Real-time AG Detection in SMARTS images

The following IRAF programs are avaliable to compare SMARTS images to survey images in the hopes of detecting possible afterglow candidates. You should focus on detecting afterglow in the optical images (B, V, R and I), but if you have time you can look at the IR images (this program requires the IR images to be BINNED - if you cannot bin single images or if that is inconvenient let me know so I can re-write the program).

Instructions for both are found here.

Careful not to confuse cosmic ray hits and other image imprefections with an afterglow. AG should have a radial profile similar to the stars in a given image. It is also possible that an AG will coincide with a unresolved galaxy. Look for both:

1. An object in the ANDICAM image that does not appear in the DSS image
2. An object in the ANDICAM image that appears brighter (relative to the other objects in the ANDICAM image) than the same object appears in the DSS (relative to the other objects in the DSS image) [obviously, this will be much harder to spot]

If you do detect a candidate AG, first make sure it appears in more than one ANDICAM image (to discount the possibility that it is an image defect). If the candidate is persistent and bright (i.e. significantly above the background noise), then you should finish the GRB observations that are currently running but plan to observe the region again later in the night (if possible) using the same telescope observing script as the first observations you took. For example, if you run GRB_IJ6.pro at the beginning of the night and notice an AG candidate in one of the I-band images, you'll want to re-run GRB_IJ6.pro a few hours later. You'll also want to adjust the telescope coordinates so that the AG candidate falls close to the center of the frame (if it was off-center initially).