The Minor Planet Observer
and
Palmer Divide Observatory

2007 Shoemaker Grant Recipient

Binzel Method - Target Field

By measuring a series of C and V images of the target field (comparisons and targets), you find several values that help reduce to standard magnitudes.

1. The average differential value in C between target and the comparisons (<Diff> in the Reductions Values form)

2. The average instrumental magnitude of the target in V (<Std Inst> in the Reductions Values form).

3. The "anchor point" in V, which is found using the <Std Inst> and Ref Offset values in the Reductions Values form.

4. The shift required to convert the value from step 1 to the value in step 3 (assuming the target was the same brightness in all measurements). This shift is stored in the Std. Shift field of the Reductions Values form.