The Indiana Automated CCD Photometric Telescope: Software and Performance (Abstract)

Volume 21 number 1 (1992)

R. K. Honeycutt

Indiana University, Astronomy Department, Bloomington, IN

D. H. Vesper

Indiana University, Astronomy Department, Bloomington, IN

G. W. Turner

Indiana University, Astronomy Department, Bloomington, IN

Abstract

(Abstract only) The 16-inch telescope at Indiana University operates in an unattended fashion to schedule, acquire, reduce, and archive differential stellar photometry of selected variable stars. The automation software is described, with particular emphasis on CCD operations, calibrations, and reductions. System performance is evaluated in terms of limiting magnitude, accuracy, duty cycle, and reliability. Examples of log files, data files, and system records, as well as examples of light curves of cataclysmic variables, are presented and discussed.