[pfitzgerald (Paul)]

Hi Folks

Sometime this year I would like to try and help my school students to photograph and analyse the varying magnitudes of some cepheids and/or δ-Scuti type variable stars. With a long view to applying a Fourier transform to them to determine their periods.

Equipment-wise we have my trusty SW ED150, HEQ5-Pro, Orion Autoguider and a Canon 60Da (with standard EOS 18 mm-55 mm lens). For processing the images I have a MacBook Pro running OSX-Yosemite - and reluctanly if the need arises - access to PC's, one of which still has Windows 7 installed.

I'd love to know of a Mac based software program that can be used to determine the magnitude of the target stars from a RAW (.CR2) image.

Will the equipment I have be suitable for the task? I'm not sure yet whether or not I need/want to head down the path of obtaining and using U, B and V filters.

Is this an activity that some of the folk at ASV would be able to assist me with?

Any suggestions would be warmly welcomed.

Paul