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Arne Henden Receives Leslier C. Peltier Award
Arne Henden received the Leslier C. Peltier Award from the Astronomical League last weekend at their annual meeting in Utah. Click here for Sky & Telescope's coverage of the meeting.
Arne joins fellow AAVSO staffer Elizabeth Waagen and current member/observer Gerry Samolyk as past winners.
Special Notice #244: Continued close monitoring of T Pyx requested
Continued close monitoring of T Pyx requested
June 30, 2011: Since its outburst on 2011 April 14 (see AAVSO Alert Notice 436), the recurrent nova T Pyx has been very well monitored by visual and instrumental observers who can reach -32o. Thank you! Currently T Pyx is visual/V magnitude ~8.3.
Variable Star Astronomy TOC in Belorussian
Galina Miklosic has recently translated the table of contents for our Variable Star Astronomy curriculum to Belorussian. Thank you, Galina!
New eJAAVSO: Light Curve of the Eccentric Eclipsing Binary GSC 3152-1202, by R. K. Buchheim
Abstract
A complete light curve of this eccentric (~2.094d) eclipsing binary system has been determined, in B, V, and R bands. The primary and secondary minima are slightly different in depth, and the color index does not change during either primary or secondary eclipse. Newly-determined times of minimum confirm the previously-suspected rapid change in the orbital phase of the secondary minimum, implying significant apsidal motion.
Minor VSP upgrades
Hi, all. Today we rolled out some relatively minor upgrades to VSP. There is nothing groundbreaking here. It's mostly minor tweaks and bug fixes. But I'm outlining them here for your information:
Additions
- There is a new "reset all" button that will reset all fields in the user interface to their default values.
- The variable star designator (cross hairs at the center of the chart) now appears on all charts, regardless of the limiting magnitude.
New eJAAVSO: The Ross Variable Stars Revisited. I. by W. Osborn, O. F. Mills
Abstract
Better magnitudes and epochs have been determined for 189 of the 379 confirmed and suspected variable stars discovered by Ross from 1925 to 1931. Accurate positions have been determined for those objects for which unambiguous identifications had been lacking.
New Observing Section Created to study Young Stellar Objects (YSOs)
Michael Poxon has taken it upon himself to head a new AAVSO section on his favorite class of variable star: Pre-Main Sequence Stars (YSO/PMS). The AAVSO has had a long history of working with such objects, especially the "Orion variables" that were monitored by many visual observers for years.
New Logo Contest Deadline is Close
As part of the AAVSO's Centennial Celebrations we are holding a contest to design a new logo for the organization. This is just a quick reminder that the deadline for submission to the contest is July 1. As of this posting we have five submissions. Click here for more information on the logo contest and instructions on how to submit a design.