AIJ asteroid photometry

[ssmith]

Hi everyone--

Are there settings in the Multi-Aperture Measurements tool that would allow photometry on an asteroid passing thru a sequence of images?

For variable star differential photometry, we use the RA/Dec method, but of course an asteroid's RA/Dec is constantly changing, so we get an error after just a few images because AIJ can't find the asteroid target.

Thnx!

Steve

SPARQ Observatory

[Gary Hawkins]

AIJ can adjust the position of the aperture using centroid tracking.  I've used it for real-time photometry monitoring; where the target star (well, all stars) drifts slowly across the image due to tracking errors. 

This feature will probably allow you to track an asteroid.  A problem may error when the asteroid passes in front of a bright background star.  At this point, you may need to intervene and start the process again.

Let me know if you need more details.

Gary

BVSTO