News and Announcements


26 February	AAVSO Bulletin 78 for 2015 published	AAVSO Bulletin 78 - Predicted Dates of Maxima and Minima of 380 Long Period Variables for 2015 has been published. The Bulletin is an essential aid in planning your LPV observing program! Generate a custom version of the Bulletin tailored to your observing needs, or download the Bulletin in PDF or CSV format. Find a list of legacy LPVs in need of observation here as well.
26 February	Landolt Standards and 21st Century Photometry	Arlo Landolt should be familiar to most of the AAVSO community, not only as a friend and former councillor of the AAVSO, but as one of the leading figures of astronomical photometry and photometric calibrations. Arlo Landolt's work on standard stars has set the standard -- very literally -- for astronomical photometry for nearly half a century.
18 February	Alert Notice 509: Nova Sagittarii 2015 = PNV J18142514-2554343	February 18, 2015 Event: Nova Sagittarii 2015 = PNV J18142514-2554343 Discovered independently by: - Hideo Nishimura (Shizuoka-ken, Japan) - Koichi Nishiyama (Kurume, Japan) and Fujio Kabashima (Miyaki, Japan) Discovery magnitude: - Nishimura: DSLR magnitude 11.2, using 200-mm f/3.2 lens + digital camera - Nishiyama and Kabashima: unfiltered CCD magnitude 10.9, using a 105-mm f/4 camera lens (+SBIG STL6303E camera)
17 February	Alert Notice 508: Nova Scorpii 2015 == PNV J17032620-3504140	February 17, 2015 Event: Nova Scorpii 2015 = PNV J17032620-3504140 Discovered by: Tadashi Kojima, Gunma-ken, Japan Discovery magnitude: unfiltered DSLR magnitude 8.1, using a 150-mm f/2.8 lens and digital camera Discovery date: 2015 February 11.837 UT Coordinates: RA: 17 03 26.18 , Decl: -35 04 17.6
13 February	Special Notice #398: Bright Transient in Sgr (PNV J18142514-2554343)	Patrick Schmeer (SPK, Bischmisheim, Germany) reports the announcement on the CBAT Transient Object Confirmation Page (TOCP) of the discovery of a bright transient in Sgr on 2015 February 12.852 at an unfiltered magnitude of 10.9 by K. Nishiyama, using a 105-mm f/4 camera lens with an SBIG STL6303E CCD camera. Nishiyama notes nothing is present on a previous image from 2015 February 02.887. The transient has been independently confirmed with two pre-discovery images: by H. Nishimura (Shizuoka-ken, Japan) at magnitude 11.2 on 2015 February 12.840, and by T.
12 February	CCD Photometry Guide update	The AAVSO Guide to CCD Photometry version 1.1 is now available for download. This version contains several corrections and clarifications based on feedback from Ken Menzies and Tim Crawford. Thanks you two! If you have comments or find inconsistencies, please send them to me and we will consider them for inclusion in the next revision. Sara Beck, AAVSO Technical Assistant (sara@aavso.org)
11 February	Special Notice #397: Bright Transient in Sco (PNV J17032620-3504140)	February 11, 2015: Patrick Schmeer (SPK, Bischmisheim, Germany) reports the announcement on the CBAT Transient Object Confirmation Page (TOCP) of the discovery of a bright transient in Sco on 2015 February 11.8367 UT at unfiltered CCD magnitude 8.2 by Tadashi Kojima (Gunma-ken, Japan) using a 150-mm f/2.8 lens + a digital camera. Kojima reports nothing is visible on a frame from the same camera on Feb. 10.827 UT.
09 February	Campaign highlight: b Persei	Some of the best opportunities for contributing to astronomical research come through the AAVSO's Observing Campaigns, which are observing projects requested by individual researchers with a specific goal in mind. Some Campaigns are designed to last for a long time, and the results aren't known until well after the campaign concludes. But some campaigns pay off immediately. Our campaign on the bright star b Persei is an example of the latter, with a handful of AAVSO observers getting exactly the right data, at the right time, right away!
23 January	Charts and Sequences Update January 2015	With APASS data release 8 filling in most of the remaining areas of sky with reliable secondary standards, the sequence team has been busy filling the remaining standing requests. This latest batch of new and revised sequences also has many newly discovered CVs from ASASSN, as well as sequences for RCB, NR and ZAND objects in the AID and VSX. You can downoad the list as either an .xlsx or .csv file.
21 January	AAVSO Newsletter for January 2015 is published	AAVSO Newsletter 63, January 2015 is now available to members The AAVSO Newsletter is a periodic, general forum that supports our various observing programs with lists of new targets, observing programming ideas, and general information that spans a wide area of interest. Guest writers contribute pieces that can range from current events to book reviews.
20 January	New eJAAVSO preprint: An eclipsing symbiotic nova in outburst?	ej295 The Curious Case of ASAS J174600-2321.3: an Eclipsing Symbiotic Nova in Outburst? Stefan Hümmerich Stiftstr. 4, Braubach, D-56338, Germany; American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), Cambridge, MA; Bundesdeutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Veränderliche Sterne e.V. (BAV), Berlin, Germany Sebastián Otero Olazabal 3650-8 C, Buenos Aires, 1430, Argentina; American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), Cambridge, MA
19 January	Special Notice #396: Blazar PKS 0716+71 in very bright outburst	January 19, 2015: The blazar PKS 0716+71 == S5 0716+71 is currently in a very bright active state, at a visual magnitude of 12.1 as observed by G. Poyner on 2015 January 19.212 (JD 2457041.712). The object was first noted in outburst by Arkharov et al.
19 January	Two new eJAAVSO preprints: Maxima of 67 SPPs; Longterm monitoring of semiregulars	ej294 Recent Maxima of 67 Short Period Pulsating Stars Gerard Samolyk P.O. Box 20677, Greenfield, WI 53220 Received January 8, 2015; accepted January 8, 2015 Abstract
16 January	Special Notice #395: Alpha Com campaign cancelled	January 16, 2015: We have been informed by PI Dr. Matthew Muterspaugh that his campaign on alpha Com (AAVSO Alert Notice 506) has been cancelled. Position measurements published a century ago contained errors that affected the predictions for the time of eclipse. More information will be coming from Dr. Muterspaugh and we will disseminate it to everyone in an Alert Notice, but he asked that the observer community be informed now so that observing efforts might not be wasted.
14 January	Solar Bulletin - Volume 70, Number 12	The December 2014 Solar Bulletin is now available. Please visit the Solar Bulletin web page to download your copy: http://www.aavso.org/solar-bulletin
14 January	New eJAAVSO preprint: Revised elements of 78 southern EB systems	ejaavso292 Revised Light Elements of 78 Southern Eclipsing Binary Systems Margaret Streamer, Jeff Byron, David J. W. Moriarty, Tom Richards, Bill Allen, Roy Axelsen, Col Bembrick, Mark Blackford, Terry Bohlsen, David Herald, Roland Idaczyk, Stephen Kerr, Ranald McIntosh, Yenal Ogmen, Jonathan Powles, Peter Starr, George Stockham Abstract
12 January	Special Notice #394: Observations of b Persei urgently requested	January 12, 2015: Photometry by P. Benni (AAVSO observer code BPAD; Massachusetts, United States), D. Collins (CDK; North Carolina, United States), F. Campos (CFRA; Catalunya, Spain), and F. Melillo (MFR; New York, United States) suggest that b Persei may have entered eclipse around JD 2457033.6 (2015 January 11.1 UT). Time-series photometric observations of this bright star are urgently requested beginning immediately, and continuing for the next two weeks (through at least 2015 January 26 UT) and possibly beyond.
07 January	JAAVSO Vol. 42, No. 2, 2014 printed copies available	Paper copy from createspace.com is available for $12 plus shipping. http://www.aavso.org/jaavso-v42n2
06 January	Alert Notice 507: Observations of the eclipsing binary b Persei	*January 7, 2015*: Dr.
04 January	2015 CHOICE Course Schedule
30 December	The last fundraising letter	Dear AAVSO Supporters, This is the last fundraising letter you will get from the AAVSO in 2014, I promise.	15 December	Solar Bulletin - Volume 70, Number 11	The November 2014 Solar Bulletin is now available. Please visit the Solar Bulletin web page to download your copy: http://www.aavso.org/solar-bulletin
11 December	JAAVSO Vol. 42, No. 2, 2014 is published	Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers Volume 42, Number 2, 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS Does the Period of a Pulsating Star Depend on its Amplitude? John R. Percy, Jeong Yeon Yook 245
11 December	Special Notice #393: Correction to Special Notice #392 [ASASSN-14lp]	December 11, 2014: In AAVSO Special Notice #392, the name of the supernova discovered in NGC 4666 was given as ASASSN-141p. It should have been ASASSN-14lp. That is to say, the text following the dash should be "fourteen ell pee" and not "fourteen one pee". Please create charts and submit observations using the name ASASSN-14lp. Sincere apologies for the error!
11 December	Special Notice #392: ASASSN-14lp = Type Ia Supernova in NGC 4666 (Virgo)	December 11, 2014: T. W.-S. Holoien et al. announce in The Astronomer's Telegram (ATel) #6795 (http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=6795) the discovery of a transient in NGC 4666 at magnitude 14.3 V on 2014 December 9.61 UT. The discovery was made in the course of the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASASSN) search, and the object assigned the name ASASSN-14lp. ASASSN-14lp was not seen (<15.3 V) in poor-quality ASASSN images obtained on 2104 Dec. 08.35 UT.