Call for Volunteers - 1

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 06/25/2015 - 23:56

AAVSOnet is a marvelous tool, providing over 1 million images to the community over the past decade.  However, there are several areas that require human oversight, and inspection of the images is one of those.  Each telescope generates ~300 images per night, and right now, AAVSO staff look at those images to see if any problems have occurred.  These could include nights of poor focus; clouds giving blank images; poor flat-fields; trailed images; or even fun things like airplane trails, meteors, or just plain gorgeous fields like eta Car.

During the image processing, thumbnails of each image are generated and stored on the Cloud.  We would like to get volunteers to adopt one or more telescopes, looking quickly at the nightly thumbnail images with a web browser and making comments about them using a tool called "remark-o-matic" written by Sara Beck.  It shouldn't take you more than an hour per observation night (and most telescopes only observe sporatically).  There are no technical requirements; visual observers as well as CCD observers are very welcome to help out.

If you might be interested, email me and I'll connect you with a mentor to get you started.  This is a very important function for the network, as it not only helps the researchers, but also highlights potential problems before they cause major issues with the telescopes.  Your volunteer effort will free up time for staff to do other great things for our organization.  Thanks in advance!

Arne

Affiliation
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC)
Call for volunteers

Arne,

I believe this is something that would fit my interest, so am ready to test it. Summer might not be the best period to begin with such project, nonetheless I will do all I can. In September I will have more time to give to the AAVSO.

Regards,
Damien

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
AAVSOnet Image Oversight

Arne:

 

I would like to volunteer to help with AAVSOnet image oversight.

 

Cheers,

 

Mike Miller MMGA

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
volunteers

Hi Joao,

Last year's call was for VPHOT programmers, and we were lucky enough to get several volunteers.  Only one (or two) were needed at that time.  Right now, I'm asking for people to help out in inspecting AAVSOnet images; a very different request.  I've had several people respond favorably (thanks!) and will be contacting them after I've had a chance to talk to Stella.  The willingness of AAVSO members and observers to contribute their time and effort never ceases to amaze me!

Arne

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
volunteers

Hi Joao,

I have everyone's email address, don't worry.  Thanks again for being a volunteer - I will be in touch shortly.

Arne

Affiliation
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC)
Volunteer

Arne,

It has been rining for weeks with little opportunity to do any variable star work.  This sounds like the next best thing so add me to your list.

Cheers,

Bob Dudley

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
AAVSOnet volunteer needed

We have the need for one more volunteer to perform image reviews for the Sonoita Research Observatory (SRO) telescope.  This will require about a half-hour of your time, several times during the week (depending on weather).  If you are interested, please contact me privately.  Thanks!

Arne (arne@aavso.org)

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
enough volunteers

Several people have come forward, so I have enough volunteers at this point.  There will be other calls to help!  Thanks, everyone.

Arne