Variable Star Astronomy

You are invited on a journey into the hearts of the stars—to see the rhythms of their pulsations, and to gain an understanding of how they evolve.

Variable Star Astronomy, formerly published as Hands-On Astrophysics, was developed for anyone who is interested in astronomy and in learning more about the behaviors and properties of stars. The conversion of the curriculum to electronic format has been completed for the Student Manual and the Teacher Pages. Conversion of the supporting VSTAR software is in progress. The AAVSO, with support from the Chandra X-Ray Center, is delighted to make this rich educational content available to you, free-of-charge, below. If you have any questions or comments please contact us. Enjoy!
		About VSA
		Using the Manual, teacher.pdf
		Introduction and Table of Contents, .pdf
		UNIT 1: Planets and Stars Chapter 1: The Solar System and Beyond, .pdf \| teacher.pdf Chapter 2: The Nature of Stars, .pdf \| teacher.pdf

		UNIT 2: Introducing the Sky Chapter 3: Familiarizing Yourself With the Night sky, .pdf \| teacher.pdf Chapter 4: Our Bearings in the Sky, .pdf \| teacher.pdf

		UNIT 3: Observing Variable Stars Chapter 5: Introducing the Hands-On Astrophysics Constellations, .pdf \| teacher.pdf Chapter 6: Measuring Variable Stars Visually, .pdf \| teacher.pdf Chapter 7: Observing Variable Stars in the Real Sky, .pdf \| teacher.pdf

		UNIT 4: The Message of Light Chapter 8: The Nature of Light, .pdf \| teacher.pdf Chapter 9: The Life of a Star, .pdf \| teacher.pdf

		UNIT 5: Analysis of Variable Stars Chapter 10: Statistical Concepts, .pdf \| teacher.pdf Chapter 11: Variable Stars, Light Curves, and Variability, .pdf \| teacher.pdf Chapter 12: Variable Stars and Phase Diagrams, .pdf \| teacher.pdf Chapter 13: Variable Stars and O-C Diagrams, .pdf \| teacher.pdf
		GLOSSARY, .pdf

* In the original Hands-On Astrophysics distribution, there were slides available to practice magnitude estimates. Now there is an excellent online activity via the Chandra website:

Online activity: "A Variable Star in Cygnus"
Powerpoint slides to be used with the activity

by The American Association of Variable Star Observers

May be reproduced for non-commercial educational use only.

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variable stars