front page news

The February Solar Bulletin is now available. Please visit the Solar Bulletin web page to download your copy: https://www.aavso.org/solar-bulletin

The February SID Data report is available here: https://www.aavso.org/sid-database

March 7, 2017 : Dr. Fred Walter (Stony Brook University) has requested AAVSO observers' assistance in monitoring NR TrA (Nova TrA 2008) in support of upcoming XMM Newton observations. The XMM observations will take place 2017 March 13 06:21 through March 14 10:34 UT.

The AAVSO Annual Report for 2015-2016 has been published and is online. Both a high-resolution and a low-resolution version are available at https://www.aavso.org/annual-report.

February 15, 2017: Dr. Elmé Breedt (University of Warwick) has requested AAVSO observers' assistance in monitoring the eclipsing cataclysmic variable 1SWASP J162117.36+441254.2 (=CSS_J162117.4+441254) beginning now in support of observations scheduled with the Hubble Space Telescope for late February - early March.

The January Solar Bulletin (Vol. 73, No. 1) is now available at https://www.aavso.org/solar-bulletin

The Sudden Ionispheric Disturbance (SID) Report for January is available here: https://www.aavso.org/sid-database

February 13, 2017

Event: Nova in Scorpius  [V1657 Sco]

Discovered by: Hideo Nishimura (Shizuoka-ken, Japan)

Discovery magnitude: magnitude 11.7 (CCD, unfiltered)

Discovery date: 2017 February 1.862 UT

Coordinates (2000.0): R.A. 16 52 18.87  Decl. -37 54 18.9 (from discovery and VSX)

February 10, 2017: Dr. Ed Sion (Villanova University) and colleagues have requested AAVSO observers' assistance in monitoring the symbiotic-type recurrent nova IM Nor in support of observations with the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph scheduled for 2017 February 13 - 17 UT.

These observations are part of a study on short orbital period recurrent novae as Supernovae Type Ia progenitors.

AAVSO Newsletter 71, January 2017 is now available to members

The AAVSO Newsletter is a periodic, general forum that supports our various observing programs with lists of new targets, observing programming ideas, and general information that spans a wide area of interest. Guest writers contribute pieces that can range from current events to book reviews.

http://www.aavso.org/aavso-newsletter

January 31, 2017 : The BRIght Target Explorer-Constellation (BRITE-Constellation) satellite suite is obtaining high-precision photometry of selected very bright (mv < 4) stars. Its purpose is to investigate the "stellar structure and evolution of the brightest stars in the sky and their interaction with the local environment." The AAVSO is part of the BRITE-Constellation Ground Based Observations Team (GBOT), supporting cutting-edge science from the BRITE-Constellation satellites and coordinating with BRITE-Constellation scientist Dr.