Copyright: Copyright © Crystal Lake Observatory
Citation: (c) Crystal Lake Observatory, All Rights Reserved.


Contents

TS-24 Version 3.2

 Demo #1

( to return to the main document, click the Done pushbutton)

Welcome

Setup

Auckland Observatory

0.5 meter Zeiss Telescope

Observing Delta Ceti

Type 1 Photometer

Type 2 Photometer

Type 1 CCD Camera

(c) 1995 Crystal Lake Observatory, All Rights Reserved.


0.5 meter Zeiss

0.5 meter Zeiss Telescope

Delta Ceti is normally a 9th magnitude star but tonight it begins as a 10th magnitude star due to the eclipse.

To get a much better view of Delta Ceti switch from the Guide telescope to the 0.5 meter Zeiss telescope.

See 0.5 meter Zeiss telescope

select telescope -> 0.5 meter Zeiss

Window 1 now displays the sky looking through the Zeiss telescope eyepiece.

Delta Ceti is much easier to see.  Compare the eyepiece view with a CCD image recently taken by the SARA 1 meter telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona:  CCD Image.

Center Delta Ceti in the eyepiece:

set slew rate -> 10 arc seconds

turn on the eyepiece crosshairs

center Delta Ceti in the crosshairs

Continue


Setup

If you have not yet cleared the License display dialog in window 1 do so now by clicking the mouse on the Continue pushbutton.

Let's begin by setting the date to the night of the eclipse.  Each command to the simulator is represented by a TS-24 Command Icon, like the one directly below.  Position the mouse over the Icon and click once to command the simulator.  Help is available for each command by clicking the highlighted word(s) directly below the icon.

set date ->  March 15, 1995 UTC

When you close the date dialog box notice that the current simulator program status is displayed in window 2.  If the date is not Wednesday, March 15, 1995 UTC then repeat the step.

Next, set the UTC time to just after sunset at Auckland

set time -> 10:00 UTC

Continue


Done

Cancel Request

Return to the Main Document

Exit TS-24 Demonstration


CCD Image


Type 1 Photometer

If you have not closed the Time dialog box, reset the time back to 10:00 UTC.

If you have already closed the dialog box, use the following icon to reopen it

set time -> 10:00 UTC

To make precise brightness measurements astronomers use an instrument called a photoelectric photometer.

The 0.5 meter Zeiss telescope is equipped with a photometer.  Let's see how it works and use it to measure the change in brightness of Delta Ceti.

See Zeiss photometer.

select telescope -> Type 1 Photometer

Window 1 now displays the sky as viewed through the photometer viewer.  The round reticle in the eyepiece is the area measured by the photometer.  To measure Delta Ceti position the star within the circular reticle.

position Delta Ceti in the reticle

make a measurement

The photometer counts the number of photons received from the star over an interval of time known as the integration time.  By default, the photometer counts photons for 1 second.  The number of photons counted is displayed in the list box.

The number of photons counted indicates the brightness of the star.  The brighter a star the more photons are counted thus a bigger number being displayed.

For each of the following hours, measure the brightness of Delta Ceti using the photometer, record the photon counts on a piece of paper.

Use these two icons to change the time and make a measurement:

10:00 UTC	photon count  _____

12:00 UTC	photon count ______

14:00 UTC	photon count ______

16:00 UTC	photon count ______

Notice how the photon counts increase as Delta Ceti increases in brightness.  Also notice that it is difficult to visually see any difference from one hour to the next, but the photometer shows a noticeable difference in photon counts.

Continue


Welcome

For this first demonstration of TS-24, we will be visiting the Auckland Observatory located at Auckland, New Zealand.  You will be using the 0.5 meter Zeiss telescope to look at a star known as Delta Ceti.

Delta Ceti is an eclipsing binary star. and tonight the system is in an ascending primary phase..

On March 15, 1995 at approximately 04:00 hours UTC (5 pm at Auckland) Delta Ceti entered a descending primary phase, the brighter primary star will be passing behind the fainter secondary star.  In the telescope the observed stellar system will change in brightness.

At 09:00 UTC the primary star is totally eclipsed by the secondary star.  The system will be at its minimum observed magnitude.

At 11:00 UTC the primary star will emerge from behind the secondary star and again the observed system will change in brightness.

At 16:00 UTC the primary star is completely visible, the system is observed at its normal brightness.

Therefore, you have been scheduled time on the telescope for the night of March 15, 1995, from 11 pm (10:00 UTC) to 5 am (16:00 UTC).  This interval is long enough to observe Delta Ceti change in brightness from minimum to maximum as it emerges from behind the secondary star.

Continue


Auckland Observatory

Now that the date and time are set let's travel to the Auckland Observatory.

See Auckland Observatory

select observatory -> Auckland

When an observatory is selected the program loads the geographical position of the observatory and displays the observatory clocks.

If you receive a message indicating that the sky is too bright it is likely that the date and time have not been set correctly.  Go back to Setup and reenter the date and time.

Open the telescope dome and use the Guide telescope to locate Delta Ceti

select telescope -> Guide

Before we continue let's check the video display [Test Display].

In the simulation we have added an automated telescope positioning system, called the DT-7, to the telescope.  The DT-7 makes it much easier to point the telescope at different objects in the sky.  Let's use the DT-7 to point the telescope at Delta Ceti.

Using the DT-7 involves three steps:

setting the slew rate

selecting a group

selecting an object:

set slew rate -> 1 arc degree

select group > Eclipsing Binary Stars

go to -> Delta Ceti

Remember to click on the Go To pushbutton to initiate the positioning command.

When the telescope stops moving Delta Ceti should be near the center of the eyepiece.  To verify that the telescope is pointed correctly compare the eyepiece view through the Guide telescope (window 1) with the finder chart

Delta Ceti is the faint star just to the right of the bright star near the center of the eyepiece.  Depending on the ambient lighting conditions in the room you might not be able to see Delta Ceti.

Before switching to the main telescope center Delta Ceti in the eyepiece.

Turn on the eyepiece crosshairs

set slew rate -> 1 arc minute

Center Delta Ceti in the eyepiece

Continue


Type 1 CCD Camera

Most of the work done using the Zeiss telescope is photometry.  But to complete the demonstration let's add a CCD camera to the telescope and record an image of Delta Ceti.

set time -> 10:00 UTC

select telescope -> Type 1 CCD Camera

A CCD camera does not normally have an eyepiece.  Instead, you use the Guide telescope to point the telescope and then you record an image using the camera.  The recorded image is then displayed on a computer screen and/or stored on disk for later analysis.

Window 1 is used to display the last image recorded by the camera.  Since none has been recorded yet the display is black.

Let's record an image of Delta Ceti:

grab an image

The area of the sky displayed in the image is very small compared to the eyepiece views we have seen so far.  The 1 second image shows Delta Ceti near the center and the comparison star to the lower left.  Notice the significant increase in magnification, but much smaller field of view.  Because of this a CCD camera requires very precise positioning.

A 1 second integration (exposure time) shows only the brightest stars.  One of the most significant features of a CCD camera is its ability to record much fainter stars, stars much fainter than can be seen visually.

Grab another image of the sky using a 10 second integration.  Notice the additional stars added to the display in window 1.  These are stars that you could not see in the eyepiece because they were not bright enough for the eye.

Try integrations times of 30 seconds and 60 seconds.  These longer integration times will show even fainter stars.

If you would like to analyze any of these images, use the Write pushbutton in the dialog box to save the images on disk.

TS-24 does not include an image processing program because there are several already available, both shareware and for a price.  Here are three image analysis programs that can be used to analyze (called Image Processing) TS-24 CCD camera images:

FITSView

Graphics Workshop

Imagine-32

Continue


Type 2 Photometer

Another type of photometer that TS-24 can simulate is known as a Type 2 Photometer.  A Type 1 photometer reports brightness by displaying photon counts.  A Type 2 photometer is similar to a Type 1 photometer but it has an on board microprocessor that processes the photon counts and displays the V photometric magnitude and B-V and U-B color indices.

Through simulation let's add a Type 2 photometer to the Zeiss telescope and use it to measure Delta Ceti:

set time -> 10:00 UTC

select telescope -> Type 2 Photometer

Looking at window 1, the view of the sky through the photometer viewer, there is no difference between a Type 1 photometer and a Type 2 photometer.

make a measurement

Instead of photon counts, the Type 2 photometer displays V, B-V and U-B.  These numbers are not as precise as taking the photon counts from a Type 1 photometer and mathematically processing them (known as data reduction), but the Type 2 photometer is much easier to use and ideal for introductory lab exercises in photometery.

For each of the following hours, measure the brightness of Delta Ceti using the Type 2 photometer, record your results on the same piece of paper used to record the Type 1 photometer readings.

Use the following two icons to change the time and make a measurement:

10:00 UTC	V magnitude  _____

12:00 UTC	V magnitude  _____

14:00 UTC	V magnitude  _____

16:00 UTC	V magnitude  _____

Compare the photon counts from the Type 1 photometer with the magnitude measurements made with the Type 2 photometer.  Delta Ceti is about 10.5 magnitude during the primary eclipse and is normally about 9.0 magnitude when both stars are visible.

Continue


Observing Delta Ceti

Compare the brightness of Delta Ceti with the brighter star to the lower left and the fainter star to the lower right.

If you would like to turn off the eyepiece crosshairs:

turn off eyepiece crosshairs

Advance the time to 11:00 UTC.

set time -> 11:00 UTC

(do not close the time dialog yet)

Compare Delta Ceti with the two nearby stars.  Do you see any difference?  Repeat this last step for each of the following times:

12:00 UTC

13:00 UTC

14:00 UTC

15:00 UTC

16:00 UTC

During this time the primary star emerged from behind the secondary star and the observed brightness of the system increased about two magnitudes.  At 16:00 UTC the primary star is fully visible and Delta Ceti is at its normal 9th magnitude brightness.

The change in magnitude each hour is very little and difficult to detect.  With practice though you can easily see the change,  In fact, a lot of variable star studies are reported using visual methods such as this.

Using the simulator though we can display the change in magnitude more dramatically, change the time clicking first on 10:00 UTC then 16:00 UTC.  Try this several times.

Continue


Telescope Details

The Zeiss 0.5 meter telescope was installed in July, 1967 and was manufactured by Carl Zeiss of Zena.

The telescope was purchased with funds from a bequest from Edith Winstone Blackwell.

Optical specifications:

Zeiss Cassegrain:

50 cm aperture

f13.3 cassegrain

f5 primary

Finder telescope

110 mm aperture

f6.82 refractor

40 mm eyepiece

Guide telescope

150 mm aperture

f/15 refractor

20 mm eyepiece

Variable star research is the main observing activity.  In particular, UBV photoelectric photometry has been undertaken since 1969.

Measurements have been made of a large number of variable stars (mainly UBV) of many different types.

Studies have been made of dwarf novae during outburst, eclipsing binaries and short period pulsating stars of the delta Scuti class.

A variety of southern long period variables have been followed and many reliable sequences established for visual observers.

Go Back


Eclipsing Binary star

An eclipsing binary star is a pair of stars where one star is orbiting around the other star and the orbital plane is such that the stars eclipse one another when viewed  from the earth.

The primary star is the brighter of the two stars, not necessarily the largest, as shown in the diagram above.  The reason for this will be shown below.

As the primary star orbits around the secondary star the combined system is observed to be in one of eight different phases:

Normal Phase, both stars are visible but because of their distance from earth they are seen as a single star even in the largest telescopes.  The brightness of the system is the combined brightness of both stars.

Descending Primary Phase, the bright primary star is going behind the larger but fainter secondary star.  The system is becoming less bright because we are seeing less of the brighter primary star.

Primary Eclipse Phase, the bright primary star is completely eclipsed by the larger secondary star.  The brightness of the system is at its lowest level, that of the secondary star only.

Ascending Primary Phase, the bright primary star is coming out from behind the secondary star.  The system is becoming brighter again with more of the primary star being visible.

Normal Phase, both stars are completely visible again.  The system is at its normal brightness.

Descending Secondary Phase, the bright primary star is now passing in front of the secondary star.  Because a small portion of the secondary star is being eclipsed the system is becoming slightly fainter.

Secondary Eclipse Phase, the primary star is now completely in front of the secondary star and the system is not as bright.  But because most of the light from the system is from the primary star the eclipse is not as deep as the primary eclipse is.

Ascending Secondary Phase, the primary star is passing away from in front of the secondary star.  Because more of the secondary star is becoming visible the system is becoming more bright.

Normal Phase, the system is again back to normal and the cycle starts over.

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Photometer Details

This Type 1 Photometer is used for the study of variable stars.

Specifications:

Viewer

32 mm fl

20 arc-min f/view

Microscope eyepiece

25 mm fl

266 x

Aperture diameters

20 arc-secs

30 arc-secs

40 arc-secs

60 arc-secs

(30 arc-secs normally used)

Transformation coeff's

V	-0.075

B-V	1.076

U-B	0.985

Background Sky

V	18.9

B-V	19.6

U-B	19.5

Extinction coefficient range

k'v	0.18 - 0.25

k'bv	0.08 - 0.14

k'ub	0.25 - 0.45

k"bv	-0.035

k"ub	-0.01

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Observatory Details

The Auckland Observatory, New Zealand, is situated in a pleasant pastoral setting on the south western slopes of Maungakiekie, more commonly known as One Tree Hill.

It is about ten kilometers from the center of Auckland, population of about 1,000,000.  Industrial emission control laws, introduced in the 1970's, give Auckland a very clear atmosphere which allows accurate photometry to be undertaken.

Winds are light and the night time temperatures range from 5°C in winter to 20°C in summer.

The Observatory receives just over 20,000 visitors each year and the telescope is open for public viewing two nights per week.  In addition, special groups are hosted on other nights.  School children visit during the day.

A Planetarium (also being built by Zeiss) with a 12 meter dome is to be built in the next year at which time the Observatory building will be significantly enlarged.

For general information contact:

The Director

Auckland Observatory

P.O. Box 24-180

Royal Oak, Auckland

New Zealand

Phone/Fax:  64-9-624-1246

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FITSView

FITSview (0.4.0) for MS Windows

 20 January 1995

   This is to announce the availability of an updated version of the

beta release of FITSview for MS Windows.  This release includes the

new features of optionally loading an image upside down and logging

selected or fitted pixel positions in a text file.  Many small bugs

were fixed and the program was translated from c++ to c to improve

its reliability.

   This is a FITS image viewer for Windows which features manipulation

of the display (brightness, contrast, pseudo color), zoom and scroll,

blinking images for comparison, displaying 3-D images as a "movie",

and determining the celestial position and brightness of features in

the image.  Celestial positions are determined using world coordinate

projections (WCS).  All defined FITS data types are supported (8, 16,

32 bit integers and 32 and 64 bit IEEE), as are blanked pixels.  Two

and three dimensional simple FITS images are supported.

   FITSview runs on Windows 3.1 or later and uses any multicolor (or

multiple gray level) display although 256 color displays give the best

results.  Extensive online documentation is included.

   FITSview for Windows is available at no cost via anonymous ftp as

the two files:

    ftp://fits.cv.nrao.edu/fits/os-support/ms-windows/fitsview/fitsv040.txt

    ftp://fits.cv.nrao.edu/fits/os-support/ms-windows/fitsview/fitsv040.zip

Installation is described in file fitsv040.txt.

Implementations under X-windows and MacIntosh are under consideration.

bcotton@nrao.edu

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finder chart


Null 1


Graphics Workshop

Graphic Workshop is a program for working with bitmapped graphic files. It will handle most of the popular file formats.

Graphic workshop is a simple, menu driven environment which will let you perform the following operations on the aforementioned files.

View them.

Convert between any two formats (with a few restrictions).

Print them.

Dither the colour ones to black and white.

Reverse them.

Rotate and flip them.

Scale them.

Reduce the number of colours in them and do colour dithering.

Sharpen, soften and otherwise wreak special effects on them.

Crop them down to smaller files

Adjust the brightness, contrast and colour balance of the colour ones.

Capture Windows screens or portions thereof.

Create image catalogs.

Using Graphic Workshop, you can have your image files in the formats that your software recognizes, all without keeping track of numerous funky utilities. In addition, using the halftoning and dithering facilities of Graphic Workshop, you can convert full colour digitized photographs for use as superb black and white clip art, suitable for inclusion in your documents.

Graphic Workshop will handle image files of any size your computer has enough memory to work with. It lacks even the merest vestiges of bugs... a likely story, but we hope so.

Graphic Workshop will drive your monitor and printer through the Windows hardware drivers. If you have screen and printer drivers for Windows, you have them for Graphic Workshop for Windows.

One of the important distinctions between shareware and commercial software is that we can release new versions of Graphic Workshop for Windows as often as necessary to keep up with changes in the file formats it works with, and with suggestions from its users. New versions of this software appear about every two months. We invite you to use our bulletin board or World Wide Web page to keep up with the latest features of Graphic Workshop, or to contact us for a copy of our Alchemical News newsletter.

Registered users of Graphic Workshop will receive periodic mailings about its new features.

Contacting Alchemy Mindworks Inc

.

You can find the current version of Graphic Workshop and our other applications on the Internet

at our FTP site uunorth.north.net:/pub/alchemy.

You can download current versions of our applications, keep up to date with version changes and

find other interesting bits at our World Wide Web server

http://uunorth.north.net:8000/alchemy/alchemy.html.

You can contact us by mail by writing to us at:

Alchemy Mindworks Inc.

P.O. Box 500

Beeton, Ontario

L0G 1A0

Canada

We will attempt to answer questions from unregistered users who write to us to the extent that their

answers are needed for you to fully determine whether this software will suit your requirements.

We can also be reached through the Alchemy Mindworks bulletin board. It's available twenty-four

hours a day at 1-905-936-9503. As of this writing, the protocol was 300, 1200 or 2400 baud, or 9600

baud v.32bis, eight data bits, no parity and one stop bit.

The bulletin board always has the most recent versions of all our shareware on it, plus bug fixes,

drivers and other relevant information. It only exists to support Alchemy Mindworks' shareware...

it does not have a general file area.

If you encounter problems with a file, you're welcome to upload the errant file to our bulletin board.

Actually, you can upload any picture files you like to the board... we enjoy getting pictures.

If you have a question about Graphic Workshop for Windows, feel free to leave it on the bulletin

board. We try to answer all questions within twenty-four hours. Note that you must call back to

retrieve your answer... please don't ask us to phone you or to leave the answer on another bulletin

board.

Our CompuServe address is 70451,2734. Our Internet e-mail address as of this writing is

alchemy@accesspt.north.net. We will at our discretion answer reasonable questions by e-mail.

Please do not leave credit card information on the Internet.

Registered users of Graphic Workshop for Windows will receive our voice number for immediate

technical support. The voice number is only available for use from 10:00am to 5:00pm EST. If you

call and get our answering machine... it does happen... please leave us a message or call back later.

We cannot return calls for technical support.

We ask that in contacting us you appreciate that we are a small company with limited resources. If

you have not registered this software we will not tell you to go to hell, but please don't ask us for

half an hour of free technical support. We have not built the price of technical support into the cost

of Graphic Workshop, as few users require it. We believe very strongly in not making everyone pay

for something that only a small group needs. If our various governments felt the same way, our

various economies wouldn't be in the midst of melting down.

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Imagine-32

Imagine-32 is a high performance, 32-bit Scientific Image Processing program that currently runs under DOS.  A Windows version is expected within the next few months.

The program is available from:

CompuScope

3463 State Street, Suite 431

Santa Barbara, California  93105

U.S.A.

Facsimile (805) 966-6693

Telephone (805) 966-7179

BBS: (805) 966-2160

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Test Display

If you are using a 16 color display adapter you do not need to run the display test Skip Test.

For 256 color display adapters TS-24 uses a palette of 100 gray scale levels to draw the stars in the eyepiece and CCD camera.  The faintest stars visible are nearly black while the brightest stars are full intensity white.

How the sky looks through the eyepiece depends on:

the monitor brightness and contrast settings

the display adapter

ambient light surrounding the display

To adjust for this TS-24 has a Test command that will display the 100 gray scale levels in the eyepiece.

Click the following icon to see the test pattern:

Adjust the intensity of your monitor so that the left edge of the test pattern is a very faint white next to the white vertical bar.  The right side will always be bright enough.

If the display is not set correctly you may not see the actual views you would see if looking through a comparable telescope.

When you are done, click the Test icon above once more to clear the test pattern.

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Done

Cancel Request

Return to the Main Document

Exit TS-24 Demonstration