LesvePhotometry - Download page

Last update : 2024-01-17


LesvePhotometry is a freeware program and does not require any registration key. My aim is to improve it and it will remain free in the future but your contribution will be greatly appreciated.

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Setup program

Setup program will install the LesvePhotometry program and needed files in the following directories:
XP configuration
   C:\Program Files\Common Files\DPP Lesve\LesvePhotometry
   C:\Program Files\Common Files\DPP Lesve\Utilities

Windows 7 and 10 configurations
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\DPP Lesve\LesvePhotometry
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\DPP Lesve\Utilities

A working copy of the database (VS_Database.db3) is installed in "My Documents\DPP Lesve" directory. This database is not overwritten when you install a new program version.

The server Godaddy hosting this website has put restrictions on files considered as archive. Now the LesvePhotometry setup files will be located in a folder in the LesvePhotometry groups.io : https://groups.io/g/lesvephotometry/files/Pierre
https://groups.io/g/lesvedome/files/Pierre%27s%20Folder

To have access to this folder, you have to subscribe to the lesvedome groups.io


Utilities

- ReinschSpline.exe
a program to measure extrema of RR Lyrae stars, is installed with the LesvePhotometry setup.

- FitsUpdater.exe
This program enables you to update FITS header of an image batch, is also installed with the LesvePhotometry setup .

Click the following link to download the latest version of LesvePhotometry setup program :

LesvePhotometry latest setup.exe file

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.154 Setup.exe
With this version, a new text box "Minimum Star Size" in "PinPoint parm" tab defines the minimum diameter (pixels) for a star to be detected.
In previous LP versions the MinimumStarSize property for PinPoint was internally left at the default value = 2.
If you have difficulties to solve your images in LesvePhotometry you could increase this default value to 3 or 4 (the upper limit is 8).

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.152 Setup.exe
- A bug in Excel report is fixed, in some circumstances the number of columns was larger than expected

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.151 Setup.exe
- HA Filter is treated as C filter, i.e. the user has to choose between V and R filter in "Photometry param" tab
- Put a comment in the aasvo report explicating if V or R band is used for HA band
- adds comments in Comparison database explaining the origin of the data when clicking on one of the button "Copy xxxxxx info to clipboard" in the "UCAC4-ATLAS-APASSDR10 Catalog information" window
- adds also comments when clicking on buttons "Calculate xxxx from yyyy" in "Comparison star" window
- displays those comments in the excel reports

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.149 Setup.exe
- Red cross in the center of the image is also working with time-series.
- The ATLAS catalog which can be used for selection of comparison stars, provides Gaia GB, GG and GR magnitudes.
The corresponding Johnson-Cousins V, R and I magnitudes can be evaluated from Gaia magnitudes using relationships provided in Table 5.8 of the document:
https://gea.esac.esa.int/archive/documentation/GDR2/Data_processing/chap_cu5pho/sec_cu5pho_calibr/ssec_cu5pho_PhotTransf.html
The new version of LesvePhotometry uses those informations to generate V, R and I magnitudes when importing ATLAS comparison star information.
The instructions to download the ATLAS catalog are given in the document
http://www.dppobservatory.net/AstroPrograms/DownloadingCatalogs.pdf#view=Fit
ATLAS catalog provides Gaia and PanSTAARS magnitudes.
Gaia DR2 Passbands are given in https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/iow_20180316

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.148 Setup.exe
At the request of a user, the possibility to add a red cross mark in the center of displayed image. A check box "Center cross" is provided for this purpose

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.147 Setup.exe
- Single Filter Transformation method is implemented. Have a look at description in
http://www.dppobservatory.net/AstroPrograms/FAQ.php#SingleFilterTransformation

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.143 Setup.exe released on 2023-03-30.
- Correction to "Export selected star sequences" function of "Maintenance of default database" which supports multiple selection in the "Variable Selector" window.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.139 Setup.exe released on 2023-01-28.
- In AAVSO report, the Notes are updated to include subfields in accordance to latest version of the aavso-extended-file-format document.
- "Export selected star sequences" function of "Maintenance of default database" now supports multiple selection in the "Variable Selector" window.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.138 Setup.exe released on 2023-01-16.
- The working folder location used by LesvePhotometry was hard coded to "MyDocuments\DPP Lesve" which would be translated to
C:\Users\yourname\Documents\DPP Lesve
or
C:\Users\yourname\Dropbox\PC (2)\Documents\DPP Lesve
or
C:\Users\yourname\Onedrive\Documents\DPP Lesve
in function of your environment.
Now this working folder will be the folder used to save the variable star database "VS_Databasexxx.db3" which can be modified in the "General Settings" tab. The user will pay attention to choose a folder which can be read and written by LesvePhotometry.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.137 Setup.exe released on 2022-12-01.
- In the UCAC4-ATLAS-APASS DR10 window, the apass z R and I magnitudes are now displayed.
- With previous versions, large sky images (50MBytes) generated sometimes or systematically "out of memory" exceptions. This problem is now solved even on PC's having only 8 Gbytes of RAM.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.135 Setup.exe released on 2022-11-16.
The function "Load 1 image to get UCAC4-ATLAS information" also handles the APASS DR10.
The information is retrieved from the AAVSO website. Remember this function is useful to create comparison star sequences when the sequences are not available in the AAVSO VSP tool.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.134 Setup.exe released on 2022-08-09.
- If in FITS header EGAIN value is equal to zero, the value in "Default settings" will be used if allowed otherwise an error will be generated.
- A bug in Excel report is fixed

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.133 Setup.exe released on 2022-04-20.
Decimal format was mishandled while reading Site Latitude and Site Longitude in FitsHeader, fixed in this version

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.132 Setup.exe released on 2022-03-30.
Exclusion Border parameter added in the "PinPoint parm" tab which is the width of the area around the image border within which stars will be ignored (not detected).
Useful to solve images with overscan area or stacked/aligned images.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.131 Setup.exe released on 2022-02-27.
- Correction in csv report : a misalignment occurred in columns when NOTOK field is not blank.
- Excel report : at the end of its generation the excel book calculation mode is set to automatic.
- In some cases star flatness calculation generates a NaN (Not a Number) value, now the corresponding observation results will be considered as NOTOK and will not be included in the aavso and cba reports.
This occurs if the aperture radius is equal to zero, then the flatness can't be calculated and the star measurements are not accurate.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.130 Setup.exe released on 2021-12-04.
- In reports, for magnitudes "less than" the space character after the < is suppressed, e.g. <12.4 instead of < 12.4

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.129 Setup.exe released on 2021-11-18.
The official VSP api url https://app.aavso.org/vsp/api/chart/ is used with this release , though the old url format is always be supported.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.128 Setup.exe released on 2021-11-17.
AAVSO VSP tool is corrected due to a change in the "vsp-api": the bug raised when a ChartID was specified is now fixed.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.127 Setup.exe released on 2021-10-10.
This version also accepts SITELAT and SITELONG in decimal format without enclosing quotes

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.126 Setup.exe released on 2021-08-18.
- Bug correction in the selection of catalog UCAC4 ATLAS

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.125 Setup.exe released on 2021-07-23.
- Replaced the check box "Zoom" by dropbox "ZoomOut level". Four zoom out levels are provided, useful with large skyimages.
- Generation of the Excel report is now faster
- In "Default settings" panel, XBINNING and YBINNING are added, useful with DSS images which don't have those FITS keys

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.124 Setup.exe released on 2021-05-28.
Minor updates to "Load 1 image to get UCAC4 info" which uses the ATLAS catalog:
- Gaia flag = constant, variable, not available and duplicate
- Catalog contributions to griz magnitudes, just hover the mouse above those magnitudes and a textbox will pop up
- Other cosmetic changes

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.123 Setup.exe released on 2021-05-25.
Dc3.com has released PinPoint 7.0 which supports the ATLAS All-Sky Stellar Reference Catalog. LesvePhotometry accepts this ATLAS catalog to solve images, provided you have upgraded your version of PinPoint. You don't need this last PinPoint version, to use LesvePhotometry function "Load 1 image to get UCAC4 info" which may also use the ATLAS catalog.
All the details are given here

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.122 Setup.exe released on 2021-03-30.
Usage of the PinPoint option "RemoveHotPixels" is now available, (checkbox in the "PinPoint param" tab). With this option checked, hotpixels in the annulus will be removed before sky background evaluation and execution time is increased by a factor of 1.3, due to multiple readings and writings of the images.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.118 Setup.exe released on 2020-11-22.
Bug correction Generally the site latitude and longitude are written in FITS header as SITELAT and SITELONG keywords but in some cases as LAT-OBS and LONG-OBS given as decimal or as sexagesimal degrees. Previous versions didn't correctly read LAT-OBS and LONG-OBS as decimal degrees, the bug is corrected.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.117 Setup.exe released on 2020-11-11.
This version beside the Julian Date (JD) and Heliocentric Julian Date (HJD) date formats
also calculates Barycentric Julian Date - Terrestrial Time (BJD_TT),
see FAQ page section How the Barycentric Julian Date - Terrestrial Time (BJD_TT) is calculated? for the details.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.116 Setup.exe released on 2020-10-28.
This version generates two reports for exoplanets (see "ExoPlanet report" checkbox in "General Settings" tab.)
- "AavsoExoplanet....txt " To be uploaded on the aavso website
- "AIJExoplanet...csv " This file may be used as a shortcut in AstroImageJ program to the "Conduct Model Fit" as described in paragraph 7.7 of "A Practical Guide to Exoplanet Observing" written by Dennis Conti which is available on the AAVSO website. Assuming you have installed the "template.plotcfg" of Dennis Conti
In AIJ open this file in "Multi-plot Main" / File / "Open table from file..."

It also generates a sub-directory containing "AnnotedImages" showing plates solved star field that includes the target star and the set of comparison stars which were part of the exoplanet observation.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.110 Setup.exe released on 2020-04-04 as beta version, not yet conform to AAVSO report requirements
- LesvePhotometry reorders and labels the comparison stars from 1 to 10, starting with the reference stars (R) continuing with the check star (CK) and with the other comparison stars (C). This order is given in the first lines of the Excel report, with this version those labels (1 to 10) are displayed in the Sky image window.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.109 Setup.exe released on 2020-03-20
- FITS header BSCALE and BZERO values were not used correctly when different from usual values 1.0 and 32738 respectively. This had an impact on Skybrightness calculation ONLY. This bug is fixed.
- When one of those star :Variable, Reference(s) and Check is saturating, the data have not to be reported in AAVSO and CBA reports. But from version 102, the saturation test was no more effective, this bug is fixed.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.107 Setup.exe released on 2020-03-03
- With this version, Ensemble photometry is performed based on Mean magnitude values but also on Weighed Mean magnitude values. The box "Method for Ensemble" in "Photometry param" tab provides three methods : MasterStar, Mean Value and Weighted Mean Value. See How LesvePhotometry is performing Ensemble photometry?
The used weights are the variance reciprocals of reference star magnitudes, which are calculated as the square of (1.0857 / SNR).
The contribution to the weighted mean of comparison stars having a low SNR is smaller than for comparison stars having a hight SNR.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.106 Setup.exe released on 2020-01-24
- The Command Line mode is adapted to cope with the situation of multiple variables in the same image field. Additional tests are performed to report if variable star, reference star and check star are outside the image
A preliminary documentation is given in ManyVariablesInField.txt.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.105 Setup.exe released on 2019-11-5
- The instrumental magnitudes of all the stars (Var, R, CK and C) are now available in the last columns of the Excel and csv reports.
- The first extinction coefficients for each Filter Bands are calculated and reported in the Excel report only. The Excel report also provides a graph of the instrumental magnitudes of the check star (CK) versus airmass. If the Excel report contains data in more than one Filter Band, you may use the Excel filter option to display data of one Filter Band as explained at https://www.excel-easy.com/data-analysis/filter.html

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.104 Setup.exe released on 2019-10-1
- This update fixes two bugs reported by Josch (see his email dated September 20th) and by Tonny (see his email dated Sept 19th). Those emails are availble on the YahooLesvePhotometry group.
- In previous versions, all the calculations of the Aperture were based only on integers to speed up the calculations. The aperture radius and the star centroid coordinates were rounded to close integer values. With this version those values are no more rounded. Thanks to code optimisation the calculation speed increase is limited to around 2%.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.102 Setup.exe released on 2019-09-12 as a beta version
This update concerns the use of LesvePhotometry with Sloan filters and Transformation Coefficient calculation (Mode 3):
- Validating Color Bands in the Transform tab generated a bug in some circumstances, it's fixed.
- In "Std Field Measurements" report (generated during Transformation Coefficient calculation) all the stars of the same "Group" are identified with a Group number. The Group number is defined in the Extended-file-format of https://www.aavso.org/aavso-extended-file-format - In the Comparison star window (part of the database maintenance), conversions from Sloan magnitudes to UBVRI magnitudes and vice-versa are supported.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.99 Setup.exe released on 2019-09-05 as a beta version see new version 1.2.0.106
- The aperture radius used to evaluate the star fluxes is available in Excel and csv reports.
- The Command Line mode is adapted to cope with the situation of multiple variables in the same image field.
A preliminary documentation is given in ManyVariablesInField.txt.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.98 Setup.exe released on 2019-08-22
A new option allows to apply the First and Second-order extinction corrections.
See the FAQ section First and Second-order extinction coefficients
and the User guide section First and Second-order extinction coefficients.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.96 Setup.exe released on 2019-08-12
- Up to now, "Color transformation calibration" (Mode 3) was working on a comparison sequence limited to a maximum of 10 stars. Now it is possible to concatenate multiple comparison sequences and to perform the "Color transformation calibration" on a larger set of comparison stars with different colors (B-V). This improve the reliability of the calibration.
See in User guide the section Comparison sequences for Color transformation calibration

- As a new option the photometry aperture may be adjusted automatically in function of the FWHM of the sky image.
See in User guide the section Aperture radius, Gap and Annulus.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.95 Setup.exe released on 2018-10-03
- In LeavePhotometry tab "AAVSO VSP tool" a new textbox ChartID allows you to download a VSP sequence based on the ChartID.
Standard field charts
On webpage https://www.aavso.org/apps/vsd/stdfields you find a list of Standard open cluster fields and Landolt fields.
To import those standard fields in LesvePhotometry follow this procedure:
Open https://www.aavso.org/apps/vsd/stdfields page
Choose the desired standard field and click on the link in the second column
A chart will open, click on "Photometry Table for This Chart"
Record the ChartID of the Photometry table, not the one on the chart. Indeed the ChartID given in the chart itself is incorrect for some Standard fields, due to a bug in AAVSO tool.
In LesvePhotometry, open the "AAVSO VSP tool" input ChartID and a name in "LesvePhotometry database VariableTableIndex".
Click "Download VSP sequence" as usual.

- The pixel positions of the Variable star are provided in the last two columns of the ExcelReport. This may be useful to analyze the telescope guiding performance.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.94 Setup.exe released on 2018-09-12
- LesvePhotometry program was developped with Microsoft VisualStudio version 2010, now with version 2017. It should be transparent to the user. Extensive tests have been performed, but a bug is still possible.
- In Command Line mode Msgbox "No valid data" is no more displayed to avoid to block the thread of batch processing.
- Leicester Database and Archive Service used to retrieve DSS images is no more active. It is replaced by the more complete service: SkyView Image service of Goddard Space Flight Center : https://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov. The user has a choice among of several DSS surveys. The user interface behind the button "Download a DSS image to get UCAC4 info" mostly remains the same.
- To improve the readability of SkyImage window, the thickness of Aperture circles is adapted in function of the zoom factor

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.93 Setup.exe released on 2018-08-24
- LesvePhotomety program may be launched from a Command Line for batch processing on remote observatory.
How it works is explained in the FAQ page section Launch LesvePhotometry program from a Command Line
This additional "Command Line" feature is transparent for users who don't use it.
- A bug in VSP reader related to security protocol is fixed.
- The report names included date, hours and minutes of creation now they also contain the seconds. This avoids problem if you rerun the program during the same minute.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.91 Setup.exe released on 2018-07-27

- "Fainter than" is a new feature :
For Cataclysmic Variable stars (CV) in quiescence state and which are not detected visually or by photometry, it's a good AAVSO practice to report the CV magnitudes as "Fainter than" (e.g. <16.5).
The "Fainter than" value may be evaluated as the "Limiting Magnitude" which is defined as the magnitude of an object having a SNR=3.
To activate this option, a new check box "Report Fainter than and low SNR" is provided in "Photometry parameters" tab.
How it works is explained in the FAQ page I suggest you to read the following sections:

Reporting Fainter Than value
How to cope with very faint Variable stars?
How the signal to noise ratio is calculated?
How the limiting magnitude is calculated?
Which data are considered as valid?


- In VSP importation process, an error was raised if the field "Comments" of AAVSO imported file contains the character #. This issue is solved. The # character is replaced by a blank character.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.90 Setup.exe released on 2018-05-30
- The PinPoint parameters : Catalog Max Magnitude and Search area were not saved in the Configuration file. It's fixed with this version.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.89 Setup.exe released on 2018-04-29
- With Lew Cook Excel sheet V 1.2 20K

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.88 Setup.exe released on 2018-04-17
- Lew Cook has released a new version of his "AAVSO Format Plotting Workbook"
http://lewcook.com/lewaavsoformatplot.htm
This LesvePhotometry release uses the latest version (V1.1) of Lew's Plotting Workbook.
- Lew raised a LesvePhotometry bug in the generation of "AAVSO Format Plotting Workbook". This bug is fixed.
Thanks to Lew for the improvement of his tool.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.87 Setup.exe released on 2018-04-11
- The "AAVSO note" defined in "General Settings" tab was not correctly included in the AAVSO Report. An error was generated when uploading the report to the AAVSO website. Please don't use commas in this "AAVSO note".

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.86 Setup.exe released on 2018-02-22
- Up to five filters may be used for Color Transformation. They are chosen from the list: U B V R I SU SG SR SI SZ.
A new tab "Transform parameters" is used to define the list of chosen filters.
- All Transformation coefficients are saved in the Configuration files, so if you use more than one scope save a Configuration file for each scope.
- Sky images are displayed as negative or positive images.
- During ColorCalibration, the statistical measure "R-squared" is calculated.
- The "AAVSO note" defined in "General Settings" tab is also displayed in the CBA report header.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.80 Setup.exe (2017-10-16)
- Recently the "AAVSO VSP tool" was no more working. It's now fixed. It was due to a Security Protocol change.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.79 Setup.exe
- Tri-colors TB, TG, TR may be used for Color Transformation and Color Calibration. TB TG TR have to be used for FILTER keyword in the Fits headers .
- Sky images may be displayed in positive or negative format.
- In "PinPoint parameters" tab:
The Search area is defined in % of image like in MaximDL.
Catalog Mas Magnitude and Max Solve Stars are introduced.
Now the PinPoint parameters in MaximDL and LesvePhotometry may be set to the same value. Indeed in the past some users complained that images were solved with MaximDL and not with LesvePhotometry.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.77 Setup.exe
- Bug correction: the program needs to read "standard magnitudes" for Reference and Check stars (R and CK), those standard magnitudes are not needed for the other comparison stars (C). But when "Mean value" was introduced in Ensemble photometry (version 74) the program was trying to read standard magnitudes also for comparison stars (C) which creates an error if those magnitudes are not available in the database. The bug is fixed.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.76 Setup.exe
- Lew Cook has released a new version of his excel plotter tool, LesvePhotometry V76 works with his last version. The Lew's plotter template is installed with LesvePhotometry.
- In sky image window, the Zoom out option is replaced by Zoom in.
- In Mode 2 if reduced images are using only one filter, transformation is skipped and reports are generated in Mode 1 format.
- In Reinsch algorithm, data lines with errors are skipped automatically. Usefull when you import data from the clipboard.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.75 Setup.exe
- TG, TB and TR filters are accepted and used in accordance to AAVSO specifications:
QUOTE
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.
UNQUOTE
- Program FitsUpdater version 1.2.0.4 is also installed with this setup. This program enables you to update FITS header of an image batch.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.74 Setup.exe
- For Ensemble photometry, the "Mean value" method is also available beside the "Master star" one.
- Cosmetic corrections for better explanations of default parameters shown in blue.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.72 Setup.exe
- The transformation coefficient Tr_ri was not saved, this bug is fixed
- Sequence Generator Pro (SGP) enters Site Latitude and Longitude with a suffix letter S or W instead of a negative sign. Now this convention is also supported.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.71 Setup.exe BETA Version
- Color Transformations with BI BR and BRI filter sequences are now implemented for image calibration and determination of Color Transformation coefficients.
New transformation coefficients are used : Tbr Tbi Tb_br Tb_bi.
- Bugs related to the usage of simultaneous instances of the program are fixed.
- A ToolTip explains the usage of "StdField" checkbox in "AAVSO VSP tool" panel.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.70 Setup.exe BETA Version
- Some text alignments in the program windows are improved.
- A ToolTip explains the usage of TableIndex of Variables, it pops up when the mouse is hovering the text box.
- The color sequence (BV, VI, or BVRI, ...) is automatically detected.
Frorm a folder you may analyze multiple targets imaged with different filters and perform Color transformation.
The "Color sequence" drop box list in "Photometry parameters" is no more useful and it is removed.
An individual report will be created for each star.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.69 Setup.exe BETA Version
- The TableIndex of Variables must be specified by one of the three following methods, which are based on the contain of text box named TableIndex of Variables located on the Lower Frame of the user interface.
1) the text box contains the TableIndex of Variables.
2) The text box contains the word "fits". The TableIndex of Variables is derived from the field "OBJECT" of the sky image FITS header.
3) The text box is empty. The TableIndex of Variables is derived from first characters of the sky image file name delimited by a special character (# - _ %).
The delimiter character is specified in the drop-down list "TableIndex delimiter character" located in the "General Settings" tab.

- Zip files of sky image are handled in the same way as normal sky images. The images are decompressed and copied in a temporary working directory. The reports will be saved in the directory where the zip files are located.

- In Mode 1 (Normal mode) and 3 (Color Transformation Calibration mode), a new report (TGreport) is generated which may be used as an input for AAVSO TG (Transform Generator) program. In TG interface, select TG/AIP4WIN as Magnitude File-Format. To generate this report in Mode 1, the TGreport checkbox must be checked in the "General settings" tab.

- In "AAVSO VSP tool" tab, a new check box "StdField" allows to download VSP comparison stars with the Comments field STD_FIELD.
If this check box is uncheck, the comparison stars of standard field are not downloaded.
To download comparison stars for the M67 standard field, enter HW Cnc in the "AAVSO variable name" field, check the StdField checkbox and click on "Download VSP sequence" button.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.68 Setup.exe
- Raise an error if the SiteLatitude and Longitude are not defined (in FITS or as default value)
- Test if image already solved by PinPoint (based on CRVAL1 and CEVAL2 in FITS header)and use available data.
- AIRMASS is calculated locally, don't rely on FITS values
- In database maintenance, test for weird magnitudes before saving entered comparison star data.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.65 Setup.exe
- A very hot pixel in the image could result in arithmetic overflow, this bug is fixed.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.63 Setup.exe
- A user asked to add the "_" (underscore) as an additional choice for the "TableIndex delimiter character" of "General Sttings" tab. It seems that the CCD commander uses this "_" and doesn't allow another choice.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.62 Setup.exe
The versions 1.2.0.58 to 1.2.0.61 are deleted as they are no more working due to a bug and to changes in the AAVSO VSP API (application interface)
The new features introduced since version 1.2.0.58 are given hereafter.
- A tool to import AAVSO VSP comparison star sequences is directly included LesvePhotometry program. The interface is provided in the last tab ( AAVSO VSP tool ) of the main LesvePhotometry window.
Type in a "Variable TableIndex", AAVSO variable name, a.s.o, click on "Download VSP sequence".
The sequence will appear in the table, it may take a few seconds. (AAVSO traffic dependent).
In the first table column, choose the appropriate usages (R, CK, C) for comparison star selection.
In another window the chart image is also displayed
Click "Import VSP sequence in database" button to import the sequence in the default database.

- Maintenance of star database is performed on the default database. You will no more be prompted to select a database. The default database is selected in the "General Settings" tab of the main window.

- New tool : "Download a DSS image to get UCAC4 information". This tool is similar to : "Load 1 image to get UCAC4 info".
The DSS images are automatically downloaded from the Leicester Database and Archive Service.
http://ledas-www.star.le.ac.uk/DSSimage/
http://www.ledas.ac.uk/dss/cgihelp.html
This service should also provide DSS2blue, DSS2red and DSS2ir surveys, but currently only DSS1 is available from the Ledas website.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.54 Setup.exe
dated July 18th, 2015
Images taken with a C filter may be reduced either with V or R magnitudes of the comparison stars. The selection is done in Photometry mode of the "Photometry parameters" tab.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.52 Setup.exe
dated April 19th, 2015
The Color transformation process has been updated to correctly handle the Ensemble photometric solution. For the details, see the FAQ section "How LesvePhotometry is performing Ensemble photometry?"

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.50 Setup.exe
dated October 17th, 2014
- Lew's Plotter excel report. Lew Cook has developed a plotting excel workbook to plot data given in the format of AAVSO extended report. For your convenience, LesvePhotometry is able to create a copy of the Lew's master excel workbook and directly paste the data inside the excel workbook. This excel workbook has 14 different plots, e.g. airmass, instrumental magnitude against time but also magnitude errors against airmass or magnitude. All the Lew's Plotter capabilities and explanations are given at http://www.lewcook.com/lewaavsoformatplot.htm Many thanks to Lew Cook who wrote this excel workbook and authorized its distribution.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.49 Setup.exebr /> dated May 27d, 2014
- Algorithm discarding stars in the annulus is improved. Mainly useful for crowded field with faint stars.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.47 Setup.exe
dated May 2d, 2014
- Correction of a bug in the FITS header reader routine. Images generated by MaximDL were not affected by this bug.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.46 Setup.exe
dated February 17th, 2014
- With large images, the sliders (scroll bars) of sky image window had eratic behavior. Now the sliders are attached to the image panel and are working as expected.
- Astrometry results are also given on the main window for "Load 1 image to get ucac4 info" function.
- The Excel report has an header providing a cross reference between the star number 1, 2, ..., the usage, comparison star information (Table index, label, RA, DE, catalog magnitudes for the different filter bands)

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.44 Setup.exe
dated February 3d, 2014
- With version 1.2.0.43, only the 16bit/pixel images could be used.
With this new version, the following types are accepted:
8-bit (unsigned) integer bytes
16-bit (signed) integers
32-bit (signed) integers
32-bit single precision floating point real numbers (known as IEEE float by MaximDL)

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.43 Setup.exe
dated February 2d, 2014
- A bug discovered by James F., in Color transformation procedure has been corrected. The bug was related to GROUP identification in abnormal image sequences. See definition of GROUP in AAVSO specification
http://www.aavso.org/aavso-extended-file-format
In Excel report, images not pertaining to a color GROUP are now marked as "na".
- Previously, the sky image array was accessed via PinPoint and "Out of memory" errors were raised for large sky images. A new procedure to directly read the sky images has been implemented. The new program has been tested successfully with 32M bytes (4k x 4k pixels) images. Star identifications are still performed by PinPoint.
- More details are given for several error messages.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.42 Setup.exe
dated January 9th, 2014
-Sky Image viewing has been improved

You can re-size the Sky Image window. The scroll bars are now attached to the Sky Image window itself and no more to the image. You may get a full-screen Sky Image. The additional Check box "Zoom out" re-scales the image by 50%. This is simply performed by under-sampling of the image. The "Zoom out" option is independent of the photometry and has no impact on the photometry quality.

>LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.41 Setup.exe
dated December 11th, 2013
-New features with UCAC4 catalog

The new release of PinPoint 6.0 (Dec 8th 2013) includes support of the Fourth U.S. Naval Observatory CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC4). This version of LesvePhotometry has been tested successfully with the PinPoint 6.0 version and may retrieve UCAC4 catalog information even with previous PinPoint versions. This UCAC4 catalog is interesting for users as it contains the AAVSO Photometric All-Sky Survey magnitudes (APASS release DR6 - June 2012) http://www.aavso.org/apass.
A new documentation chapter has been added in the "LesvePhotometry user guide": Retrieving UCAC4 Catalog information

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.38 Setup.exe
dated November 4th , 2013
- Mode 2 : Color transformation includes new sequences : BVI and VI.
- Mode 3 : You are no more constrained to use all filters for calibration, but you have to provide the same number of images in each filters
E.g. if you provide 3 images in V and 3 images in I, the Tv (V-I) and Tvi coefficients will be calculated, see the updated webpage "LesvePhotometry user guide".
- Observation site coordinates are added as comments in the AAVSO report

dated September 17th , 2013
- As an option, Heliocentric Julian Dates can be used in reports instead of JD, select the appropriate check box in "General Settings" tab.
- The tool "ConvertAavsoPhotTable.exe now gets the AAVSO VSP data directly from the AAVSO website. Many thanks to Robert Wahlstörm who provided the VSP_reader code.
You have to provide the "Field of View" and the "Min" and "Max" magnitudes to limit the number of comparison stars.
- In the Menu bar, the Help menu provides direct links to User Guide and FAQ webpages.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.35 Setup.exe
dated July 12th , 2013
- Added a new tool, "ConvertAavsoPhotTable.exe", used to convert AAVSO VSP data (Variable Star Plotter) into a text file which can be imported in LesvePhotometry. With this tool you avoid the tedious task of coping and pasting VSP data in LesvePhotometry. A maximum of 10 comparison stars of AAVSO Photometry Table will be converted.
- A constant (=30) is added to Instrumental values to avoid negative instrumental magnitudes. Negative instrumental magnitudes have been reported as confusing.
- Added Instrumental values for reference and check stars (R and CK) in Excel and csv reports
- Added Site latitude and longitude to the CBA report.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.33 Setup.exe
dated June 23th , 2013
- Minor update: Suppress leading and trailing spaces in the TableIndex strings. These leading or trailing spaces created problems when the program was looking for Variable and Comparison stars in the database.

dated February 1st , 2013
- Pointing error is reported on main window, Excel and csv reports. Pointing error is the difference between the center image coordinates given in the FITS header and the same coordinates calculated by PinPoint.

dated January 30th , 2013
- Bug correction in previous Reinsh version

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.30 Setup.exe
dated January 27th , 2013
- Bug correction in Reinsh program : no more problems when running more than one instance of Reinsch program at the same time

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.29 Setup.exe
dated January 17th , 2013
If you are upgrading from version 1.2.0.15 (April 17th, 2012)
- SAVE YOUR VARIABLE AND COMPARISON STAR DATABASE before running this version. New fields will be added automatically to your database. This process should be done smoothly but save your database to prevent problems.
New feature :
FullWidthHalfMaximum (arcsec) is given in Excel and Csv reports. This value is derived from PinPoint engine. The FWHM is measured by doing individual Gaussian PSF fits to the 20 brightest unsaturated stars in the plate.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.28 Setup.exe
dated January 12th , 2013
If you are upgrading from version 1.2.0.15 (April 17th, 2012)
- SAVE YOUR VARIABLE AND COMPARISON STAR DATABASE before running this version. New fields will be added automatically to your database. This process should be done smoothly but save your database to prevent problems.
New features for batch processing:
- delimiter character in file name is either "#" ,"-" or "%", user selectable in "General Settings" tab
- if you select more than one star for the batch, separate CBA, aavso, excel and csv reports will be created for each star and also the ReinschSpline windows.

A new option to cope with very faint Variable star (see FAQ) The FAQ page include new topics.
New ReinschSpline.exe version 1.2.0.6

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.22 Setup.exe
dated December 9th , 2012
If you are upgrading from version 1.2.0.15 (April 17th, 2012)
- SAVE YOUR VARIABLE AND COMPARISON STAR DATABASE before running this version. New fields will be added automatically to your database. This process should be done smoothly but save your database to prevent problems.
- Sloan filters are now supported.
- The name of the last loaded configuration file is displayed in the "Online results" tab.
- ReinschSpline.exe version 1.2.0.6 The Maximum/Minimum uncertainties are shown with a box on the plotting form

New with this version
- Another algorithm is used to calculate the Background annulus median. Now the program is running 5 to 10 times faster!!
- Correction for small annulus. With previous versions, small annulus generated errors because no pixels remained for the background calculations
- In "Photometry parameters" tab, you can choose the way the background level is calculated : Median (recommended), Mean, (MeanMedian not yet implemented). Detected stars in the Background Annulus are normally discarded during the background level calculations, but you have the option to disable this function.
- The statistics of the Background Annulus are displayed in real time, including the histogram.
- The sky image is displayed with the Variable and comparison stars apertures. The apertures are drawn with different colors, see the legend above the sky image. Two sliders are available to control the image brightness and contrast. To disable the sky image generation use the check box "Display sky image", it is located just above the "Go" button
- A csv report can be generated instead of an Excel file (useful for OpenOffice users).
- Sanity checks on RA, Dec, Magnitudes and "Usage" fields are performed before saving new data in the database.
- Checks are performed before deleting a comparison star in the database

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.19 Setup.exe
dated November 25th, 2012
- Save your Variable and Comparison Star database before running this version. New fields will be added automatically to your database.
- Sloan filters are now supported.
- The name of the last loaded configuration file is displayed in the "Online results" tab.
- ReinschSpline.exe version 1.2.0.6 The Maximum/Minimum uncertainties are shown with a box on the plotting form

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.15 Setup.exe
dated April 17th, 2012
- AAVSO report has been modified to be conform to the AAVSO Extended Format. Now the magnitudes of C and K stars are instrumental values. The explanations are provided in this message:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/lesvephotometry/message/26
- AAVSO report field "NOTES" provides the Standard magnitudes used for the C and K stars
- The other reports are unchanged.
- ReinschSpline.exe version 1.2.0.5 When ReinschSpline.exe is used as a standalone program, the button "Save File" opens a Directory selection window and creates a file named Extremum.txt

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.14 Setup.exe
dated March 21th, 2012
- Cosmetic updates to improve the user interface.
- Execution time for Excel report has been reduced.
- Color transformation and calculation of transformation coefficients.
- Save and load configuration. This feature is useful when you work on images created with different telescopes or cameras.
- In File menu, the "Export (entire database)" and "Settings" options have been disabled. In the past I had introduced them to import / export data from an Access database used in a preliminary version. This old version has no more users.

The new features are described in the LesvePhotometry User guide

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.12 Setup.exe
dated March 10th, 2012
- A bug in the Exposure Time has been fixed, the deprecated EXPTIME keyword in Fits header was not taken into account.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.10 Setup.exe
dated December 18th, 2011
- A bug in the Flatness calculation has been fixed. The algorithm failed with some star profiles. The flatness is calculated at a threshold. It was set at 1/4 of the maximum pixel value. Now the threshold is set to 1/3, the flatness will be less sensitive to star profile skirt.
- A tool named FitsUpdater is now available, with this tool you can modify or delete some keywords included in FITS header of star image series The program is located in the installation directory (see above).

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.9 Setup.exe
dated December 2d, 2011
- A bug in version 1.2.0.8 has been fixed, 1.2.0.8 is removed.
- The "Limiting Magnitude" is now calculated.
If a star is so faint that the astrometry program does not detect it, the program will not evaluate its magnitude. The program will calculate the Limiting Magnitude and you could report that the star is "Fainter than" this limiting magnitude. The Limiting Magnitude of a sky image is the magnitude of a star with a SNR = 3. The AAVSO has provided (http://www.aavso.org/ccd-views-315) a formula to calculate the Limiting Magnitude:
M_limiting = M + 2.5 * log10 (SNR/3).
where M = Magnitude of a faint star and SNR is the SNR of the same faint star.
If PinPoint (astrometry) doesn't solve the plate or if the reference star or the first check star is not detected, the program will not generate a data result. The error file will contains the name of the sky image and the name of the undetected Variable star.
But if the plate is solved and reference star and the first check star are detected, the program is able to calculate the Limiting Magnitude. The LesvePhotometry program will not report directly that the variable star is "Fainter than", it will give the Limiting Magnitude.
In Excel report, an undetected variable star will generate a magnitude = "NaN" (Not a Number). This report will not say that the variable star is "fainter than". There are multiple sources for the non detection of a star : PinPoint detection parameters, cosmic ray, satellite trail, wrong coordinates, a.s.o. The observer has to decide himself in a post-processing decision, if he reports the "Fainter than" observation or not.
The AAVSO and CBA reports will provide no data of an undetected variable star. Notice that AAVSO and CBA reports don't already include result data if they are suspect : the SNR is too weak, a star is saturating, a.s.o.

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.7 Setup.exe
dated November 20th, 2011
- The astrometry engine can also use USNO-B-1 (80G) and UCAC3 (8G) catalogs. The dc3.com PinPoint version 5.1 is needed to work with the UCAC3 catalog
- A bug in Airmass calculation has been fixed

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.6 Setup.exe
dated November 2d, 2011
- The flux calculations are performed only with integers, the photometry execution time has been reduced by 20%
- In previous versions, you had only the option to export or to import the entire database. Now it is possible to export (import) data of selected Variable star and its comparison stars to (from) a text file, for details see paragraph "Database maintenance" in LesvePhotometry User Guide An example of the exported text file is given here StarExport example.txt
- Extrema results (Magnitude at extremum, associated error, Time of extremum and associated error) are save either to the Clipboard or to a file. "Reinsch Spline" window has two new buttons to select the saving option. Clipboard content can be pasted directly in an Excel file. When Reinsch Spline algorithm is called from Lesve photometry, the extremum data are saved in a file located in the same directory as the images and other reports.
- In the "General Settings" panel, you can select the output reports (Excel, CBA, AAVSO and Reinsch)

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.5 Setup.exe
dated March 20th 2011
-The program has been corrected to take account of check box Saturation
-BZERO, BSCALE and PEDESTAL keywords has been added in the "Default settings" tab. Indeed a user had problems with Nebulosity program which does not provide needed information in the FITS header
-The program verifies that the generated file names for reports are correct. These names are based on the AAVSOVarName field, for details see LesvePhotometry Tips

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.4 Setup.exe
dated March 7th 2011
The "Saturation level" is now saved in profile.
The program has been corrected to take account of Saturation level
EGAIN keyword has been added in the "Default settings"

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.3 Setup.exe
dated December 20th 2010
In ReinschSpline, it's now possible to work only on the light curve comprised between the Left and Right limits. Click on the new button "Keep only center data" To get again the full light curve, click on "ReadClipboard".

LesvePhotometry 1.2.0.2 Setup.exe
dated December 8th 2010