AAVSO Reporting


The AAVSO Reporting page is used to create a report of photometry measurements for submission to the American Association of Variable Star Observers ("AAVSO"). This creates a report in the AAVSO Extended Format. Details about report submission and the extended format are available from the AAVSO at http://www.aavso.org.

The AAVSO Report

A typical AAVSO report created by this tool is shown below, in a Mira Text Editor window. The AAVSO extended format uses the # character to prefix Parameters and optional comments that are not processed as star data. The first 6 lines provide the standard parameters. Following this are a blank line, 3 COMMENT lines, another blank line, and then the measurement data. This example reports 3 target stars in 1 image. A comment line containing information about the image is written as a comment before the star measurements. This report was configured using the options in pages tabbed below.

Configuring the extended Format Report

The report is configured using the 3 tabbed pages described below. Use the [Create] button to create the report.

Selecting Objects

Object to include in your report (targets, standards, and check stars) are specified using the Select Objects page as shown below. Target Objects, Standard Stars, and Check Stars use the numbers in the Mira photometry measurements window.

 

Objects to use are specified using the Object number from the Apphot Pane. To report multiple Target Objects, you can enter numbers separated by commas, like this: 1,2,5,12 or enter a sequence of numbers like this: 1-10. You can also mix the two formats, like this: 1,2,5,8-16,24.

Select Object Properties

Target Objects

Enter the list of objects to report using their Object numbers in the Apphot Pane.

Standard Star

If you use 1 standard star and you want to include it in the report, enter its Object number from the Apphot Pane. If you used more than 1 standard star, Mira assumes you are doing ensemble photometry and automatically creates the correct standard star report.

 Check Stars

To include a check star in your report, Check this box and enter the Object number from the Apphot Pane. A check star is a target object that is not a standard star. Normally, the check star is not included among the Target Objects list.

 Replace Notes with Text

Check this box to insert the same note for each object. The notes text is entered into the text box below. If unchecked, Mira inserts the data from the Notes column of the Mira photometry measurements table.

(notes text box)

Enter the text to save as notes for each object.

[Create]

Click this button to create a report when all pages are set as desired.

Entering Parameters into the Report

Parameters Properties

Observer Code

Enter your AAVSO observer code.

Chart ID

Enter the date code on the AAVSO chart used to identify objects in the field.

Observation Type

Select the type sensor used for the observation. The options are:

CCD: A CCD was used.

DSLR: A Digital SLR Camera was used.

PEP: Photoelectric Photometry was used.

VISDIG: Visual observations were made from Digital images.

 Add Comment

Check this box to add general comments to the Parameter section of the AAVSO file. Enter the comments in the text box below.

(comment text box)

Enter comments into the text box. If multiple lines are entered, then Mira inserts multiple #COMMENT lines into the file.

[Create]

Click this button to create a report when all pages are set as desired.

Entering Report Options

The Report properties control the appearance of the AAVSO report. The report is saved as plain text to a file, Mira Text Editor, or the Windows clipboard. One way to quickly view the effects of different properties is to select Save Report to "Mira Text Editor", set the properties on the AAVSO pages, and then click [Create] to view the result of the changes.

Report Properties

Save Report to

Select the target of the AAVSO report. You can save it to a file, list it in a Mira Text Editor, or copy it to the Windows clipboard.

Error Source

Select which error type to use in the AAVSO report. The options are taken from the column headings in the Apphot Pane.

Column Separator

Enter the separator to use in the AAVSO report, or select a previously used separator from the list. Usually, the separator is the vertical bar character, "|". Do not include the quote marks around the character you enter.

 Blank line before each image

Check this box to insert a blank line before listing the measurements for each image.

 Image data comment before each image

Check this box to insert a line of image data as a comment before listing the measurements for each image.

The listed properties include the file name, coordinates, exposure time, filter, and others. Note that the DateTimeObs value refers to the beginning of the exposure.

[Create]

Click this button to create a report when all pages are set as desired.

 

Note:

When more than 1 standard was measured, Mira automatically inserts the word ENSEMBLE for the standard star in the AAVSO report. If you used only 1 standard, then enter its Object Number into the Select Objects dialog.

Related Topics

Aperture Photometry, Aperture Photometry Properties, Plot Light Curve, Apphot Pane, Photometric Error Definitions, AAVSO Report