News and Announcements

27 April

New ejaavso preprint "Leo5 is a Z Cam Type Dwarf Nova" by P. Wils, T. Krajci, and M. Simonsen

ej 142: "Leo5 is a Z Cam Type Dwarf Nova" (P. Wils, T. Krajci, M. Simonsen)

http://www.aavso.org/ejaavso142

20 April

The Manual for Visual Observing of Variable Stars has been updated to reflect changes to the VSP and WebObs that happened when the new website was launched last summer. This mostly affects Chapters 2 and 7. To download these and other chapters, or the entire Manual, please click on the link below:

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

You will also find versions of the Manual translated into seven other languages on this page.

Stay tuned for the Portuguese verson, due to be completed soon!

15 April

AAVSO Newsletter 48 now online

http://www.aavso.org/aavso-newsletter

15 April

AAVSO Alert Notice 437

Campaign to monitor the recurrent nova T Pyx throughout 2011 eruption

April 15, 2011: Further to AAVSO Alert Notice 436, a fast photometry observing campaign has been initiated by Dr. Bradley Schaefer (Louisiana State University) to monitor the recurrent nova T Pyxidis throughout its current eruption.

14 April

Alerta de AAVSO 436

Erupción de la nova recurrente T Pyxidis
14 de abril de 2011

La nova recurrente T Pyxidis ha sido descubierta en erupción. Fue detectada por M. Linnolt (Hawaii, Estados Unidos) con magnitud visual 13.0 en abril 14.2931, 2011 (JD 2455665.7931), y confirmada por A. Plummer (m(vis)=12.2, JD 2455665.8847) y S. Kerr (m(vis)=11.3, JD 2455665.9410). Esta es la primer erupción de T Pyx desde el 7 de diciembre de 1966, hace casi 45 años. Se solicitan urgentemente observaciones de esta rara variable eruptiva, comenzando inmediatamente.

14 April

AAVSO Alert Notice 436

Outburst of the recurrent nova T Pyx

06 April

New ejaavso preprint: "Times of Minima and New Ephemerides..." by A. Marchini et al.

ej 141: "Times of Minima for Several Eclipsing Binaries and New Ephemerides for V569 Lyrae, V571 Lyrae, and V572 Lyrae" (A. Marchini et al.)

http://www.aavso.org/ejaavso141

03 April

AAVSO Alert Notice 435

V5588 SGR = NOVA SAGITTARII 2011 No. 2 = PNV J18102135-2305306

Apri1 3, 2011

Event: V5588 SGR = NOVA SAGITTARII 2011 No. 2 = PNV J18102135-2305306

Discovered by: Koichi Nishiyama, Kurume, Japan, and Fujio Kabashima, Miyaki, Japan

Discovery Date: ~ 2011 March 27.832 UT

02 April

AAVSO Special Notice #238

HST observations scheduled for GW Lib

01 April

Charts and Sequences Update April 2011

April 1, 2011

The following variable stars have either new or revised sequences and charts. If you observe any of these stars you should update your charts to the most recent version.

Thank you,
The AAVSO Charts and Sequences Team

Name

Constellation

Change

31 March

How to report new variable star discoveries

What do I do when I discover a new variable star?

(Jump to Reporting Possible Nova Discoveries)

30 March

AAVSO Alert Notice 434

Outburst of NSV 1436

The cataclysmic variable NSV 1436 has been discovered in outburst. This is the first bright outburst of this star observed since 1948, and followup observations are strongly encouraged. Little is known about the nature of NSV 1436, and observations may help shed light on whether the star is an infrequently outbursting normal dwarf nova, a WZ Sge star, or recurrent nova.

28 March

AAVSO Special Notice #237

NOVA SAGITTARII 2011 No. 2 = PNV J18102135-2305306

21 March

Edward A. Halbach, 1909-2011

http://www.aavso.org/pipermail/aavso-discussion/2011-March/024796.html

21 March

Last Chance! Help us plan for the 100th Annual Meeting of the AAVSO

Hello AAVSOers!

If you have not already completed the survey, please help us to plan for the Centennial Annual Meeting by answering these 10 questions.

20 March

AAVSO Alert Notice 433

Request for observations of GW Lib in support of HST observations

March 20, 2011: Dr. Paula Szkody, University of Washington, has requested our help in monitoring the cataclysmic variable GW Lib for upcoming Hubble Space Telescope observations, scheduled to be made during the week of 2011 April 7-11 UT. Dr. Szkody also observed this object with HST in March 2010 (see AAVSO Alert Notice 417).

16 March

Centennial Celebration Update March 2011

We are nearing the end of the first quarter of our centennial year. This is a good time to take a look at what has transpired thus far and what is yet to come.

Observer Challenges

http://www.aavso.org/centennial-observer-challenges

The Twenty Million and Counting! Contest is over now that the database has passed this milestone. The winner, with the prediction closest to the actual day of the milestone was Christopher Watson of San Diego, California.

16 March

New ejaavso preprint: "Orbital Period of Three Cataclysmic Variables" by P. Wils

ej 140: "The Orbital Period of Three Cataclysmic Variables From WASP Data" (P. Wils)

http://www.aavso.org/ejaavso140

14 March

AAVSO Alert Notice 432

SUPERNOVA 2011at = PSN J09285756-1448206 in MCG -02-24-27

14 March

2nd DSLR Online Chat: March 19 at 11:00 AM ET

Members from the Citizen Sky DSLR Documentation and Reduction team will be hosting a second chat on Saturday, March 19 at 11:00 AM Eastern. If you have questions about using your DSLR camera for photometry, or any portion of their tutorials please plan to attend. Science questions are also welcome. More details on how to join the chat will follow this week. Click here for info on how to join the chat.

09 March

Abstract Deadline TODAY 3/9!

This is a friendly abstract deadline reminder for the joint AAVSO/AAS meeting being held in Boston this May:

05 March

DSLR Chat Transcript From Last Saturday at 11am ET (-5UT)

Note: This chat is over. A transcript can be found here.

05 March

Charts and Sequences update March 2011

The following stars have new or revised sequences since Feb. 02, 2011.

If you observe any of these stars, please update your charts as soon as possible.

This batch of updates includes many stars visible from the southern heisphere only.

SN2011b