This page is about imaging for science.
Not just taking pretty pictures – but gathering data for various science projects such as:
- HOYS – Hunting Outbrusting Young Stars
- ExoClock – exoplanet transit timing associated with the ARIEL mission
- BAA – variable star section
- AAVSO – American Association of Variable Star Observers
- GOSA – Asteroids light curves and GAIA
- COBS – Comet Observation Database
- GMN – Global Meteor Network
- UKMON – UK Meteor Network
DO Dra
AAVSO “Alert Notice 753: Monitoring requested for seven intermediate polars” – DO Dra (also known as YY Dra) is on the list, it’s circumpolar and easy from here.
“Photometry (V, CV) of the targets in the table below is requested. DSLR green and visual observations are welcome to supplement the light curves. The cadence requested is every other night, as weather permits, and “about one hour of coverage per night (enough to catch a few spin cycles of the white dwarf). If a source is found to be in a low state, then we request longer coverage and nightly cadence. SNR>>10 is ideal…”
Photometry (V, CV) of the targets in the table below is requested. DSLR green and visual observations are welcome to supplement the light curves. The cadence requested is every other night, as weather permits, and “about one hour of coverage per night (enough to catch a few spin cycles of the white dwarf). If a source is found to be in a low state, then we request longer coverage and nightly cadence. SNR>>10 is ideal…”
Covington adds: “These systems show periodic variability on the spin period of the WD, usually on order of ~10 minutes. So, shorter exposure times are needed so the spin variability isn’t washed out. Previous AAVSO observations of these sources have had exposure times <60s, which is ideal. Also, accurate time tagging of the observations is required, so we can measure periodicities!”
Thought I’d give it a go for 1 hour. Uploaded to AAVSO and BAA databases.
| Object ID | DO Dra Typical/high state mag. 15.0 – 15.5 V Range: 10.0 – 17.2 V |
| Details | 23:00 – 23:59 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460ex @-10°C |
| Filters | V photometric |
| Exposure(s) | 70 x 60s dfb |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | ASTAP |
An Intermediate Polar (also called a DQ Herculis Star) is a type of cataclysmic variable binary star system with a white dwarf and a cool main-sequence secondary star. In most cataclysmic variables, matter from the companion star is gravitationally stripped by the compact star and forms an accretion disk around it. In intermediate polar systems, the same general scenario applies except that the inner disk is disrupted by the magnetic field of the white dwarf.
The name “intermediate polar” is derived from the strength of the white dwarf’s magnetic field, which is between that of non-magnetic cataclysmic variable systems and strongly magnetic systems. Non-magnetic systems exhibit full accretion disks, while strongly magnetic systems (called polars or AM Herculis systems) exhibit only accretion streams which directly impact the white dwarf’s magnetosphere.
Type Ia supernova 2022hrs in NGC 4647
2022hrs (= ATLAS22mip), TNS discovered 2022/04/16.619 by Koichi Itagaki
Found in NGC 4647 at R.A. = 12h43m34s.350, Decl. = +11°34’36”.00
Located 30″.0 east and 18″.7 south of the center of NGC 4647
Galaxy is about mag. 12.5, supernova about mag. 14.1 R using photometry with ASTAP.
| Object ID | Supernova 2022hrs |
| Details | 2022-04-18 23:20 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian R filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10 °C |
| Exposure(s) | 3 x 180s d,f,b |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | Photoshop, ASTAP |
GMN meteor plot 2022-04-01 01:58:16.948148
A bright meteor, captured by my camera UK006E, also seen and matched by 4 other stations.
Mag. -2.55
Duration 0.78s
V avg 67.5 km/s
Height beg/end: 110 km / 96 km
Shower: TAL (what is this?)
GMN meteor plot 2022-03-27 22:36:11.685049
A bright meteor, captured by my camera UK006E, also seen and matched by 8 other stations.
Mag. -2.90
Duration 1.20s
V avg 42.97 km/s
Height beg/end: 111 km / 86 km
Sporadic
HOYS and 2MASS 21383981+5708470
I’ve been continuing to gather HOYS data as normal and particularly focusing on this star as it’s a bit too low for most people in the evening, but high enough even when below the Pole Star from here in Edinburgh. A lot of the last few weeks data points are mine. Going back to the CCD camera and using real V and R photometric filters has increased accuracy to 0.02 – 0.04 as well.
The star has just undergone a new outburst and is starting to decline again.
The HOYS project reached another recent milestone of 60,00 images in the database. Unfortunately this means the database is now very slow to extract data for lightcurves for. Needs some funding for a developer to work on the database indexing.
Type II supernova 2022ewj in NGC 3367
2022ewj (= ATLAS22jhw), TNS discovered 2022/03/19.544 by Koichi Itagaki
Found in NGC 3367 at R.A. = 10h46m34s.630, Decl. = +13°45’16”.98
Galaxy is about mag. 12, supernova about mag. 16.3 R using photometry with ASTAP.
| Object ID | Supernova 2021ewj |
| Details | 2022-03-22 22:31 – 22:42 UT Hazy skies |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian R filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10 °C |
| Exposure(s) | 5 x 180s d,f,b |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop, ASTAP |
SN 2021agpf in NGC 5732
2021agpf (= ATLAS21bnoc), TNS discovered 2021/12/26.624 by ATLAS
Found in NGC 5732 at R.A. = 14h40m37s.708, Decl. = +38°37’56”.31
Galaxy is about mag. 14, supernova about mag. 17.3 using photometry with ASTAP.
| Object ID | Supernova 2021agpf |
| Details | 2022-03-16 22:19 – 22:47 UT Strong moonlight |
| Telescope | 240mm f4.8 Newtonian R filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10 °C |
| Exposure(s) | 10 x 180s d,f,b |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop, ASTAP |
New meteor camera first detections
As part of the Global Meteor Network I have added a new camera on the edge of Edinburgh, built following the GMN wiki instructions. Scotland doesn’t seem to have many and definitely needs more.
Still in the early config stages but this is the first detection saved as an animated GIF. I don’t plan on posting these here all the time but these are the first!
My azimuth seems to be about 120° which is what I was aiming for.
2022-03-13 02:22:58 UT
2022-03-15 02:06:15 UT
And from the second night, much better:
This is my detection coverage.
Calibrated azimuth: 120.5°, altitude 49.5°
145 Adeona asteroid light curve
Third submission to GOSA project. This was marked as a “Important target” with just 25% completed.
| Object ID | 145 Adeona |
| Details | 2022-03-01 20:06:31 to 2022-03-01 22:55:22 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian V filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Exposure(s) | 56 x 180s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | GOSA |
22 Kalliope asteroid light curve
Second submission to GOSA project. This was marked as a “Hot target”. There was a close almost-grazing-occultation with the fainter star nearby. Looked like it was going to be very close but I suspect missed in the end.
| Object ID | 22 Kalliope |
| Details | 2022-02-28 20:11:12 to 2022-02-28 23:58:17 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian V filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Exposure(s) | 290 x 45s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | GOSA |
19P/Borrelly
Currently the brightest comet around at about mag. 9. Photometry with ASTAP gives me a V magnitude of 9.7. Animation shows it heading away from the Sun now, after perihelion (1 Feb 2022), tail first.
| Object ID | Comet 19P Borrelly |
| Details | 2022-02-26 21:02:22 – 21:42:46 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian V filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Exposure(s) | 20 x 120s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | ASTAP, Photoshop |
68 Leto asteroid light curve
First submission to GOSA project – Gaia-Groundbased Observational Service for Asteroids (Gaia-GOSA)
| Object ID | 68 Leto |
| Details | 2022-02-26 22:01:29 to 2022-02-27 00:47:26 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian V filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Exposure(s) | 147 x 60s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | GOSA |
(201) Penelope light curve
A large main belt asteroid, discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa in 1879. Thought I’d try the same technique as for an eclipsing binary. One extra step in AstroImageJ to track the asteroid between frames. Didn’t get enough data to determine a period and comparison stars were impossible to find in this particular field so relative flux only.
| Object ID | (201) Penelope |
| Details | 2022-02-10 21:39:08 – 00:59:05 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C V filter |
| Exposure(s) | 95 x 120s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | AstroImageJ |
V1297 Cas eclipsing binary
No predictions for transit times for this one so trial and error. Sadly missed both peaks and dips.
| Object ID | V1297 Cas Eclipsing binary in Cassiopeia |
| Details | 2022-02-06 19:34 – 23:27 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian Photometric V filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Exposure(s) | 620 x 15s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | AstroImageJ |
NR CAM eclipsing binary
Got both secondary and primary transits before cloud came in but had hoped to get both peaks to see if asymmetric or not which might indicate star spots. Primary transit is deeper than the secondary.
Wrote a How-To article on the ASE website about this: How to record an eclipsing binary transit light curve
| Object ID | NR CAM Eclipsing binary in Camelopardalis |
| Details | 2022-01-27 18:01 – 22:22 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian Photometric V filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Exposure(s) | 476 x 25s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | AstroImageJ |
Finder chart and data:
AAVSO — Variable Star Plotter
V523 Cas eclipsing binary
Cloud stopped play so caught the primary transit but not the secondary. Will try this one again since it transits so fast.
| Object ID | V523 Cas Eclipsing binary star |
| Details | 2022-01-24 21:44 – 22:58 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C Photometric R filter |
| Exposure(s) | 137 x 25s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | AstroImageJ |
HAT-P-70b exoplanet transit
This was an ALERT object for ExoClock. Lost the last 30 minutes to clouds. Quite a bright parent star which actually makes it harder. Only 10s exposures which means a lot of subs to deal with. Gives good values for Rp/Rs, no residual structure but disagrees with the only previous observation – but I would say that other observation was an unclear result from the chart.
| Object ID | HAT-P-70b |
| Details | 2022-01-21 10:00 – 00:34 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C Photometric R filter |
| Exposure(s) | 1097 x 10s 20 each darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | HOPS |
PZ UMa eclipsing binary
Thought I’d try to catch an eclipsing binary transit since no obvious exoplanet ones to do for last night. First processed in HOPS, since that’s what I know, but that obviously wants to map an exoplanet transit onto the data. Finally processed in AstroImageJ, which charted it quite well.
| Object ID | PZ UMa |
| Details | 2022-01-17 21:18 – 00:12 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian R Photomeric filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Exposure(s) | 155 x 60s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | AstroImageJ |
Qatar-8b exoplanet transit
Well half a transit as clouds stopped play. Thin, changing cloud all night as well so the data looked really messy but the O-C shift is in close agreement with the two other observations on the ExoClock website. Closest in separation and magnitude comparison star 118 gave the best fit.
| Object ID | Qatar-8b |
| Details | 2022-01-16 17:59 – 23:03 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C Photometric R filter |
| Exposure(s) | 292 x 55s 20 each darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | HOPS |
Used AAVSO plotter for comparison stars. Star list >
The second frame contains an interesting artefact. Unclear what it is but possibly some re-entering space junk or even a meteor vapour trail?
C/2019 L3 ATLAS
Monitored over about 45 minutes
| Object ID | C/2019 L3 ATLAS |
| Details | 2022-01-03 19:11:26 – 19:54:09 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian, MPCC |
| Camera | QHY168C IDAS D3 |
| Exposure(s) | 15 x 180s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Attempted photometry:
Animation showing movement over the period
Photometry of Dwarf Nova in Gemini TCP J07094936+1412280 29
Still learning here but more consistent now with reprocessed data. Using AAVSO chart X27541GQ, comparison star 127, V mag. 12.701.
250mm f4.8 Newtonian
QHY168C @-15°C // Green channel only
29-12-2021 21:55 UT // TG mag. 12.48 // 540s
31-12-2021 23:31 UT // TG mag. 12.90 // 90s
01-01-2022 21:58 UT // TG mag. 13.29 // 90s
03-01-2022 21:58 UT // TG mag. 13.68 // 150s
04-01-2022 20:42 UT // TG mag. 13.88 // 150s
