analyze data

VStar

What is VStar?

VStar is a multi-platform, easy-to-use variable star data visualization and analysis tool that was originally developed as part of the AAVSO's Citizen Sky project. Data for a star can be read from the AAVSO database or from a text file of your own creation. It will plot the data on a light curve and then it's up to you what happens next!

VStar 2.16.1 Release

A new version of VStar has just been released! This version contains security upgrades and will re-enable the Plug-in Manager and discrepant observation reporting that were disabled in the wake of the AAVSO Security breach. (Please note that the Members-only BSM and APASS Epoch Photometry plugins are still not available until further security measures can be implemented.)

In addition to the security upgrades, David Benn has also corrected several bugs and incorporated other changes based on valuable feedback from participants in his recent VStar CHOICE course. 

VStar User Manual

The VStar User Manual is now available for download! Thanks to a Herculean effort by VStar's creator David Benn along with some invaluable editorial and annotational help from Kristine Larsen, this long-anticipated publication has become a reality.

To get your copy, please visit the VStar Overview page and click on the yellow button marked "Download VStar User Manual". You will be glad you did!

VStar Plug-in Library

One of the features of VStar is that it is set up so that you, the user, can think up new and interesting new ways to use the basic program. You can do this by creating your own plug-in or by using ones that others have created to extend the power of VStar. If you are interested in creating your own, please read the documentation on how to do this. If you would like to see some plug-ins that others have created, you have come to the right place.