Standard stars for cometary photometry

Abstract

Interference filters centered at 0.365, 0.387, 0.406, 0.484, and 0.514 microns have been selected to represent UV continuum, CN emission, C3 emission, blue continuum, and C2 emission in cometary spectra, respectively. Adopted magnitudes and colors of this filter system are presented for 50 standard stars, ranging in bue magnitude from 4 to 12, in spectral type from O to K, and distributed primarily around equatorial regins of the sky. The tabulated uncertainties are generally of the order of 0.02 mag or smaller; the zero points of the photometric system are chosen so that blue continuum magnitudes are approximately equivalent to Johnson B, and so that color indices average zero for solar analog stars.