Photometry software options

[billyharris72]

Hi all:

I've been messing around with doing DSLR (and some Johnson V) photometry of variable stars (using AstroArt) and the thing that I'm finding awkward is the interactive nature of the software. That is, I need to manually select the stars in each image and assign them as variable, calibration or check stars and enter their magnitudes (AA should handle the latter but the magnitude estimates in the built in star map differ a bit from the AAVSO ones). Easty enough with one image but a pain with five and if I did a load of them it would be very time consuming. Thinking about an idealised workflow, I'm imagining something that uses scripts and works something like this:

• Take the DSLR images and extract the green channel, convert to a FITS file, do data reduction etc (using filenames to ID the images).
• Carry out astrometry to get a WCS.
• Take a scripted list of stars with appropriate magnitudes, calibration status etc. and use RA and DEC along with the WCS and image metadata to work out the image coordinates of the stars
• Assess the FWHM of the target and calibration stars and set an approporiate annulus based on this
• Conduct the photometry and spit the numbers into a text file.
• Ideally, do some diagnostics at various steps along the way and alert me if there is anything suspicious.

Is anyone aware of a platform that would allow me to go about conducting photometry using a workflow that would be similar to this?

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks,

Billy.

[Stu Todd]

I know Prism v10 can do batch processing to ID moving (comets) or variable stars...scripting is available too.

https://www.hyperion-astronomy.com/pages/why-prism

 

Some good youtube "How to's" as well...https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxYNkZis_hF6FvOHT2m-3vA

[billyharris72]

Thanks for the suggestion Stu - a bit pricey but it looks good so will investigate further (seems to be quite a bit on You Tube). Other options that I'd be intersted in hearing opinions of would be:

VPHOT - I have a really slow internet connection and get the impression that involved uploading FITS files, so might not work for me.

IRAF / PYRAF - look insanely flexible if clunky and a bit scary. Is it worth the learning curve, and are there any intermediate options I might be missing?

Billy.

[Whirlwind]

Muniwin is a relatively straightforward and quick tool to undertake aperture photometry (free)

https://sourceforge.net/projects/c-munipack/#screenshots

It can undertake photometry on all the stars at once.

Alternatively AstroImageJ is freely available which is a bit more powerful and more targeted at professional astronomers, so you have to pick and choose the stars you want.

http://www.astro.louisville.edu/software/astroimagej/

Prismv10 works fine as well but as noted has a cost (but then it does a lot more than just photometry - for example it can search for asteroids etc)

I wouldn't recommend IRAF/PyRAF unless you have the IT support behind you!

 

[catburglar]

I’m just starting along this road also. Did my first manual measurements using IRIS, but once I’ve got the hang of it looking to write a script. Might still need a bit of user interaction, so may not get you unite where you want to be