EZPHOT for Windows 95/98/NT
COPYRIGHT (c) 1996-1999 by Jerry B. Gunn
E-mail = jgunn@mtco.com
www.mtco.com/~jgunn
All Rights Reserved.
SHAREWARE NOTICE:
THIS PROGRAM IS YOURS TO EXAMINE FREE OF CHARGE FOR 30 DAYS. IF YOU CHOOSE
NOT TO PURCHASE THIS SHAREWARE PRODUCT, YOU MUST REMOVE ALL FILES
DOWNLOADED OR CREATED USING THIS PROGRAM FROM ALL FORMS OF STORAGE MEDIA.
YOU MAY DISTRIBUTE THIS SHAREWARE PRODUCT ONLY IN ITS ENTIRETY (ITS
ORIGINAL DOWNLOADED FORM). NO CHARGE FOR DISTRIBUTION IS ALLOWED. BECAUSE
THIS IS A SHAREWARE PRODUCT AND YOU HAVE AMPLE TIME TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR
NOT YOU LIKE THIS PRODUCT PRIOR TO ITS PURCHASE THERE WILL BE NO REFUNDS.
DISCLAIMER:
ALTHOUGH I HAVE TESTED THIS PROGRAM EXTENSIVELY, I ASSUME NO LIABILITY FOR
ANY DAMAGE, LOSS OF DATA, OR ANY OTHER PROBLEMS RELATED OR BELIEVED RELATED
TO THIS PROGRAM.
LICENSING AGREEMENT:
BY PURCHASING AND REGISTERING A COPY OF EZPHOTW.EXE YOU ARE LICENSED TO USE
EZPHOTW.EXE ON ONE COMPUTER ONLY. FOR ADDITIONAL SITE LICENSES AND FEES,
CONTACT THE AUTHOR DIRECTLY (ADDRESSES LISTED ABOVE).
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O P E R A T I O N S M A N U A L
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I. Preface
II. What is EZPHOTW
III. How Does EZPHOTW Work
IV. Installing EZPHOTW
V. Operating EZPHOTW
VI. Configuration Parameters
VII. Files and their Functions
VIII. Output Files
IX. Registering Your Copy
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Section I. Preface
Dear Fellow Photometrists,
When I bought my CCD camera, I was excited about the possibilities of doing
photometry on many stars at once, since I had been previously limited to
aperture photometry with a photomultiplier tube photometer. When I started
reducing the large amount of data in the CCD image frames, I immediately
began thinking about a better way. EZPHOTW is the beginings of that
better way. A program of this sort will constantly evolve to perform better.
Suggestions are always welcome. New releases will add more features
such as:
Color transformations
Fixed Aperture Sizes
Blinking Frames..if anybody asks
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Section II. What is EZPHOTW
EZPHOTW.EXE is a tool to enable automatic photometry of CCD image frames. It
will recognize FITS files and SBIG files. WZPHOTW.EXE is a 32 bit program and
has been tested on Win 95, Win 98 and Win NT. It requires many megabytes of RAM.
Most computers will run EZPHOTW.EXE. The more RAM you have, the faster it will
run.
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Section III. How Does EZPHOTW Work
EZPHOT.EXE inputs a image file, applies a dark and/or flat field if specified,
finds all the stars in an image and then performs aperture photometry on the image.
It then can align them into the same coordinate system. A variable, comparison and
check star can be graphically selected and then differential photometery is
performed. The output is placed in a file named #VAR.DIF. A crude graphing function
is also part of EZPHOTW to see results quickly.
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Section IV. Installing EZPHOT
1. Create a directory named EZPHOTW, copy EZPHOTW.ZIP to the EZPHOTW directory
and use PKUNZIP.EXE to expand the .ZIP file into its components.
2. Create a shortcut to EZPHOTW.EXE on the Windows Desktop.
Right Click on a blank place on the Windows desktop
Select New, Shortcut
In the Command line box type: C:\EZPHOTW\EZPHOTW.exe
Click Next
For a shortcut name type: EzPhotW
Click Finish
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Section V. Operating Example of EZPHOTW.EXE
1. Start the program by clicking on the Icon you created.
2. Click the Configure menu item at the top of the main window
3. Click the Flat Used checkbox
4. For the Installation Directory enter: C:\EZPHOTW
5. For the Star Matches enter: 5
6. For the Background Mag. enter: 21.354
7. For the Star Threshold enter: 1000
8. Click the OK button
9. Click the AutoPhot button
10. Click the Select Files button
11. You will now load the Flat Field buffer from a file. This is a standard
Windows file dialog. Find the directory C:\EZPHOTW and double click on the
FLAT.FTS file.
12. Now load the Image buffer from a file. This is also a standard
Windows file dialog. Find the directory c:\EZPHOTW and double click on the
ADAND1.FTS file.
13. Click on the Select Stars button.
14. Click on the Variable Star radio button.
15. Move the cursor to the Image Box and onto the star located at the
X,Y coordinates of (198,80). You need not be exactly on the star, but try to
get close.
16. Left click the mouse on this star.
17. Click on the Comparison Star radio button.
18. Move the cursor to the Image Box and onto the star located at the
X,Y coordinates of (78,54). You need not be exactly on the star, but try to
get close.
19. Left click the mouse on this star.
20. Click on the Check Star radio button.
21. Move the cursor to the Image Box and onto the star located at the
X,Y coordinates of (65,83). You need not be exactly on the star, but try to
get close.
22. Click the OK button.
23. Click the Start AutoPhot button.
24. You will see the program outputing progress in the Activity box.
25. When activity stops and the word "Done" is the last line in the Activity box,
the entire progcess is done.
26. Click on the Chart button and a crude graph of the results will be displayed.
The bottom of an eclipse of AD And should be on the screen.
27. The output file #VAR.DIF is located in the same directory as the input files.
This file contains the output data.
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Section VI. Configuration Parameters
Dark Used
A Dark frame will be subtracted from each image if this box is checked.
The AutoPhot function will promt for the Dark field file when this box
is checked.
Flat Used
A flat frame will be applied to each image if this box is checked.
The AutoPhot function will prompt for the Flat field file when this box
is checked.
HJD Used
Exposure dates will be corrected to Helio-Centric dates if this box is checked.
THe AutoPhot function will prompt for the Epoch 1950 coordinates of the observed
object.
Installation Directory
Enter the path to the EZPHOTW.EXE program. i.e. c:\EZPHOTW
Star Matches
This is the minimum number of stars that must match when the AutoPhot
function aligns images. If a the images has a high density of stars,
then seting this value to a higher value, 10-20, may be necessary.
Background Mag.
This value can be changed to approximate the absolute magnitude value
of the stars found by EzPhotW. The size of telescope and CCD efficiency
affect this. Experiment with different values if absolute magnitude values
need to be somewhat accurate. EzPhotW was designed to do mainly
differential photometry.
Star Threshold
The Star Threshold value is the minimum counts above the background level that
EZPHOTW will recognize as a star. Setting this level too low will result
in many false stars. Setting it too high will result in only bright
stars being detected. If less than 10 stars are found in an image,
EZPHOT will try again at 1/2 the threshold value.
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Section VII. Files and their functions:
RCONFIG.DAT = Configuration parameters
EZPHOTW.EXE = Executable program
ADAND1.FTS = Sample data file
ADAND2.FTS = Sample data file
ADAND3.FTS = Sample data file
ADAND4.FTS = Sample data file
ADAND5.FTS = Sample data file
ADAND6.FTS = Sample data file
FLAT.FTS = Sample flat field
EZPHOTW.DOC = Program documentation
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Section VIII. EZPHOTW Output Files
Program output consists of the following:
FILENAME.STA = identified stars and their locations
col 1 = star #
col 2 = NAXIS1
col 3 = NAXIS2
col 4 = peak pixel value
col 5 = star width in pixels
FILENAME.PHO = identified stars and their magnitudes
col 1 = star #
col 2 = NAXIS1
col 3 = NAXIS2
col 4-9 = photometry data
col 10 = instrumental magnitude of star
FILENAME.MAS = created by the AutoPhot function
col 1 = star #
col 2 = NAXIS1
col 3 = NAXIS2
col 4-9 = photometry data
col 10 = instrumental magnitude of star
FILENAME.REG = created by the AutoPHot function
col 1 = Sequence number..really meaningless
col 2 = NAXIS1
col 3 = NAXIS2
col 4 = Instrumental magnitude of star
col 5 = Julian date of CCD frame
#VAR.DAT = created by the AutoPhot function for the Variable star
col 1 = Julian date of CCD frame where star originated
col 2 = Instrumental magnitude of star
#COMP.DAT = created by the AutoPhot function for the Comparison star
col 1 = Julian date of CCD frame where star originated
col 2 = Instrumental magnitude of star
#CHECK.DAT = created by the AutoPhot function for the Check star
col 1 = Julian date of CCD frame where star originated
col 2 = Instrumental magnitude of star
#VAR.DIF = contains differential photometry data
col 1 = Julian or HJD date of CCD frame
col 2 = variable-comparison star magnitude
col 3 = check-comparison star magnitude
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Section IX.
To register your copy of EZPHOTW.EXE, print this form on your printer,
complete the following information (print clearly), and return the
completed form with your check or money order to:
EzPhotW
c/o Jerry B. Gunn
1269 N. Skyview Drive
East Peoria, IL 61611
Internet : jgunn@mtco.com
Feel free to contact me by either of the above methods regarding any
questions, problems, or comments about EZPHOTW.EXE. I would love to hear
from you.
Illinois residents must include applicable state sales tax. A charge
of $5.00 for shipping and handling will be assessed for each order (this
charge covers the personalization and shipping of your software).
(0) Date of Order....: ________________________________
(1) Name.............: ________________________________
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$5.00 to cover personalization and shipping
charges for each copy.
$_________
(11) Total of Lines 8, 9, 10 .....................: $_________
PLEASE INCLUDE CHECK OR MONEY ORDER FOR FULL AMOUNT INDICATED IN LINE 11
MADE PAYABLE TO: Jerry B. Gunn.
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THE END
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