[AstroPy] Meteor Methods--Atmospheric Trajectories, PC Book on Astronmy

[Wayne Watson]

I sent a follow up msg that would make this easier; however, the 
moderator is holding on to it. It had attachments.

Wayne Watson wrote:
> Perhaps the best way is to refer you to the 2009 edition of the book.
> You'll be using the Amazon Search Book facility. They've made it a bit
> harder to use, perhaps, but the paragraph below will let you piece
> together the critical pages in the astrometry section. I have some these
> pages copied from a much earlier book, and this section has definitely
> been expanded. The ppmcat portion I finally direct you looks like a big
> improvement on the tiny catalog they used in an earlier edition.
>
> <http://www.amazon.com/Astronomy-Personal-Computer-Oliver-Montenbruck/dp/3540672214/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259111820&sr=1-1>
> See the Look Inside icon on the upper left and enter the word astrometry
> when the small dialog window opens up. You will then see the first page
> that shows that word. Use the right button to go to the next result.
> That is the page that's the start of chapter 12. Now use the right arrow
> to move through the pages. I can only get through the first three pages,
> but you'll begin to see what they are doing. To go further, do this. Go
> back to the search dialog and enter "plate reduction" (no quotes). Skip
> to the second result and you should be on page 254. Now use the arrow to
> go to successive pages. You'll get some more info about what they are
> doing. If you care to go on, go back to find again and enter squares
> adjustment. Move via next button to 256, then move ahead one page at a
> time. By then you should have a good idea of what this is about.
>
> To get a summary of that section use ppmcat for find. Some of the
> summary pages are blocked, but at least you'll get some idea what all
> this produces.
>
> Paul Barrett wrote:
>   
>> Wayne,
>>
>> I am not familiar with the book, but your comment about astrometry
>> caught my eye.  We are currently implementing the plate reduction
>> methods as part of our work, actually on a much larger scale, of order
>> one million images.  These calculations should be easy to do in Python
>> for just a few images.  The important point is to properly set up the
>> arrays. You can then use the routines in scipy to do the least squares
>> adjustment.
>>
>> I might be able to help if you can describe you problem in more detail.
>>
>>  -- Paul
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 4:21 PM, Wayne Watson
>> <sierra_mtnview at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>   
>>     
>>> Is anyone familiar with some of the mathematical methods for calculating
>>> atmospheric trajectories for two stations. Have they been implemented in
>>> Python?
>>>
>>> There's a computer book with the title something like PC Computations
>>> for Astronomy. (Ah, Astronomy for the Personal Computer) I believe the
>>> latest version provides methods for C++, and earlier editions for older
>>> languages. In one of the later chapters the authors delve into what I
>>> think is called plate reduction. (Ah, the chapter is titled Astrometry.)
>>> The idea is that an image of the night sky is provided and a catalog is
>>> examined to identify stars on the image. Has anyone implemented the
>>> various algorithms used for this in Python?
>>>
>>> --
>>>           Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
>>>
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>>>
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>>>                     Make the number famous. See 350.org
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>>>
>>>                    Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>
>>>
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>>>     
>>>       
>>   
>>     
>
>   

-- 
           Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)

             (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
              Obz Site:  39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet  
                
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