Re: STARE data reduction reference?

[Stupendous Man <richmond@a188-l009.rit.edu>]

  Chris A. asked about the STARE project.  You can find a paper describing
the project on-line at

        http://lanl.arXiv.org/ps/astro-ph/0005009

All the paper says about the data reduction is 

      "The data are analyzed via a pixel-weighted photometry scheme,
       with post-photometry linear regression to account for
       gray and color-dependent extinction."

  Hmmm.  That doesn't really say much at all.  They shouldn't be allowed
to refer to this paper (as they do in the refereed ApJ Letter announcing
the discovery of the extrasolar planet around HD 209458, ApJ 540, L45, 2000)
as a definitive explanation.  Grrrrr.

  Robert Creager is doing some tests of database stuffing.

> Then, as I was sitting down to type this, I thought of  using the same data,
> but adding a random offset in ra/dec to the data so the whole frame moves
> some random location (for one import session, not per frame).  This way, I'm
> not dealing with truly random data, and I'm not re-using the same area of
> the sky, as it were, so the dB will have a larger variety of data.
> Thoughts?

  I think it would be much more instructive to add a random RA/Dec offset
to each star on each frame.  That will cause some stars to match up
in some frames, but not others.  You'll soon find out what values for
"matching" cause big problems ....

                                         Michael