Stellar Photometry: Current Techniques and Future Developments

Book excerpt: Stellar photometry from space, automatic photometric telescopes, and CCD photometers, these are just some of the exciting areas of current interest and future developments in stellar photometry covered in this timely review. Articles from international experts - drawn together at the IAU Colloquium 136, in Dublin, 1992 - are gathered here to cover all aspects of this fundamental technique. In this survey, professionals discuss state-of-the-art and future technology including photometry with millimagnitude accuracy, multichannel arrays used in the optical and IR, a global network of automatic photometric telescopes, time-series photometry of faint sources using CCDs, and photometry from space. These articles provide an up-to-date account of all aspects of photometry and a guide to future developments - an essential survey for professionals involved in the design and use of such instruments.