Re: Target zone selection

[<aah@nofs.navy.mil>]

My welcome to Doug as well.  I've been travelling for
just about eternity now, but have a couple of weeks to
catch my breath before the next trip.
  My plans with the Flagstaff Mark IV are:
  (1) all-sky photometric survey down to V=15 or so.
      By my tests with ARNE, I estimate I can cover about
      1000 square degrees per photometric night including
      Landolt field observations, so such a survey will
      take me just about a year to do correctly.  First
      results will be put on my ftp site in about a month.
  (2) targeted fields, primarily short-period variables
      such as EBs, RR Lyrs, and CVs during outburst.  These
      fields will be monitored continuously for 1-2hrs per
      night.
  (3) targets of opportunity.  If a GRB localization falls
      within the HA/DEC range of the mount, I want to interrupt
      whatever is underway and follow the field.
Hopefully the photometric survey will form the basis for most
of the midwestern sites, providing a reference frame of stars
so that you can just do differential photometry.  I wrote a
technical note outlining the approximate field centers and
exposure times; check the TASS site.
  Like Michael, I have my own pipeline.  While there will
be several such pipelines and duplication of effort, this is
common with such strong-willed folks as we have on this list.
I'm hoping that the end product from all these pipelines will
be compatible and that some smart person can develop the
database to touch all of these data files.
Arne
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Arne Henden                               Instruments/software/CCDs
US Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station    Cepheids/photometry/IR
P.O. Box 1149                             ftp://ftp.nofs.navy.mil  
Flagstaff, AZ 86002-1149                  Voice: (520)779-5132
aah@nofs.navy.mil                         FAX:   (520)774-3626