A Photometricity and Extinction Monitor at the Apache Point Observatory

2001/06/27 by David W. Hogg, Douglas P. Finkbeiner, David J. Schlegel +1 · 747 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Artificial intelligence #Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation #Astronomy #CCD and CMOS Imaging Sensors #Computer science #Geography #Observatory #Operating system #Physics #Queue #Real-time computing #Remote sensing #Robot #Sky #Software #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Virtual observatory #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/323103

published in The Astronomical Journal 122(4), 2129-2138 (Institute of Physics) · accepted for publication in AJ

arxiv created 2001/06/27 · openalex publication_date 2001/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

An unsupervised software "robot" that automatically and robustly reduces and analyzes CCD observations of photometric standard stars is described. The robot measures extinction coefficients and other photometric parameters in real time and, more carefully, on the next day. It also reduces and analyzes data from an all-sky 10 μm camera to detect clouds; photometric data taken during cloudy periods are automatically rejected. The robot reports its findings to observers and data analysts via the World Wide Web. It can be used to assess photometricity and to build data on site conditions. The robot's automated and uniform site monitoring represents a minimum standard for any observing site with queue scheduling, a public data archive, or likely participation in any future National Virtual Observatory.

Citations

• Secondary standard stars for absolute spectrophotometry
• DAOPHOT - A computer program for crowded-field stellar photometry

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