UBVRI Filters / Photometry for Amateurs?

[Macavity]

Cannot help but notice availability of UVBRI filters (FLO) now. 

I have a basic notion of their (theoretical) purpose even...

Bit out of my price range! But I'm always interested in trying

out (or at least understanding) different and / or new ideas!

What can / are amateurs doing with UBVRI photometery?

[DirkSteele]

My MPhys astronomy project 15 years ago was photometry of T-Tauri stars which lasted a year.  We used amateur level equipment (10" polar aligned LX 200 and SBIG CCD camera - though back then the chips were tiny and so was the field of view c.7 arcminutes across!) and were able to capture plenty of interesting data including long term variability, short term periodicity (revealed using Fourier analysis) and a substantial short duration flare event which showed peak emission in the B and allowed for some rudimentary calculations of energy and potential mechanism (I went for a substantial magnetic recombination event with an orbiting charged cloud given Alfven wave speeds etc).

The reality is today, thanks to the incredible array of equipment available, amateurs are capable of collecting data which can have real scientific value and I think it can be a very rewarding aspect of the hobby to follow.

If anyone is interested in pursuing photomtry further, the book "A practical guide lightcurve photometry and analysis" is not a bad place to start.

[ChrisLX200]

One example: You can create light-curves for asteroids and get fascinating results that describe shape/composition/rotation of these objects.

ChrisH

[Macavity]

Thanks for that. Don't give me ideas! lol. I often think that established techniques

(Spectroscopy, Photometry) can be *augmented* by Video Astronomical ideas.

We are similarly limited to (past time) small fields, but have added light-gathering!

With a bit of imagination and creativity, who knows what might be possible etc.