News and Announcements

RR Lyrae, 1 degree field, DSS I survey plate
(copyright 1993-1995 CalTech/STScI)

APASS: The AAVSO Photometric All-Sky Survey

Data release 1 of APASS occurred on 2010 September 10, and contained photometry for approximately four million stars distributed among several hundred discrete fields between -10.15 < Dec < +87.35.  Data release 2 occurred on 2011 February 10, and included an additional four million stars from the southern hemisphere, acquired from our site at CTIO.   Data Release 3 occurred on 2011 August 10, and further extended southern hemisphere coverage.

Monitoring and Study of V2672 Oph

SN 2010hg in NGC 3001

September 2, 2010: We have been notified by Dan Green, Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, that Berto Monard (MLF), Pretoria, South Africa, has discovered a bright supernova (discovered at 15.0, brightened to 14.7 in 24 hours) in NGC 3001. Here are details quoted from CBET 2434 (Green, ed.):

Two new FU Orionis variables in Cygnus

We have installed new chat room software. Click the link below to test it out for us. We think it is easier to use than the old software and also works in more web browser clients. You can also create your own private chat rooms for discussion with other members.

http://www.aavso.org/open-discussion

Please send comments and suggestions to aavso@aavso.org. Thanks!

The charts and sequences team has been busy updating old and creating
new sequences for AAVSO variable star charts.

Tom Bretl and Tim Crawford in particular have been very ambitious, and
I would like to extend my own personal "thank you for a job well
done". They have devoted literally hundreds of hours of work to this
effort in the last couple years, resulting in almost 600 chart
revisions.

Outburst of V592 Her

August 1, 2010: Maciej Reszelski has reported an outburst of V592 Her
at CR=14.14mag. This WZ Sge variable last had a superoutburst
on August 26, 1998, when it reached 12th magnitudes.
In quiescence, V592 Her is fainter than 20th magnitude.

V592 Her is located at RA 16 30 56.37 DEC +21 16 58.2 (J2000).

Over the next few months we will post a number of quick tips pointing out some new features/changes with the new web site. 

The first tip is about seeing who your fellow users are. Clicking on the URL below will give you a list of all registered users on the site:

http://www.aavso.org/allusers

Observing Campaign on Hubble's First Variable in M31: M31_V1

July 16, 2010: An observing campaign is being carried out on M31_V1, the first variable star discovered in M31 by Edwin Hubble. The Hubble Heritage Team, with Dr. Keith Noll, Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), as Principal Investigator, plans to observe M31_V1 with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and needs to know the phase of this Cepheid variable.

AAVSO Newsletter #45 has been posted. Check out articles about astronauts, challenges for visual observers, new articles for Eyepiece Views, reports from Galway astrofest and observing in Scotland, and much more.