Introduction

Below are the steps to measure the double star separation (rho) and position angle (theta) using AIP4WIN software with a alt-azimuth Dob and Canon EOS T2i DSLR camera.

Prerequisites

The following list of items are needed to use AIP4WIN for measuring the double star separation (rho) and position angle (theta).

• A computer with Windows operating system and AIP4WIN V2.4.8B software.
  • The software AIP4WIN comes with the book Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing 2nd Edition by Richard Berry & Jim Burnell which is the best reference for astronomy image processing.
  • David Haworth uses AIP4WIN on Window 7 Professional running on a MacBook Pro using Parallels Desktop.
• AIP4WIN is compatible with the following star catalogs GSC, USNO-A2.0 and USNO-UCAC2.
  The USNO-UCAC2 does not cover the complete sky and it has been replaced by the USNO-UCAC4 which has a different data format which does not work with AIP4WIN. A future software release of AIP4WIN is expected to support USNO-UCAC4.
  • USNO-A2.0 is a set of files that needs to be downloaded from the ftp site and put in a directory on the computer.
  • On David Haworth's computer the directory C:\USNO-A2.0 contains 48 catalog files which have the extensions of .ACC and .CAT.
  • The size of the 48 files is 6.3 GB and contains the data for 526,280,881 stars with complete coverage of the sky.
     
     
  • DSLR raw Image of the double star.
    • The KUI 82 double star image is a Canon raw CR2 file and it was taken by Tom Frey.
    • DSLR raw files provide greater dynamic range (4096 levels or more) over using JPG files that are limited to 256 levels.
  • The pixel size of the camera used to take the image. Tom Frey's Canon EOS T2i DSLR camera pixel size is 4.3 microns square.
  
  

  USNO-A2.0 Catalog Directory

  The first step is to configure AIP4WIN by setting the USNO-A2.0 catalog directory using the Select Default Directory Locations for Databases. As shown below the USNO-A2.0 catalog directory is C:\USNO-A2.0.

  
  
  

  Links

  • Double Star Measurements with an Alt-azimuth Dob and DSLR
  • Alt-azimuth Dob and DSLR Equipment Used in Double Star Measurements
  • Double Star Separation (Rho) and Position Angle (Theta) Measurements
  • Double Star Measurements with AIP4WIN
  • Opening a DSLR Raw Image with AIP4WIN
  • Astrometric Measurements with AIP4WIN
  • Star Quality Measurements with AIP4WIN
  • Double Star KUI82ABC
  • Double Star KUI82AB,C Analysis with AIP4WIN
  • Double Star KUI82AB,C Analysis with Astrometrica
  • Alt-Azimuth Field Rotation
  
  

  References

  • Observing and Measuring Visual Double Stars (The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series) 2nd Edition R. W. Argyle
  • The Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing 2nd Edition by Richard Berry & Jim Burnell
  • The Proper Motion and Parallax of Barnard's Star: Errors and Precision in Small-Telescope Astrometry by Richard Berry
  • The Proper Motion and Parallax of Barnard's Star: Errors and Precision in Small-Telescope Astrometry by Richard Berry (2011SASS...30...79B)
  • DSLR Photometry Tutorial by Citizen Sky
  • AIP4WIN by Yahoo groups
  • AIP4WIN Photometry by Yahoo groups

  Thomas G. Frey Thomas G. Frey is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA. He has been an active member of the Central Coast Astronomical Society for over 25 years. He was a team leader at the Pine Mountain Observatory (PMO) Summer Science Research Work- shop, Bend, OR, 2009 and co-director of the PMO workshop, summer of 2011.

  David Haworth David Haworth enjoys astronomy imaging and processing those images to bring out details that cannot be seen easily by visual observing with the same size optics. David Haworth started astroimaging with a Cookbook CCD camera he built in 1996 and since then has used many types of cameras to image the sky. David wrote Chapter 2: "Afocal Photography with Digital Cameras" in the second edition of "The Art and Science of CCD Astronomy" which was published in December 2005. David's images have appeared in magazine front covers, articles, books, catalogs, videos, music CD covers, T-shirts, other web sites, etc.

  
  

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