Disk Set 18 Arrives

[Tom Droege <tdroege@veriomail.com>]

Disk set 18 is beginning to get there.  I am already getting questions that 
I attempted to answer with a message I sent out earlier with the notation 
that you should keep this message if you are getting disk set 18.  Of 
course no one kept the message, so I am starting to get questions about 
what is on disk set 18.  I understand how the real world works.  So here is 
a slightly improved version of that message that you will also find on disk 
18j.

I suppose I will have to send this out daily as each batch 
arrives.  Sigh!  You good people who kept the message in anticipation will 
just have to suffer repeats.  In your hearts you will know you are 
virtuous.  Ha!

Tom Droege

20 May 2001

This outlines what is on disk set 18.

This set contains data covering 12 hrs to 13 hrs 50 min in RA, and +/- 2 
degrees in declination.
The telescope is reset to home RA position after each exposure. The 
exposures are 100 seconds. The
result is that a star will appear on 5 or 6 frames. The disks contain WCS 
in the fits headers so
that it is relatively easy to locate known stars.

Each disk contains 7 object frames followed by a dark frame.  This process 
is repeated through the
40 frames on each disk.  I always start the disk with this sequence and 
accept that it might not
quite match the 12 hrs starting point.

With disk 18j I have added a bias frame as the first item on the 
disk.  Next is a dark frame for
comparison to the bias frame, then the 7 object followed by one dark 
sequence continues.

Note that this disk set is looking near the ecliptic, so there should be a 
good chance to find some
moving objects.

Here are the dates on the disks:

18a     010412
18b     010415
18c     010416
18d     010417
18e     010418
18f     010426
18g     010427
18h     010428
18i     010429
18j 	010519

The purpose of this set is to find out if a pipeline can be constructed 
that processes these disks to
star lists. I hope that as a result of this work, you can tell me what 
needs to be added to the fits
header to make the process smoother.

This is a large enough data set with enough repeat measurements that one 
might find some interesting
object.

I observe that this data set contains real data. There are a few clouds, 
there are ice crystals, and
I changed a camera mid way in the run, so you will not be able to use one 
flat for the whole run. I
think this data is representative of what I might be able to take here in 
this suburban location.

Happy data munching.

Tom Droege