Daofind Parameters in IRAF

[MattRob]

So, I've recently just began some undergraduate research, and a task I'm working on is developing some simple scripts for IRAF that might be rather useful. I'm new to the whole thing, but my professor has mentioned that daofind can run in a such a way that it only creates coordinates for the single brightest star in the search area.

So, simple question: how do I set the parameters for daofind to only create coordinates for the single brightest object in the search area?

I'll do some more of my own reading and exploration on this as I go along, but this particular question needs resolution somewhat more quickly, and since I'm nervous as heck about making a great impression on my first undergraduate research assignment, I'm admittedly shying out a bit from bothering her about it quite yet; I'd rather at least drop this query first.

Thanks in advance.

 

[gtoguy97]

The parameters that you need to set for daofind to only create coordinates for the single brightest object in the search area are:-FWHM (full-width half-maximum): this sets the size of the aperture used to detect objects on the image.-Threshold: this sets the brightness level of the object which is detected by the program.-Sharpness: this parameter defines the sharpness of the object in order to differentiate from other objects or background noise.-Roundness: this parameter defines the roundness of the object in order to differentiate from other objects or background noise.-Roundlo/Roundhi: these parameters define the minimum and maximum roundness of the object in order to differentiate from other objects or background noise.-MinArea/MaxArea: these parameters define the minimum and maximum area of the object in order to differentiate from other objects or background noise.-Nbrightest/Nstar: these parameters define the number of brightest stars to be detected and the total number of stars to be detected. By setting the Nbrightest parameter to 1 and the other parameters to your requirements, you should be able to get the coordinates for the single brightest object in the search area.