Re: Atypical variable stars

[Stupendous Man <richmond@stupendous.cis.rit.edu>]

> If TN#40 is correct, parts were ordered for 10 cameras (so the
> question would be -- where are they???).
  
  Sigh.  One pair of cameras is here in Rochester, NY, where I haven't
had time to fix a problem with the RA gear (hangs head in shame).

>   Given the advances in things
>   like circuit density, FPGA's, "cheap" CCDs (???? for
>   digital cameras, etc. I am wondering if there is a more
>   current design/production effort to produce something
>   a bit less expensive that can be put together by people
>   with varied skills.

  As I wrote earlier, you _can_ purchase all the hardware
and most (maybe all?) of the software you need commercially
for a few thousand dollars.  

> I am under the impression that TASS III was operated in drift
> mode while TASS IV is operated in point and shoot mode.  Can
> anyone explain why the choice was made to sacrifice the potential
> sensitivity by giving up drift mode?

  We wanted to point at areas off the celestial equator.

> Are there one or more pages that point out how to access
> the current database data?  

  Well, the link labelled "Quickly Download Mark IV Data" on the
main TASS page goes to 

    http://sallman.tass-survey.org/servlet/markiv/template/DataDownload.vm

> (And is someone *really* keeping all of the data online???).

  Yes; all the measured magnitudes are there.  The images are not,
if that's what you meant.

                                      Michael Richmond