News and Announcements

AAVSO Councillor Kevin Paxson has completed and presented the results of the AAVSO's survey of the professional astronomical community.  The AAVSO solicited participation from professional astronomers in an online survey early this year, and the results are now available in both raw and summarized form, with commentary and analysis from Kevin.  The results were presented at the 2013 Spring Meeting of the AAVSO, and the final reports are now avail

From: Kevin B. Marvel, AAVSO Director Search Committee Chair and Executive Director, American Astronomical Society

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.

July 19, 2013

Event: Supernova 2013dy in NGC 7250 (Lacerta) = PSN J22181760+4034096

Independent discovery by:
 - Lick Observatory Supernova Search (LOSS), reported by C. Casper, W. Zheng, W. Li, and A. V. Filippenko (University of California at Berkeley) and S. B. Cenko (Goddard Space Flight Center)
 - Kuniaki Goto (Miyoshi-shi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan), communicated by Shoichi Itoh (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

July 19, 2013: HST/COS is scheduled to observe the WZ Sge-type variable 1RXS J213807.1+261958 (= OT J213806.6+261957) next week. Observations are scheduled for:

1RXS J213807.1+261958 (OT J213806.6+261957)
            2013 July 25 17:26:50 through 21:05:23 UT

The scheduling team will likely make their final decision early on July 24, and your observations will be essential now through July 26.

ej238: "I-band Measurements of Red Giant Variables: Methods and Photometry of 66 Stars" by T. T. Moon

ej239: "V2331 Cygni is an Algol Variable With Deep Eclipses" by H. Bengisson, et al.

www.aavso.org/ejaavso

VStar version 2.15.3 has just been released!

This version of VStar includes a new .jnlp file which means that if you used VStar before and have a file called vstar.jnlp on your computer, you should delete it and get the new one by clicking the "Download VStar Now" file from here:

http://www.aavso.org/vstar-overview

You should also replace any plugins you have with new versions from here:

July 8, 2013: The VY Scl variable OR And continues in its low state, so it has been scheduled for HST/COS observations. Based on your observations, the HST/COS team will be making the final decision tomorrow morning (2013 July 9) whether to observe OR And on:

OR And 2013 July 10 11:47:01 through 15:56:12 UT

OR And is ~18V in its low state and ~14.5V in its high state.

The Hungarian version of the recently revised Manual for Visual Observing of Variable Stars - Vizuális Változócsillag-észlelők Kézikönyve - is now available for download here:

http://www.aavso.org/visual-observing-manual-hungarian

June 24, 2013: The date given in AAVSO Special Notice #360 for the HST/COS  observations of the SU UMa-type dwarf nova CC Scl has been REVISED from June 27 to:

CC Scl   2013 Jun 29 03:19:13 through 05:54:10 UT

The HST team will be making a final decision early on June 28 about observing CC Scl based substantially on your observations, so they are essential.
 

June 20, 2013: Dr. Andrea Dupree (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) has requested AAVSO monitoring of the symbiotic variable AG Draconis from now through at least September 2013 for correlation with upcoming Chandra x-ray and HST ultraviolet observations.

The May 2013 Solar Bulletin is now available.