I haven’t given an update on AAVSOnet for quite a while. We in the process of improving the system, so there are a lot of changes.
One of the biggest changes is the replacement on the BSM telescopes of the ZWO ASI183mm-pro cameras with the ZWO ASI533mm-pro. This newer camera has a larger field of view, better match to the filter size, finer angular resolution, no amplifier glow, etc. A rough estimate is about a factor of two improvement over the older, aging cameras. The 533 camera is currently operational on BSM_NH2 and BSM_Hamren. I’m testing the remaining 3 cameras and then will ship them to the other BSM sites. Note that, as the cameras come on-line, Ken Menzies is creating new transformation coefficients that need to be used. These are usually suffixed with “a”, “b”, “c” etc. in VPHOT.
BSM_Hamren is starting to produce data, though there are some hiccups in its operation. We hope to get these cleared up in the next month or so. A Hawaiian student is interested in doing research with the facility.
BSM_TX seems to be having camera issues. I’ll be looking at it in detail later this week.
BSM_NM does not work well in the SE. The mount seems to have tracking issues there. I think it is just settings in the Paramount firmware, but I haven’t had a chance to test my theory.
MPO61 and TMO61 are working fine, as are BSM_Berry and BSM_S.
OC61 in New Zealand has been down for quite a while, as the primary mirror had been removed for realuminization, and their coating chamber had leaks and could not hold a vacuum. A temporary solution of silver-coating the mirror has finally been done, and we are bringing the system back on line. There is a box of spectrograph cameras and a focal reducer that will be sent down this week to further upgrade that southern telescope. When the telescope is working, new transformation coefficients will be needed since the silver coating gives different results than an aluminum coating.
The management team (George Silvis, Ken Menzies, Cliff Kotnick, Dan Zaharevitz) are working hard on managing the observing queues and improving the image calibration pipeline.
We’re getting close to a stable configuration, but it is surprising how hard it is to keep 9 sites running!
Arne