A Practical Guide to Lightcurve Photometry And Analysis

Getting Started 1(6) What Is Lightcurve Photometry? 3(1) What Lies Ahead 4(3) Targets of Opportunity 7(14) Asteroids 7(5) Variable Stars 12(3) Eclipsing Binary Lightcurve Characteristics 15(2) Cataclysmic Variables 17(1) Cepheids 18(1) Long Period (Mira) Variables 18(1) Semi-Regular Variables 18(1) Other Targets 19(1) Summary 20(1) Photometry Fundamentals 21(6) A Little Bit of History 21(1) The First Color-Based Systems 22(1) The Johnson--Cousins Standard 23(1) Setting the Standard 24(1) Seeing Red 24(1) CCDs and Standard Magnitudes 24(1) Landolt Standards 25(1) Henden Sequences 26(1) The Photometry Primer 27(20) Instrumental Versus Standard Magnitudes 27(1) Air Mass 28(1) Extinction 29(2) Transforms and Nightly Zero-Points 31(1) Differential Versus All-Sky Photometry 32(3) Seeing and Scintillation 35(1) Matching Pixel Size to Seeing 36(1) Bias Frames 36(1) Dark Frames 37(1) Flat Fields 37(4) Photometry Apertures and Annuluses 41(5) Reporting Errors 46(1) Photometric Reductions 47(30) The Different Path 48(1) The Differential Formula 49(1) Clear to Visual Conversions 50(1) First-Order Extinctions -- Are They Really Necessary? 50(2) The Same Color Index 52(1) Transforms First 53(1) Finding Transforms 53(3) The Hidden Transforms 56(1) First-Order Extinction 57(2) Finding First-Order Extinction (Modified Hardie) 59(2) A Variation on the Modified Hardie method 61(1) Finding First-Order Extinction (Comp Star) 62(1) Comparison and Target Standard Color Index Values 63(1) Find the Color Indices of the Comparisons and Target 64(2) The Comparison Star Standard Magnitudes 66(1) Finding the Comparison Star Standard Magnitudes 67(1) Target Standard Magnitudes 68(1) Finding the Standard Magnitudes of the Target 68(3) The Different Path's End 71(1) A Minimalist Approach 71(1) Using the Minimalist Approach for Standard Magnitudes 72(5) Second Order Extinction 77(6) Deriving a Single-Color Approach 77(1) The Slope of Slopes Method 78(2) When Is the Second-Order Term Applied? 80(1) Summary 81(2) Telescopes and Cameras 83(16) The Telescope 83(4) The CCD Camera 87(8) Digital and Web Cameras 95(1) Filter Wheels 96(1) Guiding Considerations 97(2) Imaging and Photometry Software 99(12) Image Acquisition Software 99(1) Specific Features 100(2) Photometry Software 102(4) Conforming to Accepted Standards 106(3) Manual Versus Automated Measuring 109(2) Collecting Photons 111(22) The First Step -- Getting the Right Time 111(1) Planning the Observing Program 112(1) Selecting Targets 113(1) General Considerations 114(1) Asteroids 115(2) Variable Stars 117(1) The Observing Run 118(2) Measuring Images 120(3) From Image to Data 123(2) The Hands-On Approach for Measuring Images 125(4) Checking the Comparison Stars 129(1) The Automated Approach to Measuring Images 130(3) Analyzing the Data 133(4) The Quality of Data 133(4) Period Analysis 137(24) About Merging Data and Setting Zero-Points 137(2) A Simple Start 139(3) To What Precision 142(1) Refining the Search Process 143(1) The Amplitude of the Lightcurve 144(1) Aliases in Depth 145(4) Plotting the Half-Period 149(1) A Specific Alias Example 150(1) The Case of 3155 Lee 151(1) Period Analysis on a Spreadsheet 152(5) From Lightcurve to Shape 157(4) Building Star Systems 161(12) Getting Started 161(3) Binary Maker 164(2) The Many Possibilities 166(1) The Effects of Changing the Inclination 166(2) The Effects of Temperature Changes in the Primary 168(1) The Effects of Temperature Changes in the Secondary 169(2) The Effects of Changing the Mass Ratio 171(1) The Effects of Gravity/Limb Darkening and Reflection 172(1) Publishing Your Data and Results 173(8) Confirm Before You Publish 173(2) Asteroids 175(1) Variable Stars 176(1) Learn by Association 177(4) BIBLIOGRAPHY 181(6) GLOSSARY 187(16) APPENDIX A: CONSTELLATION NAMES 203(2) APPENDIX B: TRANSFORMS EXAMPLE 205(6) Example Transforms Data 205(1) The Spreadsheet 206(2) The Hidden Transforms 208(3) APPENDIX C: FIRST-ORDER (HARDIE) EXAMPLE 211(6) The Data 211(2) The Spreadsheet 213(4) APPENDIX D: FIRST-ORDER (COMP) EXAMPLE 217(2) The Data 217(1) The Spreadsheet 217(2) APPENDIX E: STANDARD COLOR INDICES 219(4) The Data 219(1) The Spreadsheet 219(4) APPENDIX F: COMPARISON STANDARD MAGNITUDES 223(4) The Data 223(1) The Spreadsheet 224(3) APPENDIX G: TARGET STANDARD MAGNITUDES 227(4) The Data 227(1) The Spreadsheet 228(3) APPENDIX H: LANDOLT/GRAHAM STANDARD FIELDS 231(22) APPENDIX I: HENDEN CHARTS 253(32) APPENDIX J: HIPPARCOS BLUE--RED PAIRS 285(6) Steps used to produce the List 285(2) Hipparcos Blue--Red Pairs 287(4) APPENDIX K: SDSS BLUE--RED PAIRS 291(4) Index 295