[Aavso-photometry] HT Cas - Rapidity vs. Precision of Reporting

[Elizabeth O. Waagen]

>On 6/13/05, Chuck Pullen <<mailto:cpullen at pacsafe.com>cpullen at pacsafe.com> 
>wrote:
>>What level of accuracy are you looking for in the HT Cas data?  I
>>see the purpose is outburst detection for LLNL.  I can do that on an
>>uncalibrated single image, as I can see down to about V=16.4 (Comp
>>C1).  So, I could quickly and easily report V is fainter than that.  But,
>>if you want precise photomety, that will mean multiple exposures, and
>>stacking.  That will take time because of my summer teaching schedule
>>meaning it could be several days before I can report.  Can I report via
>>WEBOBS the fainter than value daily then overwrite it with a more precise
>>estimate when I have time to process the images fully?  If appropriate, you
>>might answer this on the AAVSO Phot group, as others may have the same 
>>issue.
>>
>>Chuck

Hi Chuck,

We don't need high-precision measurements immediately. However, since the 
outburst of HT Cas is so short, the fainter you can give an approximated 
positive magnitude when the star is bright enough that an outburst might be 
starting the better, because it allows more time to try to trigger the 
satellite. If you can reach 16.4V on a single uncalibrated image, then it 
would be a big help if you could report approximate positive mags for 
anything above 16.4 (or 16.0 or brighter, anyway). On exposures invisible 
at 16.4, a <16.4 is sufficient, because positive mags fainter than 16.4 
aren't going to tell us whether the star is going into outburst. If you 
want to re-work your fainter-than obs later to submit a positive magnitude, 
or re-work your approximate mags to more precise ones, that would be great. 
Just let us know when you are ready to resubmit them so we can coordinate 
deleting the old observations when the revised ones are added.

Thanks very much, and good observing,

Elizabeth