Specifications

AUTOSTAR CCD PHOTOMETRY 27
4. Additional Data Reduction
The raw magnitude data now must be used to calculate the average
magnitudes and data spread or standard deviations, in addition to
calculating the Air Mass and Heliocentric Julian Date (HJD). A
Mean time for the set of exposures is also calculated. There are
various ways to do this, but since it is time-consuming, it is best to
use a computer program. A spreadsheet program can be used (such
as Microsoft Excel™), but a much better way is to use a database
program such as FileMaker Pro™. Since you will be dealing with
a vast amount of data, it is worthwhile learning to use a program
like FileMaker Pro so you can develop and customize your
database programs as needed.
4.1 DATABASE PROGRAM
The following example database was developed with FileMaker
Pro at HPO. Figure 4-1 shows a screen shot of one of the layouts
of the FileMaker Pro program. This one is designed specifically for
Theta 1 Orionis data (an interesting eclipsing binary star in the
Trapezium in Orion). The white data fields are data entry fields
and the colored (shaded) fields are auto entry and calculated data.
Figure 4-1. FileMaker Pro Data Summation Program.