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New Visual Observing Manual in Chinese

Thanks to the efforts of Cheng Simiao, a young and very enthusiastic observer from Beijing, we now have a new, more up-to-date Chinese version of the "Manual for Visual Observing of Variable Stars" available for download. He wishes that this edition be thought of as a 100th birthday present to the AAVSO as well as an 18th birthday gift to himself.

Congratulations and many thanks to Mr. Cheng!

Light Curve Generator Upgrades

Some work has been done recently to the AAVSO's Light Curve Generator.

Three additional filters, the Tri-R, Tri-G, and Tri-B filters, primarily used in DSLR work, were added to the data that the Light Curve Generator can now display. This should be of great use to people monitoring bright variable stars with cameras, among others.

By popular demand the "Unknown" filter was put back online. While it still comprises a sizable minority of the data in the AID, it should not be used to enter any observations into the database.

Special Notice #263: SUPERNOVA 2011iy IN NGC 4984 = PSN J13085839-1531041

December 15, 2011:  IAU CBAT Central Bureau Electronic Telegram 2943 (Daniel W. E. Green, Ed.) announces the discovery of an apparent supernova in NGC 4984 by Koichi Itagaki, Yamagata, Japan, at unfiltered CCD magnitude 12.7 on 2011 Dec. 9.856 UT.

Coordinates: R.A. = 13 08 58.39  Decl. = -15 31 04.1 (2000.0)
SN 2011iy is 16.6" east and 6.1" south of the nucleus of NGC 4984.