Visual Photometry: Testing Hypotheses Concerning Bias and Precision
Visual photometry, the estimation of stellar brightness by eye, continues to provide valuable data even in this highly-instrumented era. However, the eye-brain system functions differently from electronic sensors and its products can be expected to have different characteristics. Here I characterize...
Saved in:
Published in | arXiv.org |
---|---|
Main Author | |
Format | Paper |
Language | English |
Published |
Ithaca
Cornell University Library, arXiv.org
01.01.2024
|
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Abstract | Visual photometry, the estimation of stellar brightness by eye, continues to provide valuable data even in this highly-instrumented era. However, the eye-brain system functions differently from electronic sensors and its products can be expected to have different characteristics. Here I characterize some aspects of the visual data set by examining ten well-observed variable stars from the AAVSO database. The standard deviation around a best-fit curve ranges from 0.14 to 0.34 magnitude, smaller than most previous estimates. The difference in scatter between stars is significant, but does not correlate with such things as range or quickness of variation, or even with color. Naked-eye variables, which would be expected to be more difficult to observe accurately, in fact show the smallest scatter. The difference between observers (bias) is less important than each observer's internal precision. A given observer's precision is not set but varies from star to star for unknown reasons. I note some results relevant to other citizen science projects. |
---|---|
AbstractList | Visual photometry, the estimation of stellar brightness by eye, continues to provide valuable data even in this highly-instrumented era. However, the eye-brain system functions differently from electronic sensors and its products can be expected to have different characteristics. Here I characterize some aspects of the visual data set by examining ten well-observed variable stars from the AAVSO database. The standard deviation around a best-fit curve ranges from 0.14 to 0.34 magnitude, smaller than most previous estimates. The difference in scatter between stars is significant, but does not correlate with such things as range or quickness of variation, or even with color. Naked-eye variables, which would be expected to be more difficult to observe accurately, in fact show the smallest scatter. The difference between observers (bias) is less important than each observer's internal precision. A given observer's precision is not set but varies from star to star for unknown reasons. I note some results relevant to other citizen science projects. |
Author | Whiting, Alan B |
Author_xml | – sequence: 1 givenname: Alan surname: Whiting middlename: B fullname: Whiting, Alan B |
BookMark | eNqNjcEKgkAURYcoyMp_GGgtTDNZ2jIpXLqQtjLYK0fsjc0bF_59Bn1Aqwv3XM5dsTlahBkLpFK7KNlLuWQhUSuEkIejjGMVsOxmaNAdLxrr7Qu8G0-8BPIGnzwfe-sbICCeWazB4bc9G01c450XDmpDxuKGLR66Iwh_uWbb66XM8qh39j1Msqq1g8MJVTIVSTqdi0T9t_oAZg48Iw |
ContentType | Paper |
Copyright | 2024. This work is published under http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License. |
Copyright_xml | – notice: 2024. This work is published under http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License. |
DBID | 8FE 8FG ABJCF ABUWG AFKRA AZQEC BENPR BGLVJ CCPQU DWQXO HCIFZ L6V M7S PIMPY PQEST PQQKQ PQUKI PRINS PTHSS |
DatabaseName | ProQuest SciTech Collection ProQuest Technology Collection Materials Science & Engineering Collection ProQuest Central (Alumni) ProQuest Central ProQuest Central Essentials ProQuest Central Technology Collection ProQuest One Community College ProQuest Central Korea SciTech Premium Collection ProQuest Engineering Collection Engineering Database Publicly Available Content Database ProQuest One Academic Eastern Edition (DO NOT USE) ProQuest One Academic ProQuest One Academic UKI Edition ProQuest Central China Engineering Collection |
DatabaseTitle | Publicly Available Content Database Engineering Database Technology Collection ProQuest Central Essentials ProQuest One Academic Eastern Edition ProQuest Central (Alumni Edition) SciTech Premium Collection ProQuest One Community College ProQuest Technology Collection ProQuest SciTech Collection ProQuest Central China ProQuest Central ProQuest Engineering Collection ProQuest One Academic UKI Edition ProQuest Central Korea Materials Science & Engineering Collection ProQuest One Academic Engineering Collection |
DatabaseTitleList | Publicly Available Content Database |
Database_xml | – sequence: 1 dbid: 8FG name: ProQuest Technology Collection url: https://search.proquest.com/technologycollection1 sourceTypes: Aggregation Database |
DeliveryMethod | fulltext_linktorsrc |
Discipline | Physics |
EISSN | 2331-8422 |
Genre | Working Paper/Pre-Print |
GroupedDBID | 8FE 8FG ABJCF ABUWG AFKRA ALMA_UNASSIGNED_HOLDINGS AZQEC BENPR BGLVJ CCPQU DWQXO FRJ HCIFZ L6V M7S M~E PIMPY PQEST PQQKQ PQUKI PRINS PTHSS |
ID | FETCH-proquest_journals_29089267083 |
IEDL.DBID | BENPR |
IngestDate | Tue Sep 24 20:14:15 EDT 2024 |
IsOpenAccess | true |
IsPeerReviewed | false |
IsScholarly | false |
Language | English |
LinkModel | DirectLink |
MergedId | FETCHMERGED-proquest_journals_29089267083 |
OpenAccessLink | https://www.proquest.com/docview/2908926708/abstract/?pq-origsite=%requestingapplication% |
PQID | 2908926708 |
PQPubID | 2050157 |
ParticipantIDs | proquest_journals_2908926708 |
PublicationCentury | 2000 |
PublicationDate | 20240101 |
PublicationDateYYYYMMDD | 2024-01-01 |
PublicationDate_xml | – month: 01 year: 2024 text: 20240101 day: 01 |
PublicationDecade | 2020 |
PublicationPlace | Ithaca |
PublicationPlace_xml | – name: Ithaca |
PublicationTitle | arXiv.org |
PublicationYear | 2024 |
Publisher | Cornell University Library, arXiv.org |
Publisher_xml | – name: Cornell University Library, arXiv.org |
SSID | ssj0002672553 |
Score | 3.502745 |
SecondaryResourceType | preprint |
Snippet | Visual photometry, the estimation of stellar brightness by eye, continues to provide valuable data even in this highly-instrumented era. However, the eye-brain... |
SourceID | proquest |
SourceType | Aggregation Database |
SubjectTerms | Bias Photometry Scattering Variable stars Visual aspects Visual observation Visual photometry |
Title | Visual Photometry: Testing Hypotheses Concerning Bias and Precision |
URI | https://www.proquest.com/docview/2908926708/abstract/ |
hasFullText | 1 |
inHoldings | 1 |
isFullTextHit | |
isPrint | |
link | http://utb.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwfV3dS8MwED-2FcE3P_FjjoC-lnZt7VJfhJXOIjiKTNnbSLJUB66tTfewF_92c7XVB2GPISQh4XJ3-d3vcgA3bsA9LSf6bYJVTTypbzof2qmZat9fciq0yatZvlM_fvEe57fzDsRtLgzSKludWCvqZS4QI7ccDFA5_simFuOIAojKui8-TawfhXHWpphGFwxn6GHA1hhH0-T5F2_RQ7X37P5TubUdmRyAkbBClofQkdkR7NX0S6GOIXxdqQ37IMl7XuVrWZXbOzLD_y-yNxJvC8ySUlKREHMMaySDjFdMEZYtSVI2VXJO4HoSzcLYbFdeNHKiFn-7ck-hpx_88gwIF2kgPeEIF-lnAacyoL7NfTGiKZOuPIf-rpkudndfwr6jDfMPjNCHXlVu5JU2rBUfQJdOHgbNyenW01f0DSvQg5s |
link.rule.ids | 786,790,12792,21416,33408,33779,43635,43840 |
linkProvider | ProQuest |
linkToHtml | http://utb.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwfV1LT8MwDLZgE4IbT_EYEAmuFaUpXcsFiYpSYEw9FLRb1QR3TIK1NN1h_x4ndHBA2jlRokSOP_uzHQOc80C4JCfkm-iuJi7SSxeXdmEVZPuj8CVBnsnyHXrxi_s4uhq1hJtq0yoXOtEo6rdSao78wtEBKsfr2_5N9WXprlE6utq20FiFrssJOnWleHT_y7HQdLKY-T81a7Aj2oRukldYb8EKTrdhzaRcSrUD4etEzfIPlryXTfmJTT2_Zqn-82I6ZvG80pVRChULdV2hYS_Y7SRXjDx_ltRtZ5xdOIvu0jC2FjtnrWyo7O8kfA865OTjPjAhiwBd6UiuU84C4WPge7bwZN8vcuR4AL1lKx0uHz6F9Th9HmSDh-HTEWw4BMw_NEIPOk09w2MC1kacmNv7BtQ9f1E |
openUrl | ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Visual+Photometry%3A+Testing+Hypotheses+Concerning+Bias+and+Precision&rft.jtitle=arXiv.org&rft.au=Whiting%2C+Alan+B&rft.date=2024-01-01&rft.pub=Cornell+University+Library%2C+arXiv.org&rft.eissn=2331-8422 |