Archive Of AAVSO News 2004

As we update the main home page older entries in the News and Announcements section will be placed here as an ongoing archive.

January

• The AAVSO's Invariable Star - To me, an observation of a variable star is not a number, not a statistic. It's something very much alive. I see the brightness estimate and imagine the observer's face light up as he or she looks at the star through a telescope. — Janet Mattei
• Observer Profile - Albert Dill (DLA) in Kansas 1/5/03
• Eta Carinae's Brightness Variations Since 1998: HST Observations of the Central Star 1/15/04
• Superhumps in UV Per Superoutburst - IBVS #5488 covers observations of the recent outburst of UV Per and includes data by 18 AAVSO observers.
• WebObs' CCD Batch Upload Tool - now supports MaximDL's photometry export format 1/16/04
• Photoelectric Photometry Newsletter December 2003 Issue 1/16/04
• Observer Profile - Mike Simonsen 1/19/04
• Solar Bulletin - The December issue includes SID and sunspot data, contributing observers, and more 1/19/04
• AAVSO Newsletter The January 2004 issue is now available in html and pdf formats 1/20/04
• DO Dra in Outburst - AAVSO News Flash Special Notice 1/23/04
• Solar Prominence Image - by Monty Leventhal (LEVM) 1/26/04
• AAVSO Chart Team places online 191 new charts 1/21/04
• Updated RR Lyrae Comp Star List for CCD observers of RR Lyrae stars 1/27/04
• AAVSO MyNewsFlash - is now the official method used for delivery of observations - this system is completely customizable! 1/29/04
• The AAVSO Suspect Star Database - has been substantially updated 1/29/04
• CCD Observing Manual - has been updated 1/29/04

• Stars in Need of More Observations - for the month of February 2/2/04
• Eclipsing Binary and RR Lyrae 2004 Ephemerides   are now online 2/2/04
• Eclipsing Binary O-C Files - by Bob Nelson 2/3/04
• Eta Carinae Continues to Amaze - A new paper has been approved for publication in the Astronomical Journal (April 2004) titled, "Eta Carinae's Brightness Variations Since 1998: HST Observations of the Central Star", written by J.C. Martin, M. D. Koppelman, and the HST Eta Carinae Treasury Project Team. For the last six years, Hubble has measured the brightness variations in Eta Car providing a unique look at the central star without the effects of the surrounding bright ejecta. This team has found interesting behavior in the recent 2003 event both in the continuum and in the H-alpha emission. Although it was once thought that the 2003 event may be due to an eclipse or occultation, it now appears that explanation may not be as plausible. 2/5/04
• Solar Bulletin  Includes January Sunspot and SID information 2/13/04
• Minor Planet "Huziak"  received its official name on January 14, 2004 after AAVSO observer Richard Huziak 2/16/04
• BZ UMa in Outburst AAVSO Newsflash Special Notice 2/25/04
• Albert Jones to Receive Honorary Doctorate from Victoria University of Wellington 2/25/04
• U Gem Outburst & RXTE Satellite Observations  AAVSO Newsflash Special Notice 2/26/04

• U Gem Outburst Animation by John Blackwell, 1.2 MB file 3/9/04
• Stars in Need of More Observations for March 3/3/04
• Observer Totals 2002-2003 in pdf format 3/3/04
• U Gem Outburst AAVSO Newsflash Special Notice 3/10/04
• Staff Poster Papers - An Amateur Survey With Professsional Results, Secular Evolution in Miras and Semiregular Var. Stars, Grassroots & New Media Outreach: A Match Made In Heaven, 9.5 Million Variable Star Observations Coming to you by 2005!
• Validation File Updated Please update your data entry software 3/16/04
• Focus on Markarian 421 - The Variable Star of the Season this winter is Mark 421, a galaxy with an extremely active central region - broadly classified as an Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). These extremely energetic objects are quite interesting to study; not only do they provide clues to the early workings of the universe, but they are observable across the entire electromagnetic spectrum! Professional observers spending time observing these objects in the X-ray or Gamma Ray wavelengths need help from amateurs to correlate their coverage with visible observations. The AAVSO has teamed up with the GLAST Telescope Network (GTN) to make such opportunities possible.
• Bulletin 67 for 2004 Predicted Dates of Maxima and Minima of Long Period Variables for 2004 3/12/04
• Solar Bulletin SID and Sunspot data for February 2004 3/15/04
• AAVSO Alert Notice 303 Nova Sagittarii 2004 - Possible Nova in Sagittarius 3/17/04
• AAVSO Infrared Photoelectric Photometry GroupAn introduction to this new group dedicated to photelectric photometry in the infrared wavelength 3/18/04
• Mira Companions and Planets Symposium - Mira stars are pulsating variable stars near the end phases of their existence. Studies of Miras provide a glimpse into a critical period of a star's evolution when a main sequence star is preparing to shed its planetary nebula and evolve into a white dwarf. Recent studies have discovered previously unknown stellar and planetary companions to some Mira stars providing a unique laboratory to evaluate current Mira theory. Please join the AAVSO and a group of invited speakers to discuss these Miras, companions, and planets on April 26th at Phillips Auditorium, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Registration is free. Image Credit: Margarita Karovska (an invited speaker) CfA et al., FOC, ESA, NASA
• New Variable Star Charts  The AAVSO has placed online 292 new variable star charts covering 64 stars 3/19/04
• Spectrum of Nova Sagittarii 2004 - By Doug West 3/19/04
• Results of AAVSO report - on the virtual observatory needs of amateur astronomers 3/24/04

• Janet Mattei's Obituary Is published in the New York Times Newspaper April 2, 2004 4/2/04
• CCD Views #318 24-Hour intensive BZ Uma observing campaign - we need your help
•  are now available for download 4/6/04
• GCN #2566  GRB040403 field observations 4/4/04
• Alert Notice #304  Possible nova in Ophiuchus 4/15/04
• Janet Mattei's Obituary in the Boston Globe was published on April 7, 2004 4/7/04
• Supernova 2004bd in NGC 3786 (Ursa Major) AAVSO Special Newsflash 4/9/04
• CCD Views #319 Special Edition  BZ Uma Global Campaign Update 4/16/04
• Mira Companions and Planets Symposium - Join us April 26th at the CfA, registration is free! 4/22/04
• V2574 Nova in Ophiuchus New images 4/22/04
• March 2004 Solar Bulletin Includes SID and sunspot data 4/14/04
• The Global BZ UMa Campaign is completed  Early reports & light curves 4/20/04

• Single Channel Infrared Photometry with a Small Telescope an introduction to infrared photometry and the AAVSO group by Doug West 5/7/04
• New Charts for 48 Stars 5/12/04
• Maurizio Martinengo's Home page  is a new addition to the "Meet our Observers" section 5/20/04
• WinWWZ  A new Windows version of the WWZ wavelet period analysis software 5/12/04
• PCObs 2.0  New version of the popular observation reporting software 5/12/04

• Flickering and Periodic Activity in the 2004 Outburst of BZ UMa - IBVS article by Price, A.; Vanmunster, T.; Starkey, D; et. al. 6/1/04
• The Nature of the Eclipsing Binaries SS Hya and VW Cet IBVS article by Lloyd, C. and West, D. 6/2/04
• Hokuloa, The British 1874 Transit of Venus Expedition to Hawai'i a Book Review by Dorrit Hoffleit 6/3/04
• Blurring the Line: Amateurs as Observers & Data Analysts   Copies of a talk given at recent meetings 6/8/04
• CCD Chart List  List of charts with multicolor photometry 6/11/04
• New Solar Image by Monty Leventhal 6/23/04
• CCD Views: Var Her 04 — A new catacylsmic variable  6/24/04
• Alert Notice 306: Possible New Variable in Hercules Observations needed to confirm the nature of Var Her 04. A web page with images is now online 6/23/04
• May Solar Bulletin Includes SID and sunspot observations 6/25/04
• Variable in Hercules Continously updated light curves & updates 6/28/04
• CCD Views: Var Her 04 — Rapid decline may have begun  6/30/04

• New Var Her 04 Charts  7/1/04
• Var Her 04 Disappearing Superhumps  AAVSO Newsflash Special Notice 7/1/04
• Alert Notice: Nova in Scorpius Possibly a slow nova which may take several weeks to brighten with fluctuations along the way 7/7/04
• Spring Meeting of the AAVSO Will be held on July 20-24, 2004 at the Doubletree Hotel in Berkeley, California. In conjuction with six other astronomical organizations. 7/9/04
• June Solar Bulletin Includes SID and Sunspot information 7/13/04
• Alert Notice: VW Hydri in Outburst Monitor VW Hydri to help plan target-of-opportunity observations with FUSE 7/19/04
• Sunspot Images by Jamey Jenkins 7/23/04
• New spectrum and image of N Sco 04 by Maurice Gavin 7/27/04
• Alert Notice: FUSE satellite observations scheduled for VW Hyi and Z And is undergoing an outburst 7/28/04
• CCD Views #322 Chandra and VLA observations of V4641 Sgr and FUSE observations of VW Hyi 7/29/04
• "Billings" Asteroid Named  by Andrew Lowe in honor of AAVSO observer Gary Billings 7/29/04

• Bright SN2004DJ AAVSO Special Newsflash 8/3/04
• Alert Notice: Probable Nova in Scorpius N Sco 04#2 with a CCD image and charts 8/6/04
• Curious Variable Experiment (CURVE). TT Bootis - superhump period change pattern confirmed. PDF Preprint of Acta Astronomica article by Lew Cook and collaborators 8/5/04
• New Charts for SN2004DJ have been placed online 8/2/04
• Job Ad for Director of AAVSO PDF advertisement for position of AAVSO Director 8/19/04
• CCD Views #323 QS Tel - Monitor for Chandra Observations 8/5/04
• Period and chemical evolution of SC stars  by Zijlstra, A., Bedding, T., Markwick, A., et. al. 8/11/04
• July Solar Bulletin and new sunspot images 8/12/04
• Nova Scorpii 2004#2 New Image, Charts, and Alert Notice 8/13/04
• CCD Views #324 CCD related news, updates, and announcements 8/17/04
• AAVSO Photoelectric Photometry Newsletter August 2004 edition includes an appreciation article for Janet Mattei, announcements, research, and more. 8/31/04
• Spring Meeting Archive - Pictures, abstracts, awards, and more are now available from the 93rd Spring Meeeting of the AAVSO held as part as AstroCon 2004 in Berkeley, CA.

• Amateur Detects Exoplanet Transit - AAVSO observer Tonny Vanmunster detects TrES-1 from his private CBA Belgium observatory 9/8/04
• Charts for new exoplanet transit object  9/9/04
• Variable Star of the Season: Summer 2004 - The Delta Scuti variables are a diverse class of short period stars that have something for everyone! Visual, CCD, and PEP observers can enjoy the challenge of capturing the relatively small amplitudes of these stars.
• Publication Sites of AAVSO Times of Minima of Eclipsing Binaries  9/13/04
• Results from the January Outburst of DO Draconis  by AAVSO observer David Boyd 9/16/04
• Observation Usage Reports Find out how often and why your data is downloaded from the AAVSO website 9/8/04
• August Solar Bulletin includes SID and sunspot data 9/14/04
• Chart News and Updates  new TRES-1 and ASAS002511 charts are now online 9/20/04
• A New Cataclysmic Variable in Pisces from CBET (Central Bureau for Electronic Telegrams) with a visual magnitude about 10.49 9/22/04 - Reissued as IAUC 8410 by CBAT on 9/24/04
• MagPlot 2.0 Release - MagPlot is a Windows-based tool that can be used for analysing and plotting light curves of variable stars or other time series data. It is designed to work with data downloaded from the AAVSO.
• 93rd Annual AAVSO Meeting and a Day to Honor Janet Mattei Register online now for the October 29-30 events 9/21/04
• MagPlot 2.0 Released Windows software to display and analyse light curves using AAVSO data 9/22/04
• Supernova 2004et in NGC 6946 (Cepheus) AAVSO Newsflash Special Notice with a new image 9/30/04

• The New AAVSO Online Store Monographs, Journals, Polo shirts, Key chains... buy anything that the AAVSO sells in this new shopping cart style store 10/1/04
• CCD Views #326 Exoplanet Transit Campaign for IL Aqr/GJ 867 10/8/04
• Astronomy Picture of the DayBeautiful movie of the varying RR Lyrae stars in the bright globular cluster M3 10/12/04
• Janet A. Mattei Research Fellowship Program - Janet Mattei was dedicated to bringing amateur and professional astronomers together through variable star research. For this reason, the Janet A. Mattei Research Fellowship Program has been established. The purpose of the program is to enable a visiting scientist, postdoctoral researcher, or student to perform research at AAVSO Headquarters with the goal of disseminating the results throughout the astronomical community. To learn how you may contribute, read on!
• Variable Star of the Season: Transiting Exoplanets - AAVSO joins the search for transiting exoplanets. Find out more from the VSOTS article and the Exoplanet Transit Search Observing Program web page 10/12/04
• September Solar Bulletin Includes SID and Sunspot data. And new image added to the solar photo gallery. 10/13/04
• Global Exosolar Transit Campaign  CCD observers needed for upcoming campaign on IL Aqr 10/18/04
• Alert Notice 311 YY Dor - Possible Recurrent Nova 10/22/04
• VSOTS: Transiting Exoplanets - Humans have been speculating about the existence of worlds around other Suns for thousands of years, but it has not been until the past decade that extra-solar planets have actually been discovered. Even more exciting is that amateurs can play an important role in monitoring these newly discovered planets for possible transits—a crucial step to detection follow-up. To learn more about the possibilities, read the Variable Star of the Season article on Transiting Exoplanets HD 209458 and TrES-1 and visit the new AAVSO Exoplanet Transit Search Observing Program web page. Photo Credit: David A. Aguilar, CfA

• Charts and Comparison Stars: A Roadmap to the Future  Paper recently submitted to the JAAVSO 11/2/04
• A New Cataclysmic Variable In Hercules Results of the Var Her 04 campaign accepted for publication in PASP 11/9/04
• CCD Views #327 Observing Campaign for BL Lac November 12-14 and IL Aqr monitoring 11/12/04
• October Solar Bulletin Includes a solar activity report, sunspot data, and SID numbers 11/16/04
• Alert Notice 312 Apparent Nova in Puppis and Request to Monitor U Gem. New images of N Pup 04 11/22/04

• CCD Views #328 Updates and announcements on old and new observing campaigns 12/02/04
• 'Tis the Season to Find Exoplanets' Sky and Telescope.com article about an AAVSO/Transitsearch.com global observing campaign 12/3/04
• 'Little Piece of Immortality' for Saskatoon star-gazer  Richard Huziak's asteroid naming gets national coverage on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) website 12/6/04
• Airmass & Scintillation Calculator  Online tool to calculate airmass and scintillation for CCD observing 12/7/04
• WinWWZ Released  Windows XP software to perform wavelet analysis of time series data and visualize results 12/3/04
• AAVSO Thursdays Chats  Join us every Thursday for a web-based chat beginning December 9. 12/9/04
• Web Image for the Janet A. Mattei Research Fellowship- Help us support this program 12/9/04
• November Solar Bulletin  Includes sunspot and SID numbers, graphs, and more 12/14/04
• Observing Campaigns at a Glance Looking for something to observe? This new comprehensive web page displays ALL AAVSO observing campaigns that are currently in progress, scheduled for the near future or recently completed. Updated as campaign dates evolve. 12/15/04
• Julian Day Calendar 2005  is now available in pdf format 12/16/04
• Time-Series Analysis of Astronomical Data - Presented by Dr. Matthew Templeton, AAVSO, this is a broad overview of what time-series analysis is, how to do it, and what we hope to learn from it.
• VV Pup Observing Request  CCD data requested for Dec. 28-29 to coincide with UKIRT observations 12/22/04
• Join Our Current Exoplanet Transit Campaign 12/22/04
• Fall 2004 Mtg Archive - Links to presentations, talks, schedules and video from the AAVSO's 93rd Annual Meeting and Day in Honor of Janet Akyüz Mattei.
• Infrared CCD Filter Grant Application  Apply for an Iz or Ic CCD filter for use with the High Energy Network observations of GRBs and blazars. 12/16/04
• 242 New AAVSO Charts  for 68 stars now online 12/17/04
• CCD Views #329  Mark 421 Campaign and Transit Search update 12/17/04
• 3rd High Energy Astrophysics Workshop Survey  Please take this short survey if you are considering attending 12/17/04
• SkyandTelescope.com Article on the possible detection, by amateurs, of an exoplanet ringlike structure 12/30/04