Folks - I'm looking for anyone who can do any of the following:

1. Image 10 galaxies in a night
2. Blink images
3. Provide confirmation images (if you can do 1, you can do this too!)
4. Co-ordinate data

Minimum requirements would be a PC and an internet connection. (If you can read this, that'll do!)

Imagers will obviously need an imaging setup that can take images of around 60 seconds duration with no trailing. Image resolutions should be in the 0.5 to 5 arcsec/pixel at 1*1 binning.

Blinkers - all you need is a PC and an internet connection. Additional software will be provided.

Cheers
Dave

Dave,

Which 10 galaxies? With the fork mount I can't guide & image near the pole.

Kieran - I'm hoping to get a list of a couple of hundred galaxies - that should make sure those with fork mounts can image a good portion of the list. Of course, if you can image more than 10, that'd be great!

Hope that helps...

Cheers
Dave

Dave,
Count me in for some blinking.

PM me the details.

I'm busy as hell right now but shur isn't it always the way.
I may as well be hung for a supernova as a nova.

Duh...

Cheers Frank. As soon as we get the images flowing in, we'll get all the blinkers sorted out.

By the way, blinking is actually fairly quick and easy. I'd guess you could easily do at least one comparison every 20 seconds or so. Depending on the numbers of images coming in (and clear skies of course) you might only need to do it once a week or less.

Any other imagers out there?

Cheers
Dave

Hi Dave,

I'll throw my hat in the blinking ring! Just lemme know what to do and where to grab the images.

Phil.

Dave I'd be happy to do confirmation images of any suspect SN. I'm six hours behind your location and can respond relatively quickly if contacted by someone on your side of the pond at the end of their observing session.

Hi Dave,

I'll be happy to do some blinking.

Michael.

Like last year, I'll be part of your blinking team.

Hey Dave

I'd be happy to help with the blinking.

Aaron

Blinkers - all you need is a PC and an internet connection. Additional software will be provided.

Hi Dave, can anyone play or is this a Windows-only show?

Bart.

Folks - thanks for all the volunteering going on.

A few points.

1. Apologies to those who have volunteered in the past. I haven't been ignoring you all, its just that getting a programme like this up and running is not as easy as it first looks. So, apologies and thanks for you patience. This time, I am going to invest the time and get it sorted.

2. There have been offers of software assistance. One is in progress, another is on the cards. This is good news. Its an area that I fell down on last time round. Fingers crossed...

3. I am crossing all fingers and toes that there may be an even larger input from an "Agency" - it may not happen, but then again... If it does, it would be a montrous boost. Can't say any more than that right now...

4. I would really like the "PC" thing to be a "computer" thing and platform independent - in fact it should be a key goal. So Bart, it would be super if you could advise if any software solution really *is* platform independent. As the software comes out, perhpas you could give it a whirl on your yummy MacBook Pro and let us know if it cuts the mustard.

5. Pat - I know you've volunteered before :oops: But that really is a great offer worth its weight in gold. Of course, it could equally be a two way street - you image and we confirm

Finally, its great having so many blinkers volunteering. I think that I (personally) can keep ye all going with images but it would be absolutely super if we could get some more volunteer imagers.

Thanks again to you all for volunteering. It really is appreciated and I'll get things together over the next week and really get this programme moving. So hang on in there and watch this space!

Dave

Dave,

Are you aware of any online list(s) which identify supernova candidates? I remember coming across such a list (with graphic) but I lost it thanks to my hard disk crash during the summer.

Like before, anything you need me to do, just name it.

Dave,
I might be interested in helping out.
What sort of magnitude are these galaxies?
Hopefully, we can an idea of what sort of gear is needed to image them.

Michael et al, mostly between mag 6 and 12 though I might stretch it to mag 14.

The reasoning is sound too. If you have say a mag 14 galaxy and a mag 15 or 16 SN goes off in it, you';ll easily be able to see it when the images are blinked. It can actually get harder if you have a bright galaxy and a dim SN... But we'll get that figured out. I'm currently gathering data on recommended startegies for SN searches. These get into details of the type of galaxies that are productive etc.

HTH

Dave

4. I would really like the "PC" thing to be a "computer" thing and platform independent - in fact it should be a key goal. So Bart, it would be super if you could advise if any software solution really *is* platform independent. As the software comes out, perhpas you could give it a whirl on your yummy MacBook Pro and let us know if it cuts the mustard.

I can handle solaris and linux testing if needed

I shoudl be able to do the odd bit of blinking too.

4. I would really like the "PC" thing to be a "computer" thing and platform independent - in fact it should be a key goal. So Bart, it would be super if you could advise if any software solution really *is* platform independent. As the software comes out, perhpas you could give it a whirl on your yummy MacBook Pro and let us know if it cuts the mustard.

Cool, send away and I'll give what ever it is a test.

It may be a case of different people using different software depending on their platform. It doesn't really matter if people use the same program, as long as it does the same thing.

Bart.

Just seeing this thread now Dave.

Of course you can count on the services of J41 in this.

Dave Mc,

Should we use the existing repository master 1050 galaxy images or start from fresh with an appropriate set of new images as masters?

Eamonn A

Dave Mc,

Should we use the existing repository master 1050 galaxy images or start from fresh with an appropriate set of new images as masters?

Eamonn A

I was wondering about this aspect. If there is already a repository of 1050 galaxy images then why not use them? If there are more needed can we not just extract these from the DSS? Might be possible to write a script to do this automatically.

Have we a link to a txt file or siimlar which outlines the names and magnitudes of these 1050 galaxies?

Thanks for the heads up Michale, I'm on me way to Aldi

Blink me in too Dave .

Dave G: Would this be an operation best suited to the home PC rather than the office based one :?: :wink:

If so, then currently a once-a-week set up would still work.

Dave G: Would this be an operation best suited to the home PC rather than the office based one :?: :wink:

Official Answer: 'fraid so Paul

Unofficial Answer: What the I.T. doesn't know won't hurt us:). Except if you have to install software. The audit software would pick that up.