CCD Data Reduction and Photometry Using MIRA (Abstract)

Volume 22 number 1 (1993)

Michael V. Newberry

Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721

Abstract

(Abstract only) MIRA, an acronym for "Microcomputer Image Reduction and Analysis," is an exceptionally powerful commercial software package for the processing and analysis of digital images using 386 and 486 class computers. MIRA contains a rich assortment of efficient, highly integrated, mathematically rigorous tools which can be used to carry images from their completely "raw" state through to the point of producing accurate magnitude values for individual objects in the image frames. The author illustrates the methods and the rationale behind the methods used in processing CCD observations as he traces the course of actual image data through the data reduction process with MIRA.