July progress report

[Arne Henden <aah@nofs.navy.mil>]

Tom has prompted me to post progress reports.
   The proposed 4x4degree photometric calibration using
the 1.3m telescope is so far unsuccessful.  The June
period was either cloudy or filled with smoke/ash from
nearby forest fires.  I am in a waiting pattern right now;
another user of the telescope has priority until his
project is completed.  Hopefully I will be able to get
back on the telescope before the monsoon hits (any day now).
   ARNE is out of commission.  As reported to Tom, the
I-band camera broke one of the internal lenses, much
as what happened with Tom last November.  This occurred
after January (the last use of ARNE) when we had a particularly
cold spell.  I am waiting for Tom to send a replacement
telescope plus the upgrades that other Mark IV systems
have (but ARNE does not, since it was an early model).
   I am planning to revise the Tycho catalog used by
Michael R. for photometric calibration to use the Bessell
fits to improve the Ic transformation.  I also expect to
do a second test against Tycho2 to ensure the Bessell
transformations are valid for that catalog (they should be,
but it doesn't hurt to check).  This revision should
be available during July.
Arne