News and Announcements
| 23 March | Special Notice #268: Chandra observations scheduled for CH Cyg and monitoring urgently needed |
23 March 2012: The Chandra X-ray satellite observations of the symbiotic variable CH Cyg have been scheduled as part of Dr. Margarita Karovska's (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) campaign. Please see AAVSO Alert Notice 454 and AAVSO Special Notice #267 for complete details on this observing campaign. The HST observations of CH Cyg have already been made. |
| 16 March | Alert Notice 455: V834 CAR = Nova Car 2012 = TCP J10502000-6406480 |
March 16, 2012: V834 CAR = Nova Car 2012 = TCP J10502000-6406480 |
| 16 March | Solar Bulletin - Volume 68, Number 2 |
The February 2012 Solar Bulletin is now available. |
| 15 March | Special Notice #267: HST observations of CH Cyg scheduled and monitoring urgently needed |
March 15, 2012: As announced in AAVSO Alert Notice 454 (http://www.aavso.org/aavso-alert-notice-454), Dr. Margarita Karovska, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has requested multiband photometry (all possible bands), high-speed photometry, spectroscopy, and visual observations of the symbiotic variable CH Cyg in support of HST and Chandra observations. She is studying the central region of CH Cyg and its jet. |
| 14 March | New eJAAVSO preprint: Effect of Online Sunspot Data on Visual Solar Observers by K. Larsen |
New eJAAVSO preprint (ej155): "The Effect of Online Sunspot Data on Visual Solar Observers" by K. Larsen |
| 10 March | Dr. John Percy Wins CASCA's inaugural Qilak Award |
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| 09 March | Charts and Sequences Update March 2012 |
New data released from the AAVSO Photometric All Sky Survey (APASS) has allowed us to revise, repair and update many reported chart errors as well as create new sequences for variable star sequence requests and regions of the sky previously lacking reliable photometry. As a result, the following stars have new or revised sequences, and you should update your records accordingly. |
| 06 March | New eJAAVSO preprint: "Recent Minima of 150 EB Stars" by G. Samolyk |
"Recent Minima of 150 Eclipsing Binary Stars" by G. Samolyk |
| 03 March | Aviso Especial de AAVSO #266: Posible Nova en Carina (TCP J10502000-6406480) | |
| 03 March | Special Notice #266: Possible Nova in Carina (TCP J10502000-6406480) |
3 March 2012: John Seach, Chatsworth Island, NSW, Australia, reports his discovery of a possible nova in Carina on 2012 February 26.543 UT at magnitude 10.2 on 3 images with digital SLR, 50 mm f/1.0 lens. No object was seen at the location on survey images taken on February 23.424 UT 2012. A possible image of the nova was seen at magnitude 11 (limit of visibility) on an image taken on February 25.733 UT 2012. Seach reports no object was seen on the POSS2 red image, and no variable star, comet, or minor planet was reported at the position. |
| 02 March | Alert Notice 454: Monitoring of CH Cyg requested for Chandra and HST observations |
March 2, 2012: Dr. Margarita Karovska, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has requested visual and photometric observations of the symbiotic variable CH Cyg in preparation for and support of Chandra and HST observations scheduled for later in March 2012. Dr. Karovska's observations will be a followup investigation of the central region of CH Cyg and its jet that was discovered a couple of years ago. AAVSO observations are requested in order to monitor the state of the system and correlate with the satellite observations. |
| 01 March | Two New CHOICE Classes Announced: Light Curves and CCD Imaging |
Registration is open for two new CHOICE classes to begin in May. The classes are: |
| 01 March | Special Notice #265: Bright Symbiotics in Sgr, Cyg, and Oph |
Observer S. O'Connor reported late last week that the symbiotic stars V4018 Sgr, CH Cyg, and V2523 Oph all appeared to be in outburst or brighter than normal. He reports: V4018 Sgr at V=11.59 on JD 2455981.021 (2012 Feb 23.521); CH Cyg at V=7.30 on 2455982.976 (Feb 25.476); and V2523 Oph at V=11.67 on 2455981.0 (Feb 23.5). Other more recent visual observations of CH Cyg by G. Holmberg (vis=7.6 on 2455983.4993) and D. Barrett (vis=7.4 on 2455985.6013) confirm the star is well above magnitude 8.0 at this time. |
| 29 February | AAVSO Bulletin 75 for 2012 |
Predicted Dates of Maxima and Minima of 381 Long Period Variables for 2012 |
| 27 February | Blog Post about Foster Brunton Updated |
I've updated the staff blog post about Foster Brunton and his experience in Guam in WW2. We received a lot of nice feedback on the article and I added some additional information about Mr. Brunton that we received. |
| 23 February | Visual Observing Manual in Persian |
The Manual for Visual Observing of Variable Stars is now available in Persian (Farsi). |
| 23 February | Alert Notice 453: Monitoring of S Dor requested for multiwavelength campaign |
February 23, 2012: Dr. Noel Richardson, Georgia State University, has requested monitoring of the luminous blue variable (LBV) prototype S Doradus as part of a multiwavelength campaign he is coordinating to study the photosphere of this star. At present the observations planned include: |
| 21 February | 2013 Spring Meeting Site Proposals Wanted - Due March 1st! |
The AAVSO is accepting proposals to host our 2013 "spring" meeting. Typically these meetings are held away from our HQ in Cambridge, MA sometime in the months of April-July. For the first time, we are experimenting with the process of accepting open suggestions and bids for the location of our next unplanned meeting (2012 will be in Big Bear, CA). |
| 17 February | A BVRcIc Survey of W Ursae Majoris Systems | |
| 17 February | H-R Diagram Education Materials |
Our own Donna Young has created an educational activity about variable stars on the HR Diagram. The activity is designed for formal K-16 educators and includes a teacher's guide, background material, student activities and answer keys. However, the activity is also a great learning tool for those new to variable stars. It will introduce many of the most important types of variable stars and describe how they are related to other types. The genius of HR Diagrams is how they place everything in context of the grand scheme of things. |
| 13 February | Solar Bulletin - Volume 68, Number 1 |
The January 2012 Solar Bulletin is now available. |
| 08 February | AAVSO CCD School |
The AAVSO will be holding a week-long "CCD School" from July 30 through August 3, 2012. The school will take place at Tufts University, located a couple of miles from AAVSO HQ. The school is designed for those who have some experience with a CCD system, and who want to learn how to take professional-quality data. |
| 08 February | Alert Notice 452: Simultaneous observations of SU Aur and AB Aur requested for XMM-Newton |
8 February 2012: Dr. Hans Moritz Guenther, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has requested bracketing and simultaneous observations in support of XMM-Newton x-ray observations of the classical T Tauri star SU Aur and the close-by Herbig Ae star AB Aur scheduled for February 15 - 17, 2012. The targets are too bright to use the XMM optical monitor for simultaneous monitoring, so your observing assistance is essential for correlation of the x-ray data. |
| 07 February | Accounting Clerk Wanted for p/t Position at AAVSO HQ | |
| 06 February | Long-Term Optical and Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Monitoring of epsilon Aurigea During the 2009-11 Eclipse |
