photometry

Landolt Standards and 21st Century Photometry

Arlo Landolt should be familiar to most of the AAVSO community, not only as a friend and former councillor of the AAVSO, but as one of the leading figures of astronomical photometry and photometric calibrations.  Arlo Landolt's work on standard stars has set the standard -- very literally -- for astronomical photometry for nearly half a century.

SSP-4 Photometer Observation Reports and Analyses

This information was originally published as a series of reports by AAVSO observer Doug West in 2003, outlining his experiments and calibrations of the Optec SSP-4 infrared photometer

SSP-4 Photometer Observation Report and Analysis #1

By Doug West
16 May 2003

Special Notice #377: Reported outburst of the WZ Sge star AL Comae

December 6, 2013: Observer Carlo Gualdoni reports via the cvnet-outburst mailing list that the WZ Sge-type dwarf nova AL Comae is in outburst, with a magnitude of V=12.74 on 2013 December 6.185 (JD 2456633.1185).  Gary Poyner notes on the BAAVSS mailing list that this is the first observed outburst of AL Com since October 2007.  Both visual observations and CCD time series are encouraged.

Nova Centauri 2013: Another bright, naked-eye nova

Nova Centauri 2013 -- now named V1369 Cen -- is another bright nova in our skies for 2013.  Discovered by Australian observer John Seach on December 2nd, Nova Cen has now surpassed Nova Del 2013's maximum at 4th magnitude, and began a complicated evolution to (thus far) two separate maxima brighter than 3.5.  Nova Cen should put on a wonderful show for southern hemisphere observers for the end of the year, and may well continue well into 2014!  We'll post updates to this page as we learn more about this bright southern nova.  Meanwhile, we encourage all southern hemisph

Nova Delphini 2013: The story so far

Nova Delphini 2013 (also named V339 Del) is the biggest cosmic event in variable star astronomy this year, and this naked-eye nova is providing the community a wealth of new data on this important class of objects.  The amateur astronomical community has made an enormous contribution of data for Nova Del so far, and now is a good time to review all that's happened so far in this nova outburst, and how the amateur community has played a role.

Special Notice #367: Outburst of the UGWZ star UZ Bootis

July 26, 2013

Carey Chiselbrook (CCY; Georgia, United States) reports via the AAVSO Forums that the WZ Sge-type variable UZ Bootis is in outburst.  It was observed visually at magnitude 12.8 on 2013 Jul 26 02:00 UT (JD 2456499.58194).  The outburst was confirmed by Walter MacDonald (MDW; Ontario, Canada) imaged the field and found UZ Boo at V=12.69 03:25 UT (JD 2456499.6394).  Observations of UZ Bootis -- both visual estimates and CCD time series -- are encouraged throughout the outburst.

Alert Notice 486: Spectroscopy and photometry campaign on three bright Wolf Rayet stars

June 26, 2013: Dr. Noel Richardson (Université de Montréal) is helping coordinate a very large ProAm campaign (over 20 professional and amateur astronomers) this summer on three bright Wolf Rayet stars in Cygnus. Dr. Richardson, fellow co-PIs Drs. Tony Moffat (Université de Montréal), Nicole St.-Louis (Université de Montréal), and Thomas Eversberg (Schnoerringen Telescope Science Institute, Waldbroel, Germany), and their colleagues invite AAVSO spectroscopists and photometrists to participate in this campaign.

Alert Notice 483: AH Her Observing Campaign

May 17, 2013: AAVSO assistance has been requested by Dr. Juan Echevarria (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and colleagues in a campaign on the Z Cam-type cataclysmic variable AH Her being carried out 2013 May 29 - June 18. They will be making photometric and spectroscopic observations of AH Her using the 2.1m and 0.84m telescopes at San Pedro Martir Observatory (SPM).