What Is New in Munipack for DOS 2.2 (Beta 2, Release 1) ======================================================= Content: 1. Corrected Errors and Removed Problems 2. New Features 3. Warnings 4. Known Problems 5. Info for Users of Non-SBIG Cameras 1. Corrected Errors and Removed Problems ---------------------------------------- * runtime error 200 on fast processors (error of Borland CRT unit) * bad algorithm in Munial, that calculated radii of circles when plotting stars - it caused errors (runtime error 201) with some fields * Y2K problem with FITS files in Munial - was already solved in 2.1 version, but now also the new standard format of date in FITS files is supported (YYYY-MM-DD). If the old format (DD/MM/YY) is found, dates later than 80/01/01 are expected to be from 20th century (1900 is added), earlier dates are read as 2000+DD. * problems with reading FITS from other programmes in Munial - the procedures for reading parameters (such as date, time, exp. time) from FITS were completely rewritten, so now they are much more flexible. See also part 3. * a tiny error in Munigraph - when there were many bad values (99.999) in the input data file, less good points were plotted than should * Y2K problem of some older versions of CCDOPS camera controlling software (by SBIG), which produce .STx files with bad date (101 instead of 01). The year 101 is now read as 2001 by the konve program Also many other small problems, that could cause instability of the program, were solved (both in executables and batch files), but they do not affect the normal behaviour of the program, so it would be useless to write about them all here. 2. New Features --------------- * a lot of "cosmetic changes" in the interface to be more user-friendly, such as remembering of some settings, protection against owerwriting of the data file with results etc. - I hope you will like it :-) * new version of KONVE - program for conversion from STx to FITS - by Filip Hroch was used, now also PixCel255 format is supported and some errors were removed * aperture size selection is now implemented. In the previous versions, the resulting magnitudes were measured in the smallest available aperture (a circle with radius of 2 pixels), which was too small for some less-quality telescopes that produce diffuse stars, and therefore caused bigger data dispersion than was necessary. But note that choosing larger aperture can cause a small systematic shift of the resulting magnitudes. I think the reason is that not all the stars has the same PSF, when using some telescopes, especially refractors). On my images, red stars are more diffuse than the white ones (I use a photo-lens as the objective) and when I use a bigger aperture, the red stars seem to brighten, when comparing them with the whiter ones. * "Automatic processing" - for users that are familiar with Munipack and expect their data to cause no problems. Does STx->FITS conversion, dark and flat correction, photometry and matching by one click * "New images only" processing - very similar to the previous procedure, but takes only images, that were not processed yet. It can be useful, when you are observing, want to preview the light curve almost in real-time and need to choose different stars than before. * "New images only +" - the same as above, but does also choosing stars and plotting automatically (chooses data for previously selected stars). Use it when observing and want to preview THE ACTUAL LIGHT CURVE BY ONE CLICK! * "Delete all files" in the "Utilities" menu - removes all temporary files created by Munipack (files in the TEMP and FITS directories) * "View FITS" (F3) now works - I wrote a simple FITS viewer (primitive, slow, but it works). In future version it should be much better :-) * Data filtering procedure in the Utility menu was added. See the interactive help (F1) for details * Plotting the light curve is now interactive - you can adjust offset and range of the Y axis by pressing arrow keys. You can also draw horizontal grid lines by pressing "g". * You can choose, if you want to get instrumental od differential magnitudes as the output * when choosing variable and comparisons, a file with the same number as the reference file is plotted, and you see which file it is Use the interactive help (F1) when running Munipack to get further info on each function. 3. Warnings ----------- * Run Munipack ONLY from its home directory, otherwise it will have problems with paths! * Use AS SHORT PATHS AS YOU CAN (I mean the path where you install Munipack and the paths to data, dark frame and flat field). If you use very long paths, there will be problem with the limitation of a DOS command length (some commands will not work at all). * In "Setup", write the paths without backslash at the end - f.e. C:\DATA (and NOT C:\DATA\ !) 4. Known Problems ----------------- * In several cases, brightest star in field was not found during the photometry. The conversion to FITS was updated and works well, but the photometric routine (muniphot) stayed the old and it os probably the problem. I hope I will be able to compile Filip Hroch's new version of MUNIPHOT also for DOS soon. * On one PC I noticed some graphics malfunction using the FITS viewer, but on all others it works well * If you have too many DOS system variables defined in your autoexec.bat (such as paths etc.), there can be few space for system variables defined by Munipack, which can cause various crashes. To avoid this, remove all useless definitions from your autoexec.bat (sometimes they are added automatically when installing other programs...) 5. Info for Users of Non-SBIG Cameras ------------------------------------- I have some great news for you - now you can use Munipack for DOS and it really works! :) The only condition is, that your software must allow you to save your images to FITS format (Flexible Image Transport System). For the following explanation, let us expect that you have installed Munipack to C:\MUNIPACK. a) Save images from your camera to FITS format, including the dark frame and flat field images. b) Copy your FITS files to the C:\MUNIPACK\FITS directory, except the dark and flat. c) Copy your flat field to C:\MUNIPACK\TEMP and rename it to flat.fts d) Copy your dark frame to C:\MUNIPACK\TEMP and rename it to dark.fts Now you can begin with the photometry process. Start Munipack, skip the "Setup", "List data" and "Convert data" commands and begin with "List FITS files". Then you can use the following commands in the same way as SBIG users - except the "Automatic" menu, which expects the input images in STx format. You cannot use the functions in this menu at all, maybe in some future version... Look to the manual of your camera to get some technical parameters such as read noise or gain, which you must set by "Edit mphot.opt" before doing the photometry. The preset values are for SBIG ST-7 camera. NOTE: some camera-controlling software may create FITS files with the date or other parameters written in some non-standard format, so at least for the first time, check if the JD in the resulting data file is correct!!! It should be calculated as TS + 1/2 EXPT, where TS means time, when the exposure was started, and EXPT is exposure time (so the JD means the mid-exposure time). If you find a problem, contact me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Document written by Lukas Kral Last Update: 11th July 2001