Kilonova Catcher Manual

User Guide

• What is Kilonova-Catcher and GRANDMA?
  • How It Works
  • Real Impact
• What Is a Kilonova?
  • Where Do Kilonovae Come From?
  • Why Are Kilonovae Important?
  • How Do We Find Them?
  • What Does a Kilonova Light Curve Look Like?
• How Astrophotography Images Are Different
  • 1. Low Light, Long Exposures
  • 2. No Color… At First
  • 3. Scientific Detail Over Appearance
  • 4. Raw Images Are Messy
  • Summary
• The Astronomer’s Workflow Diagram
• KNC Protocol: How to Participate in Observations
  • 1. How to Register
  • 2. Add Your Telescope
  • 3. How KNC Sends Alerts
  • 4. Connecting to Slack
  • 5. What Happens During an Alert
  • 6. What Is Expected of You
    • FITS File Requirements
  • 7. Revisiting Fields and Coordination
  • 8. How We Interact With GRANDMA
  • 9. Supporting Documents
    • Kilonova Catcher Guidebook (PDF)
    • Astronomer’s Guide (PDF)
  • 10. Quick Checklist
  • 11. Contact Us
• Preparing Your Raw Data
  • File Naming Conventions
  • FITS Files and The Importance of Metadata
• Preprocessing: Cleaning Your Raw Images
  • Why Do We Use Calibration Frames?
  • Bias Frames
  • Dark Frames
  • Subtraction Workflow: Applying Bias and Dark Frames
  • Flat Frames
  • Creating the Master Flat
• Be Consistent
  • Flat-Dark Frames
  • Do We Stack Calibration Frames Too?
  • Do I Do This Every Time?
  • Why Sorting Is Essential
  • Summary
• Stacking
  • Signal vs. Noise
  • Benefits of Stacking
  • How Many Frames Should I Stack?
  • Tools for Stacking
• Astrometry: Pinpointing Where You Are in the Sky
  • What Is Astrometry?
  • Why Is Astrometry Important?
  • Astrometry in Gravitational Wave Follow-Up
  • What Is Plate Solving?
  • How to Perform Astrometry
  • How to Know It Worked
  • How to Use Astrometry.net (Online Plate Solver)
    • Step-by-Step Instructions
    • Notes
  • Troubleshooting: Why Didn’t My Plate Solve Work?
    • 1. Image Has No Stars or Very Few Stars
    • 2. Image Was Over-Processed
    • 3. Noisy or Uncalibrated Image
    • 4. Incorrect Image Scale or Metadata
    • 5. Obstructed or Distorted Star Field
    • 6. Upload Format Issue
• Related Tools and Websites
  • Astrometry.net
  • Gaia Archive
  • ASTAP
  • Prism Software
  • CDS VizieR Catalog Access
• Recommended Software by KNC Members: Preprocessing astronomical images with Prism V11 software (Marc Serrau’s Workflow)
  • 2 Capturing Flat Frames
  • 3 Capturing Dark and Offset frames
  • 4 Making Masters
  • 5 And finally, the preprocessing phase…
• Reccomended Software by KNC Members: Image Calibration,Stacking and Photometry with ASTAP (Michael Freeberg’s Workflow)
  • ASTAP
  • ASTAP Database Selection
  • Calibration Frames