Besides of my uploaded observations of the beat Cepheid star AS Cas, I also have interest in doing a live stream with either a short period pulsator, such as RR Lyr, or a fast binary eclipse for outreach purposes.
I do remember that some months ago, there was a way of making observations on real time with Astro Image J, if I remember well, and there was a video of an AAVSO webinar about it, but I simply cannot find it. Does anyone recall this webinar? Any information will be most appreciated.
I found the webinar! It was Gary Hawkinsā presentation on doing outreach with a live plot showing real-time photometry. Here you go:
I love your idea of doing an outreach livestream. If/when you decide to do it, please post a notice here in the forumsāIād love to tune in, and Iām sure other forum readers would, as well!
And you might try high-amplitude delta Scuti (HADS) stars. With periods down near a couple of hours or less you could catch a whole cycle in one outreach session.
Richard
Iāll definitely post an invitation to the live stream, once I figure out how to do it The idea is to do it with the equipment I am going to set up in the next couple of weeks in Starfront (close to Brady, TX), which I am going to be able to control remotely. The weather and the Bortle class there are much better than at my home. But, yes, the idea is to put this to work ASAP.
Again, thanks so much, Lauren. Youāre always of great help for everyone.
Just wanted to let you know that I was able to find a more user friendly software (Phoranso) to capture and do photometry in real time that is perfect for a live stream. I am making some final tests with this software and will anounce very soon a live stream session through my YouTube channel in the next few days. So, donāt change the channel then.
Meanwhile I leave you what I got, during a whole night last week:
Wow, Phoranso supports real-time photometry? Thatās excellent! Once you finish your tests, Iāll be very interested to hear about how you set it up.
When it comes time, would you please post the link to your livestream here in the forums? That could be a lot of fun!
Yes, it does. And it is pretty straight forward, butā¦ there is a small issue with the Live Mode that it creates out of the blue a master bias file and this disrupts the process. Tonny is woking on the issue already (or is going to pull my ears, and tell me what I am doing wrong). But yes, you can even show the capture in real time, which also helps to explain the aperture photometry technique during an outreach session.
Of course I will let yāall know beforehand when the live stream will take place. That is for sure.
Thanks for the advise! What I see, is that Phoranso does not have issues when the meridian flip occurs, which I believe AstroimageJ hasā¦ But, anyway, we have to keep all the suggestions open, just in case.
Iām curious. What issues does AstroimgeJ have with the meridian flip? The reason for the question is that, although I believe AIJ can do photometry in real time, Iāve never tried to do that. I process the AIJ data on the day after the images are captured.
Good question. If you watch Gary Hawkingsā part in the āHow to do variable star outreachā (minute ~16), he says that during live mode, AIJ āfalls apartā after the meridian flip. I must say that have not used AIJ (have it installed, but have not been patient enough to learn it so far). I regularly use VPhot and Phoranso for āday-to-dayā photometry.
AIJ can align either non-plate solved OR plate solved images. However, IF the non-plate-solved images were used in ālive modeā the flip would break the non-plate-solved alignment and the target would not be found after the flip.
However, I suspect IF the EAA images were plate solved in real time, before being aligned/measured by AIJ, the target would continue to be identified properly and would be measured properly after the flip.
I have not tried this AIJ real-time analysis myself but I suspect my observation is correct? Give it a try.
Finally, I had the chance to figure out how this whole Live Mode deal works with Phoranso. Actually, to be honest is quite straight forward, and really not a big deal.
If any of you is interested in performing live photometry session for outreach (or simple fun) purposes I will make a live stream on my YouTube channel that will detail how to set up the software, and perform a live mode photometry session. This practice can also help you check your O-C, if you wish.
For this live stream I am waiting on two things to happen: that we have clear skies at Rockwood, TX (where my remote telescope is installed), and that the maximum brightness of the HADS or RR Lyr stars available are at a decent time of the night.
So, thatās that. I will let you all know within short and with sufficient time in advance when this live stream is going to happen, of course.
Weather in central Texas has not been too kind these days. However, I see that tomorrow evening, at least at the beginning of the evening, the skies there will be clear.
Though the only feasible observable star with a very short period will be SZ Lyn, its maximum brightness would be reached just before the Sun sets. Since the objective of this stream is to show you how to use Phoranso for live streaming, we can use the data of SZ Lyn tomorrow early in the evening to do the demonstration. At least we will be able to observe how it goes down to its minimum brightness.
Here is the link to tomorrowās live stream that will start at 7:30 PM CST (1:30 AM UTC).
I just shared the links to your livestream and this forum thread in the AAVSO Community Slack chatroom, so that those who are online tonight should get a notification.
I had fun at the livestream tonight! Thanks for hosting it, Enrique. Now that Iāve seen how simple Phoranso is, Iām tempted to go set up my miniature widefield rig (alt/az 135mm f/2 + ASI183MM-Pro) and give photometry another shot.
If you end up doing another live demonstration (photometry or spectroscopy), let me know!
The idea is to do it with the equipment I am going to set up in the next couple of weeks in Starfront (close to Brady, TX), which I am going to be able to control remotely. The weather and the Bortle class there are much better than at my home. But, yes, the idea is to put this to work ASAP.
