Skip to main content

News and Announcements

AAVSO Alert Notice 423 August 30, 2010 - 6:28pm

Request for observations of V455 AND in support of HST observations

AAVSO Special Notice #216 August 27, 2010 - 10:40am

Two new FU Orionis variables in Cygnus

99th Fall Meeting of the AAVSO August 24, 2010 - 5:15pm

Hilton Hotel

Woburn, Massachusetts
Oct. 28-30, 2010

New AAVSO Chat Room August 24, 2010 - 5:06pm

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!

AAVSO Special Notice #215 August 24, 2010 - 2:14pm

Brightening of the symbiotic star CI Cyg

Charts and Sequences Update August 18, 2010 - 2:35pm

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.

AAVSO Facebook page reaches 2000 fans! August 5, 2010 - 4:08pm

After passing the 1500 fans mark in April, the number of fans on the AAVSO Facebook page has grown steadily over the last four months. Tuesday, August 3, when we were just 137 people shy of the 2000 fans mark, a call went out to our members and friends through Facebook and Twitter to help us recruit enough new fans to get us over that benchmark. By 16:00UT on Thursday we had eclipsed the 2000 mark, and our ranks are still growing.

AAVSO Special Notice #214 August 1, 2010 - 11:38am

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).

AAVSO Special Notice #213 July 30, 2010 - 11:05am

Request for observations of high-mass X-ray binaries

July 30, 2010: Dr. Gordon Sarty, University of Saskatchewan,
Canada, requests our continuing assistance in his ongoing observations
of High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs). Dr. Sarty provides the following
text for the current request:

Please obtain BVRI photometry (or any subset thereof, VI
preferred) of the following four HMXBs for the time period of

New Site: List of AAVSO Users July 26, 2010 - 4:14pm

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

New Web Site Update! July 26, 2010 - 12:34am

100726 Update: Arne has posted an update to the migration to the AAVSO Discussion Group. We will continue to update the known bug list over the next few days. Please continue to send in comments and bugs. And don't forget to join us in the chat room on Monday.

AAVSO Alert Notice 422 July 16, 2010 - 5:20pm

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

Citizen Sky Planetarium Show w/Timothy Ferris July 16, 2010 - 1:03am

 Our Citizen Sky project has released a nice 7-minute planetarium trailer about Algol, eclipsing binary stars, epsilon Aurigae and more. It is narrated by Timothy Ferris and available on YouTube and also in hi-def and full-dome formats. 07/16/10

AAVSO Newsletter #45 July 15, 2010 - 1:13am

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.

Astro Data Mining Blog July 13, 2010 - 12:57pm

Dr. John Rachlin has launched a new blog highlighting resources useful for those interested in data mining astronomical databases. From his blog:

JAAVSO Preprint May 9, 2010 - 11:22am

Two New Variable Stars in the Fields of Nova Cygni 2006 and Nova Cygni 2007

pdf    ps

David Boyd
5 Silver Lane, West Challow, Wantage, OX12 9TX, UK

Received January 20, 2010; revised March 16, 2010; accepted March 25, 2010

Optical transient in Pegasus May 9, 2010 - 11:17am

Possible Nova in Scorpius - N Sco 2010 No. 2 May 9, 2010 - 11:16am

Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams CBET 2262 (Daniel W. E. Green, ed.) announces the discovery by Koichi Nishiyama, Kurume, Fukuoka-ken, Japan; and Fujio Kabashima, Miyaki-cho, Saga-ken, Japan, of a possible nova in Scorpius at magnitude 8.6 on two 40-s unfiltered CCD frames (limiting magnitude 13.1) taken around April 25.788 UT. They confirmed the new object on unfiltered CCD frames (limiting magnitude 17.3) taken around April 25.796 from which they measured the following precise position: R.A. = 16:55:13.16, Decl. = -38:03:46.9 (equinox 2000.0)

Request for photometry of the dwarf nova SS Cygni May 9, 2010 - 11:12am

Further to AAVSO Special Notice 204 (2010 April 15), we are requesting additional observations of the bright dwarf nova SS Cygni currently in outburst. SS Cyg is currently beginning a dwarf nova outburst, and observations of this star made with the EVLA have detected the source at radio wavelengths. Observations of SS Cyg have been scheduled with the VLBA on 2010 April 22 and April 23. Continued optical monitoring of SS Cyg through the end of the current outburst is strongly encouraged, with intensive coverage requested during the VLBA observations.

Rapid fading in the luminous blue variable S Doradus May 9, 2010 - 11:02am

Request for monitoring of SS Cygni in support of EVLA/VLBA radio observations May 9, 2010 - 10:56am

Dr. James Miller-Jones (NRAO, Charlottesville) requests the assistance of AAVSO observers to provide rapid notification of the next outburst of the dwarf nova SS Cygni. A confirmed detection of an outburst will be used to trigger-radio wavelength observations of SS Cygni using the NRAO's EVLA and VLBA radio telescopes. Radio observations will be used to study jet formation in dwarf novae, and rapid notification of the onset of outburst is needed. This project follows in the footsteps of a previous campaign by Dr. Elmar Koerding to examine the same phenomenon.

AAVSO 49 Bay State Rd. Cambridge, MA 02138 aavso@aavso.org 617-354-0484