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Recent Updates

27/06/2023Amended output file of observations. The csv files contained some commas in the instrument field, replaced with spaces. The details of the CCD measurements included carriage returns as these were new lines in the web based table. These are now a colon with a space to prevent new lines. The visual estimate recalculation reason could also include new lines, for similar reasons. These have been replaced by semi-colons with spaces.
17/06/2023Modified the duplicate observation check in the upload so that it also check location and instrument. These are a little different to the other fields in the check as they are nullable fields.
11/03/2023Created new upload file layout CCD/CMOS V2.03. Based on previous layouts but with more meaningful names for the import fields. Updated the layout guide and sample files.
11/06/2022Extended valid sequence version from 1-999 to 0-999. Zero will be used for the new sequence just for recalculation.
02/04/2022Fixed deprecated trim of a null value in the upload process.
06/02/2022Minor changes for PHP and MySQL compatibility on new server.
26/10/2021Fix to the individual observation add and edit screens to allow CMOS. CCD is always entered as the default method but no easy way to change this behaviour at this time.
11/09/2021Tweaks to get ready for migration to PHP 7 and MySQL 8. Changes for deprecation of implode function.
07/08/2021Amended the stats to add a digital option that amalgamates CCD, CMOS and DSLR.
30/05/2021Updated the tolerance for magnitude check on transformed CCD observations from 0.3 to 0.4 magnitudes.
07/05/2021Added to support to upload and display CMOS observations.
17/04/2021Updated CCD-Layout-Minimum upload file format to contain additional important data.
31/01/2021Added examples of bulk upload file format.
11/01/2021Correction to upload layout CCD/DSLR BULK V1.00. It was not reading the magnitude fainter than magnitude qualifier when it was used.
09/01/2021Correction to upload layout AAVSO EXT BAA V1.00. It was not reading the magnitude fainter than magnitude qualifier when it was used.
29/10/2020Made the file upload type case insensitive.
06/06/2020Fixed bug with login screen when wrong username or password was entered.
05/06/2020Updated to be compliant with PHP 7.
02/06/2020Increased maximum file upload from 18 to 35.
29/12/2019Created new role for editing objects and updated screens to recognise role.
22/12/2019Altered edit object alias name list to a maximum of 10 rows. Previous setting was 100 rows and this was becoming very slow due to the number of object ids in the list on each row.
26/10/2019Added version 2.07 of the BAA Photometry Spreadsheet. Bug found by Tony Vale, the AAVSO export sheet was not updating the method from CCD to DSLR.
10/02/2019Enhancement to cope with a variable number of comparison stars per row in uploaded data file. Will ignore sets of columns where the comparison designation is omitted. This includes a tweak to upload format CCD/DSLR V2.02 so that comparison star alias and type are no longer mandatory.
13/01/2019Bug fix for recalculation of Dave McAdam era sequences with hybrid sequences like '3,1' and estimates like '{D}+2' with curley braces to indicate comparison star label from the first sequence of the two.
08/01/2019Copied over all notes on submitting observations from the VSS web pages into the pages on the main database website.
06/01/2019Introduced recalculation of Visual observations to the latest sequence when reviewing data for an object.
While the code exists in the website for recalculating CCD and DSLR observations, it has not been enabled since original data may include chart magnitude error values not in the database, it is only possible for V filter observations, and many charts are not present for digital observations.
06/01/2019Support for Exoplanet and Asteroid photometry as well as Variable Stars. Observers now have to select object type when they create a new object. Various web pages updated to include object type.
06/01/2019Rebranding as BAA Photometry Database. This includes updating the style to more closely match the BAA Photometry Database.
23/12/2018Added support for fainter than and brighter than digital observations in new upload format 'CCD/DSLR V2.02'. Fainter than observations are identified by a [ or < at the start of the VarAbsMag field, and brighter than observations by a ] or > at the start if the VarAbsMag field.
19/08/2018Replaced sequence data SQL as orphaned comparison star alias names and magnitudes were being left in the database when one but not both of magnitude or alias were deleted.
04/08/2018Added check for existing AUID (AAVSO Unique Identifier) when adding new objects and updating existing objects.
10/12/2017Set 8,153 duplicated observations to deleted status. Matching criteria used to identify duplicates:
Julian Date (exact)
Variable Designation
Observer
Magnitude
Filter
23/04/2017Added new page on star name conventions with a link on the upload screen and homepage.
22/02/2017Fixed issue with + being interpreted as a space character in object ids when selecting the object summary in the variable star list. Fixed by replace + characters with %2b in the hyperlink.
01/01/2017Amended observation download to use pipe character | rather than new line between the different CCD measurements in a single observation. Also fixed a bug with downloading data with Firefox where the filename would be truncated at the first space. Due to Firefox only recognising a filename string enclosed by double quotes.
17/09/2016Implemented new data download functionality. Observation download button now moved to main data screen. Additional fields added to table and download.
14/09/2015Removed data download functionality due to issue.
29/08/2015Amended the sequence data screen from showing the full 4 decimal places in the database table, to showing a truncated 3 decimal places.
Changed sequence table column width by removing table setting to be across the whole screen.
12/08/2015In the single and bulk observation edit screens, replaced the variable star list used when selecting observations with the main object_id rather than the object_alias. Left the variable that is entered/updated as the object_alias since this must match the observation table.
09/08/2015Behind the scenes changes released to enhance the magnitude recalculation prototype pages.
01/08/2015Behind the scenes changes released to enable the prototyping of the magnitude recalculation pages.
28/06/2015Added link to the database statistics page for logged in users. The link can be found on the homepage under the General heading.
28/12/2014Optimisation of the upload process to get it to run more quickly and hopefully avoid 60 second timeouts on the web. Modified the procedure that first uploads the data to the temporary tables so that the estimates and measurements tables are only hit the once. Modified the commit process to run 1 rather than many delete commands on each of the temporary tables.
10/12/2014Altered order of displayed and exported data table from ascending Julian date to descending Julian date.
20/10/2014Further modification to the JavaScript that is used to convert UT to JD in the Review Data page. The conversion had stopped working in Google Chrome giving NaN rather than a number.
19/10/2014Modification to the JavaScript that is used to convert UT to JD in the Review Data page. The conversion had stopped working in Google Chrome giving NaN rather than a number.
17/10/2014Correction to observer summary by star. Sometimes zero magnitude was being returned for the first or latest magnitude when it should not have been.
03/08/2014Added optional start and end Julian Date to the database summary page.
14/06/2014Added instrument and camera under the heading of equipment to the data table page from review data for a star.
26/05/2014Modified 986 observations and 354 star alias names to remove multiple spaces from names. These were interfering with the operation of some web pages.
26/05/2014Modified data entry cleaning to strip out all multiple spaces and replace with single space. Multiple spaces had been causing problems between the database and web pages, since HTML strips out multiple consecutive space characters to display only single spaces on the screen.
22/05/2014Added filter to the summary of uploaded observations page.
13/05/2014Update to new column "Estimates / Comparison Stars" to improve formatting. The separator between multiple estimates and comparison stars is now a semi-colon and the text is preceded by a space so that Excel will not try to interpret estimates as formula or dates.
09/05/2014Added new columns "Estimates / Comparison Stars" and "Chart / Sequence" to the data table produced by the light curve generator.
06/05/2014Corrected mistake in the Year and Month summaries by Observer, Star and the whole database. The Julian Date was not being correctly converted to UT, but was often giving a date a day in the future of the true date.
04/05/2014Added options of 'Instrumental-Transformed' and 'PreCalculated-Transformed' for entry of CCD data. 'Instrumental-Transformed' has a different error tolerance on the magnitude check as the check cannot transform the data.
30/04/2014Added check on visual file upload to make sure hour does not contain a decimal.
23/04/2014Modified visual upload so that the estimate is not mandatory.
18/04/2014Tweaked the visual upload magnitude tolerance from <=0.05 to <=0.099 magnitudes to cope with magnitudes uploaded to 2 decimal places.
17/04/2014Tweaked the visual upload magnitude tolerance from <0.05 to <=0.05 magnitudes to cope with magnitudes uploaded to 2 decimal places.
15/04/2014Released star summary web page including count of observations by year and month and count of observations by observer. This can be accessed by clicking the Object Id hyperlinks in the Variable Stars standing data page.
14/04/2014Released enhanced observer summary including count of observations by year and month.
10/04/2014Further update to filter colours in the light curve generator to make them more distinct.
09/04/2014Updated and standardised filter colours in the light curve generator to make them more distinct from one another, except when they are for similar filters.
05/04/2014Fixed bug with web pages for editing variable star names and alias names. They were not allowing the star names or alias names to be updated with new names.
22/03/2014Changed default dates in the Light Curves to UT rather than JD.
22/03/2014Enhancements to the date check in the upload program so it will work for pre-1900 dates.
11/03/2014Database updated with all Visual and CCD observations received to date.
09/03/2014Fixed bug with 'Manual Enter Observations' screen. Observations were being added but the observation variable was being accidentally passed between procedures due to variable scope. This showed as an erroneous additional measurement for Visual observations.
06/03/2014Enhanced UT calculation to check for valid hour and minute values.
02/03/2014Added options to filter bulk observation edit by Sequence and Location, including "BLANK" sequence and location. Also fixed a bug introduced by this change to the individual observation edit screen, and moved the fetch and reset buttons to the left hand side.
28/02/2014Enhancement to UT display on light curve so that hh:mm is only shown for periods of 5 days or less. Note this does not work when zooming as the date format is fixed when the light curve is created.
Also made minor fix to selection page as the Reset had stopped working with the change on the 27th Feb. This should now work again.
27/02/2014New buttons on light curve and data table to modify selection parameters.
23/02/2014Added link to BAAVSS homepage in top left corner when on the BAAVSS Database homepage. Also made the link to the BAAVSS homepage more prominent in the General section by moving it to the top of the section.
23/02/2014Modified default of 5 estimates per visual observation in Manual Observation Entry screen to a default of 1 estimate per observation.
22/02/2014Release of version 2 of the website, to enable observers to upload and edit their own observations.
25/10/2013Preliminary version 2 website complete. This includes ability for users to load their own data.
24/08/2013Uploaded 2011 and 2012 observations from the visual database. This includes a lot of historic observations as well as those received during 2011 and 2012. In total 117,070 new observations.
10/08/2013Uploaded CCD observations received by 10th August 2013.
14/04/2013Uploaded CCD observations received by 31st March 2013.
24/02/2013Fixed minor bug with filtering on a star. After applying the filter any text after a space in the filter by box was being removed. Now all text is retained.
27/10/2012Uploaded CCD observations received by 27th October 2012.
19/08/2012Corrections to 2,621 Julian Dates pre 1900.
29/04/2012Minor changes to light curve page.
Moved reset zoom above chart title so this can be cut out of screen prints.
Added link to new page of fixes to known light curve issues.
14/04/2012Minor change to End Date Julian Date calculation in Review Data sheet.
Adds 1 day to quoted UT so the JD is the end of that day. E.g. enter 31st May as UT and JD will be calculated as start of 1st June.
09/04/2012Corrected 304 CCD observations with reported magnitude problems.
09/04/2012Uploaded CCD observations received by 6th April 2012.
20/03/2012Light curve legend moved to bottom left hand corner. It is the intention that users will be able to relocate the legend themselves in a future release.
11/03/2012Set 14,213 duplicated observations to deleted status. Matching criteria used to identify duplicates:
Julian Date (not just matches but must be recorded to at least 4 decimal places to avoid accidental removal of observations made at similar time but full time not recorded)
Variable Designation
Observer
Magnitude
Filter
Only 2 or 3 duplicates (there are a small number with many duplicates. These will be checked separately.)
19/02/2012Major update to variable designations and alias designations.
31/12/2011Created page for list of recent updates.
31/12/2011Added summary page of observer's observations. Accessed by pressing Observer Id hyperlinks in observer list.
31/12/2011Added download buttons to list tables.
31/12/2011Split observer names into surname and initials.
30/12/2011Created filter button on data page to allow users to search and filter the list of variable stars. Note this also searches the full list of alias names held within the database.
29/12/2011Loaded all CCD data received to date.