Fw: [SBIG] M5 Global Movie Project

FYI in case any of the TAC imagers are interested in supporting this.

Teri

----- Original Message -----
From: Stan Moore
To: SBIG@No-Spam
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 9:47 AM
Subject: [SBIG] M5 Global Movie Project

Calling all imagers from around the Earth

June 18-20 (more or less).

You are invited to participate in a span of continuous imaging of M5 globular cluster on the nights of June 18-20 with the goal of making a movie of the many RR Lyrae variable stars within the cluster. Here is an example of the variability of these stars (made from only 2 frames separated by 2 nights):
http://astrophoton.com/M005_animation.htm
(Also refer to "International Transcontinental Proposal" sub-topic in "Animation of the RR Lyrae Stars of M5" thread.)

Suggested guidelines:

1) Color is irrelevant and a nuisance, so don't bother unless you are composing a color image for your own amusement. The very small change in color of these stars is virtually undetectable within the usual errors of amateur image acquisition and processing. Images and movies can be colorized after the fact. If you use a filter then document that filter in the FITS (this is often done automatically by the acquisition software).

2) We are only interested in the globular itself. The surrounding star field is a nuisance and should be framed out or cropped out. Avoid reducers and short FL. Crop the FITS to only include the cluster before posting.

3) Do not saturate any globular stars. This means limiting the exp time to avoid over-exposure. Also try to avoid under-exposure. You have to figure out the correct exp time based on your particular equipment and conditions. Take a 100 sec exp and then measure the ADU of the brightest globular star to calculate the maximum/optimal exp time.

4) Try to take exposures near the "top of the hour" for every hour that M5 is visible to your location. Be sure that the FITS time stamp or accompanying documentation is "Universal Time".

5) Process the raw image via dark subtraction and flat fielding (both are important). Do not mess with the data beyond that (e.g. no de-noising, no deconvolution, no smoothing, no re-scaling, etc.). Do not compose a Color FITS - submit separate FITS for each filter. Do not submit JPEGs or other processed shallow images (such images are essentially useless for this project).

Avoid stacked images unless you are using a video camera or taking very short sub-exps.

After you have taken and calibrated the images, then save them as unsigned 16 bit uncompressed FITS. You can enclose them in a ZIP file but don't use the little-known and under-supported FITS compression.

7) If you have images taken slightly before or after June 18-20 then post them anyway. They might be useful.

After you have taken and calibrated the images then send a reply to this message thread stating:

1) Universal Time and Date of the exposure.

2) Some information about the equipment, image scale, and image quality (FWHM in arcsec would be very useful).

3) Link to the FITS. If you have your own web site then post it there. If not then contact a friend who can host it for a week or so. If you don't have a friend, then contact me privately and I'll provide some space for you.

So let's see what happens. At the very least we should have a few real images (not prettied up with Photoshop <g>) to compare scopes, sites, and skills.

Stan Moore
http://www.stanmooreastro.com/

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---
GSSP registration deadline - June 12th: http://www.goldenstatestarparty.blogspot.com
June 8, 2009: TAC Web Page Updated http://observers.org/TAC.cgi/Announcements/
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