To date I haven't used the Flux Calibration reference stars in Visual Spec to correct for instrument response. I have been using the library spectra to correct for instrument response. From my experiments so far, I seem to struggle to get a repeatable instrument response, so I have decided to try playing with the Flux Calibration Reference Stars to see if that helps.
As its a rainy day today, I have made the attached Excel worksheet which lists all the Visual Spec Flux Calibration Reference Stars, along with their names, SAO number, RA, Dec and visual magnitude. I did his as my scope has lists of star names and SAO number, so this list will help me to find an appropriate reference star.
The list is also sorted by RA, so its easy to find an appropriate reference star or an alternative for any given time
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If you think this will assist you, please feel free to use it and modify to suit your purposes (you might need to add another catalogue number column to suit the database in your scope perhaps).
Data is compiled from the Visual Spec manual and the Bright Star Catalogue. There is an error in the V Spec list: "Theta Hyades" should be "Theta Hydrae"
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I also had some fun with the bright star catalogue online... I kept getting error messages for Nu Capricorne. They have a bug... when you enter "nu" it translates that to "ni" and tells you there's no entry for "Ni Cap"!
Monty Python at its best!
The bright star catalogue might be maintained by the "knights who say ni"... there was no button to offer a shrubbery though...
Al.
