 15 | DG Cyg | 20 | FF Peg |
| 21 | IP Peg |
In addition to reporting observations electronically, the AAVSO web site has a "Quick Look" page which allows me to see which stars are not well observed -- these will get higher priority from me in the future.
For example: my "fainter than" observations of V368 Peg are almost two magnitudes fainter than the visual observers'. If I can increase my exposure enough, I may be able to see the star and measure its brightness, further enhancing the value of the observation.
Tue/Wed, July 29/30, 2003
Session from 23:30 to 00:30. I did variables with the MX916 and a Johnson V filter. At 00:24 clouds moved over the sky and ended my session. Only 3 variables were imaged tonight: CY Lyr, RX Lyr, and AY Lyr.
Wed/Thu, July 30/31, 2003
Session from 22:15 to 04:15. I did variables with the MX916 and a Johnson V filter, utilized about 1¼ hours of astronomical twilight, and visited the following variables:
| 1 | V970 Oph | 6 | V344 Lyr | 11 | V503 Cyg | 16 | SW Peg |
| 2 | V759 Oph | 7 | RW Lyr | 12 | V516 Cyg | 17 | RT Peg |
| 3 | CY Lyr | 8 | V493 Lyr | 13 | RR Equ | 18 | IP Peg |
| 4 | AY Lyr | 9 | ST Lyr | 14 | EF Peg | 19 | V368 Peg |
| 5 | LL Lyr | 10 | EY Cyg | 15 | AS Peg |
This morning I found some Internet software from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology which sets my computer's clock accurately (see here). Now my image file datetime stamps will be reasonably accurate!
I was also able to get reasonably accurate latitude & longitude for Winchester Observatory (since I don't have a GPS unit). This involved the following steps:
- Go to the Land Information Ontario website
- Click on "Make a Topographical Map"
- Agree to terms of use
- After the applet initializes and loads the map, click on the "Zoom to Named Place" tool button and enter the name of your town
- Use the tools to zoom in until you can see your house
- Put the mouse cursor on your house and read the coordinates from the top right of the screen (e.g. 472,323.9 4,993,156.0 metres UTM18)
- Now go to Geodetic Survey Division of Natural Resources Canada
- click on "UTM to Geographic", then accept the terms of usage
- input the Zone (18 in this example), Northing (4993156.0), and Easting (472323.9).
- click the "Perform Computation" button and read off your latitude and longitude.
So now I know that Winchester Observatory is located at 75deg 21' 6" W longitude, 45deg 5' 25" N latitude.