FileStructure

Structure of files used or created by pmutil

Photometry Reference Catalog File Structure

Details the format for reference catalogs (ref.cat) used in photometry.

Field Name	Description	Format
AUID	Identifier (AUID) used by AAVSO for variable stars and comparison stars, or a similarly generated identifier. In the latter case, the meaning of the AAA segment is as follows: VAR – variable without an AUID, FFF – field star.	NNN-AAA-NNN
ROLE	The role of the given object. Possible values: V – variable star, C – comparison star, F – field star.	Text
RA	Right Ascension in sexagesimal format.	HH:MM:SS.SSS
RA_DEG	Right Ascension in degrees.	Number
DEC	Declination in sexagesimal format.	+DD:MM:SS.SSS
DEC_DEG	Declination in degrees.	Number
MAG_B	B magnitude value from the catalog.	Number
ERR_B	B magnitude error from the catalog.	Number
MAG_V	V magnitude value from the catalog.	Number
ERR_V	V magnitude error from the catalog.	Number
MAG_R	R magnitude value from the catalog.	Number
ERR_R	R magnitude error from the catalog.	Number
LABEL	Additional designation for the object. For variable stars, the VSX catalog name is used; for comparison stars, the brightness value displayed on the map; and for field stars, the Vizier catalog identifier (currently UCAC4).	Text

Combined Photometry File Structure

Structure of the Combined Photometry File (.cmb.pm) containing Bi, Gi, and Ri Channels

Field Name	Description	Format
AUID	Identifier (AUID) used by AAVSO for variable stars and comparison stars, or a similarly generated identifier. For the latter, the meaning of the AAA segment is: VAR – variable without an AUID, FFF – field star.	NNN-AAA-NNN
VIZ_ID	Vizier catalog identifier. The catalog name (currently UCAC4) serves as the prefix.	Text
ROLE	The role of the given object. Possible values: V – variable star, VF – catalog entry not visible in the image or below magnitude limit, C – comparison star, CF – catalog comparison star not visible in the image or below magnitude limit, K – check star used for ensemble method verification, F – field star.	Text
LABEL	Additional designation for the object. For variable stars, the VSX catalog name; for comparison stars, the brightness value on the map.	Text
VIZ_FLAG	Visibility of the object by color channel in BGR order. Possible values: I – not visible in that color, B – visible but below magnitude limit, N – visible but in the low-accuracy range above magnitude limit, S – saturated object, PSF photometry.	AAA
POS_FLAG	Position of the object by color channel in BGR order. Possible values: B – near the edge of the image, O – outside the image.	AAA
MATCH_FLAG	Matching results by color channel in BGR order. Possible values: N – present in refcat but not visible in the image (negative transient or fading if POS_FLAG is not O), T – visible in the image but not matched with the catalog (transient).	AAA
RA	Right Ascension in sexagesimal format.	HH:MM:SS.SSS
RA_DEG	Right Ascension in degrees.	Number
DEC	Declination in sexagesimal format.	+DD:MM:SS.SSS
DEC_DEG	Declination in degrees.	Number
MAG_GI	Instrumental g magnitude.	Number
ERR_GI	Error in instrumental g magnitude.	Number
MAG_BI	Instrumental b magnitude.	Number
ERR_BI	Error in instrumental b magnitude.	Number
MAG_RI	Instrumental r magnitude.	Number
ERR_RI	Error in instrumental r magnitude.	Number
MAG_B	Catalog B magnitude.	Number
ERR_B	Error in catalog B magnitude.	Number
MAG_V	Catalog V magnitude.	Number
ERR_V	Error in catalog V magnitude.	Number
MAG_R	Catalog R magnitude.	Number
ERR_R	Error in catalog R magnitude.	Number
MAG_TB	Measured Bi magnitude.	Number
ERR_TB	Error in measured Bi magnitude.	Number
MAG_TG	Measured Gi magnitude.	Number
ERR_TG	Error in measured Gi magnitude.	Number
MAG_TR	Measured Ri magnitude.	Number
ERR_TR	Error in measured Ri magnitude.	Number
MAG_STDB	Measured standardized B magnitude.	Number
ERR_STDB	Error in measured standardized B magnitude.	Number
MAG_STDV	Measured standardized V magnitude.	Number
ERR_STDV	Error in measured standardized V magnitude.	Number
MAG_STDR	Measured standardized R magnitude.	Number
ERR_STDR	Error in measured standardized R magnitude.	Number
DATE_OBS	Observation date and time in ISO 8601 format.	YYYY-MM-DD’T’HH:MI:SS
JD	Observation date and time in Julian Date.	Number

AAVSO Report File Structure

AAVSO extended format specification:

Header:

#TYPE=Extended
#OBSCODE=<észlelőkód>
#SOFTWARE=<generáló_program_név_és_verzió>
#DELIM=,
#DATE=JD
#OBSTYPE=DSLR

Data records (fields must be separated with the character defined in the DELIM header value):

Field name	Description
STARID	The star's identifier. It can be the AAVSO Designation, the AAVSO Name, or the AAVSO Unique Identifier, but NOT more than one of these. Limit: 30 characters.
DATE	The date of the observation, in the format specified in the DATE parameter. Limit: 16 characters.
MAGNITUDE	The magnitude of the observation. Prepend with < if a fainter-than. A dot is required (e.g. "9.0" rather than "9"). Limit: 8 characters.
MAGERR	Photometric uncertainty associated with the variable star magnitude. If not available put "na". Limit: 6 characters.
FILTER	The filter used for the observation. This can be one of the following letters (in bold): B: Johnson B, V: Johnson V, R: Cousins R, TG: Green Filter (or Tri-color green). This is commonly the "green-channel" in a DSLR or color CCD camera. These observations use V-band comp star magnitudes., TB: Blue Filter (or Tri-color blue). This is commonly the "blue-channel" in a DSLR or color CCD camera. These observations use B-band comp star magnitudes., TR: Red Filter (or Tri-color red). This is commonly the "red-channel" in a DSLR or color CCD camera. These observations use R-band comp star magnitudes.
TRANS	YES if transformed using the Landolt Standards or those fields that contain secondary standards, or NO if not. Document the method used to transform in the "NOTES" section.
MTYPE	Magnitude type. STD if standardized (Click here for definition of standardized) or DIF if differential (very rare). If you are currently using ABS for 'absolute' we will still accept it. Differential requires the use of CNAME.
CNAME	Comparison star name or label such as the AUID (much preferred) or the chart label for the comparison star used. If not present, use "na". Limit: 20 characters.
CMAG	Instrumental magnitude of the comparison star. If "ensemble" see example below. If not present, use "na". Limit: 8 characters.
KNAME	Check star name or label such as the AUID (much preferred) or the chart label for the check star. If not present, use "na". Limit: 20 characters.
KMAG	Instrumental magnitude of the check star. If "ensemble" see example below. If not present, use "na".Limit: 8 characters.
AIRMASS	Airmass of observation Limit 7 characters - entry will be truncated if longer than that. If not present, use "na".
GROUP	Grouping identifier (maximum 5 characters). It is used for grouping multiple observations together, usually an observation set that was taken through multiple filters. It makes it easier to retrieve all magnitudes from a given set in the database, say, if someone wanted to form color indices such as (B-V) with them. If you are just doing time series, or using the same filter for multiple stars, etc., just set GROUP to "na." For cases where you want to group observations, GROUP should be an integer, identical for all observations in a group, and unique for a given observer for a given star on a given Julian Date. Limit: 5 characters.
CHART	Please use the sequence ID you will find written in Bold print near the top of the photometry table in a sentence that reads "Report this sequence as [ID] in the chart field of your observation report." If a non–AAVSO sequence was used, please describe it as clearly as possible. Limit: 20 characters.
NOTES	Comments or notes about the observation. If no comments, use "na". This field has a maximum length of several thousand characters, so you can be as descriptive as necessary. One convention for including a lot of information as concisely as possible is to use subfields in the format |A=B; the ' |' character is the separator, A is a keyvalue name and B is its value. If you need an alternative delimiter from ' | ', use it but preceed the first instance with "DELIM=". Using this mechanism, you can document your transform process in more detail. Here is an example as used by TransformApplier: 5 records aggregated |VMAGINS=-7.244 |VERR=0.006 |CREFMAG=13.793 |CREFERR=0.026 |KREFMAG=14.448 |KREFERR=0.021 |VX=1.1501 |CX=1.1505 |KX=1.1500 |Tv_bv=0.0090 |Tv_bvErr=0.0100 |TAver=2.47