TheDocumentation Index
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photometry: and aavso: sections of config.yaml control every aspect of the variable-star measurement pipeline, from how aperture geometry is derived from the measured stellar FWHM all the way through to AAVSO WebObs submission and local audit-trail storage. When photometry.enabled is true and image_watcher.enabled is true, every new FITS file that arrives on the watched path is automatically processed, measured, submitted to AAVSO, and exported as an enriched FITS file — without any manual intervention.
Photometry
Master switch for the photometry pipeline. When
true, each new FITS file detected by the image watcher is passed to run_pipeline() in a background thread. Set to false during initial setup or dry runs to prevent accidental submissions.A unique identifier for this observing node. Embedded in every measurement record and used to label your contributions in the Boundless Skies network. Choose something memorable and stable, such as
node_london_01.AAVSO filter code for your instrument’s passband. The Seestar S50 captures broadband unfiltered light, which corresponds to the AAVSO code
CV (Clear/Visual). Other valid codes include V (Johnson-V), B (Johnson-B), and R (Cousins-R).Camera gain in electrons per ADU (e⁻/ADU). Used in the Poisson noise calculation for SNR and uncertainty estimation. The ZWO Seestar S50 IMX462 is approximately
1.0 e⁻/ADU.Camera read noise in ADU. Combined with Poisson noise to produce the photon-noise floor for each aperture measurement.
Target Override
Under normal operation the pipeline reads the target name and coordinates from the FITS header (theOBJECT, RA, and DEC keywords written by the Seestar). The target: block lets you override those values — useful when headers are missing or incorrect.
Override the star name used in AAVSO submissions. Leave blank to use the
OBJECT keyword from the FITS header.Override the target right ascension in decimal degrees (0–360). Leave
null to derive the position from the FITS WCS solution.Override the target declination in decimal degrees (−90 to +90). Leave
null to derive the position from the FITS WCS solution.Plate Solving
Path to the ASTAP plate-solver executable. Use
astap if ASTAP is on your system PATH, or supply the full path (e.g. /usr/local/bin/astap). ASTAP is only called when a FITS file lacks a WCS solution; the Seestar S50 usually writes its own WCS.Search radius in degrees for the ASTAP plate solve. Larger values are slower but more tolerant of large pointing errors.
10° is appropriate for the Seestar S50’s pointing accuracy.Aperture Geometry
All three aperture parameters are expressed as multiples of the measured stellar FWHM, so the geometry scales automatically with seeing conditions.Photometric aperture radius as a multiple of the stellar FWHM. An aperture of
2.5 × FWHM captures approximately 99% of a star’s flux for a well-focused Gaussian PSF. Increase to 3.0 or 3.5 in poor seeing.Inner radius of the sky-background annulus, in multiples of FWHM. Must be large enough to exclude the wings of the stellar PSF. The gap between
aperture_factor and annulus_inner (here 2.5 to 4.0) is the exclusion zone.Outer radius of the sky-background annulus, in multiples of FWHM. The background is estimated from the sigma-clipped median of pixels within the annulus. A wider annulus gives a more robust background estimate but increases contamination from nearby stars.
Comparison Stars and Quality Gates
Half-width of the sky region searched for AAVSO VSP comparison stars, in degrees. Should be roughly matched to your instrument’s field of view. The Seestar S50 has a field of view of approximately 0.5° on its short axis.
Faintest comparison stars to retrieve from AAVSO. Stars fainter than this limit are excluded from the ensemble.
15.0 is appropriate for the Seestar S50 with typical exposures.Minimum number of usable comparison stars required for a valid observation. If fewer comparison stars are detected, the quality flag is set to
poor. AAVSO recommends at least three comparison stars for ensemble differential photometry.Minimum signal-to-noise ratio for the target star aperture. Observations below this SNR are flagged
poor. Higher SNR generally corresponds to smaller photometric uncertainty.Maximum acceptable magnitude uncertainty in magnitudes. Observations with uncertainty above this value are flagged
poor. AAVSO accepts measurements with uncertainties up to approximately 0.5 mag; tighter limits produce more reliable science.Maximum airmass at which to accept an observation. High airmass (low altitude) means more atmospheric extinction and differential refraction.
3.0 is the standard AAVSO ceiling.FITS Export
When
true, a science-ready copy of each processed FITS file is written to fits_export.export_dir, enriched with observatory, detector, photometry, and WCS provenance headers. Original Seestar headers are never modified.Path to the directory where enriched FITS files are written. Files are organised into date subdirectories (
fits_export/YYYY-MM-DD/). Created automatically if it does not exist.AAVSO
Theaavso: section provides credentials for submitting calibrated magnitudes to the AAVSO International Variable Star Index via WebObs, and controls audit-trail behaviour.
Your AAVSO observer code (OBSCODE) — four to seven capital letters found in your AAVSO account settings. This field is required for any submission. It identifies you as the observer in the AAVSO database. Obtain one at aavso.org.
Your AAVSO website login username or email address. Required to POST observations to WebObs. Without this,
dry_run mode is effectively forced.Your AAVSO website login password. Required to POST observations to WebObs. Stored in plain text — see the warning above.
Local directory for the audit trail. For each observation, three files are written: the AAVSO Extended Format text, the raw WebObs HTTP response, and a JSON record with all measurement fields. Organised into
YYYY-MM-DD/ subdirectories.When
true, the pipeline runs fully — it formats the observation, saves the audit trail, and logs the result — but does not POST to AAVSO WebObs. Use dry_run: true to validate your setup before going live. Set to false only when you are confident the pipeline is producing correct results.When
false (the default), observations with quality_flag: poor are not submitted to AAVSO; they are saved to the audit trail but skipped by the submitter. Set to true only if you want to upload all measurements regardless of quality for archival purposes.The AAVSO Variable Star Plotter (VSP) chart ID for your target, included in the submission for traceability. Find chart IDs on the AAVSO VSP page. Leave blank to use
na in the submission.Quality Gates
The pipeline assigns one of three quality flags to every measurement based on SNR, magnitude uncertainty, comparison star count, and airmass. The thresholds are controlled by the keys documented above.| Flag | SNR | Uncertainty | Comp Stars | Airmass | Default action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
good | ≥ snr_threshold (20) | ≤ max_uncertainty (0.3 mag) | ≥ min_comparison_stars (3) | ≤ max_airmass (3.0) | Submitted to AAVSO |
acceptable | ≥ 10 (0.5 × snr_threshold) | < 0.45 mag (1.5 × max_uncertainty) | ≥ 2 (one below min_comparison_stars) | ≤ max_airmass (3.0) | Submitted to AAVSO |
poor | < 10 or any hard gate failed | Any | < 2 | > max_airmass (3.0) | Saved to audit trail only (unless submit_poor_quality: true) |
poor if any hard gate is missed: SNR below the half-threshold (10), fewer than 2 usable comparison stars, or airmass above max_airmass. A measurement is good when all thresholds pass at their full values. acceptable sits between those two bands — it clears the hard gates but falls short of the full good criteria on one or more soft dimensions such as uncertainty or comparison star count.