Committee Chair and Sunspot Observing Group Leader: Carl E. Feehrer
Solar Flare/SID Observing Group Leader: Mike Hill

Contributions by both sunspot and SID observers to the work of the Solar Committee continued at strong levels during the period. Eleven thousand, one hundred and sixty-five observations were made by a group of 78 sunspot observers, and a total of 242 reports was contributed by a group of 24 SID observers. Three new sunspot observers were added to the ranks.

Observer Awards
We are pleased this year to be able to recognize formally the contributions of observers who have made sustained contributions to our work. The international flavor of the group of observers identified below provides some indication of the breadth of support that continues to be enjoyed by the Committee, and certificates recognizing the accomplishments of these observers will be mailed shortly.

Sunspot Observers In 1999, the AAVSO's Director and Joseph Lawrence, then chair of the Solar Division, initiated a program aimed at formally recognizing observers who had made sustained contributions to the program. Criteria for award of a certificate acknowledging such contributions at increments of 1500 observations were established at that time, and recognition was to be given at the Fall meeting each year.

Five observers have now met or exceeded the initial (1500 observations) criterion. They are:

Robert Branch (BRAR) United States
Brenda Branchett (BRAB) United States
Thomas Cragg (CR) Australia
German Morales Chavez (CHAG) Bolivia
Javier Jarboles Maranon (MARJ) Spain

SID Observers Beginning this year, formal recognition of the sustained contributions of particular SID observers will also be given. To receive this award, an observer must submit reports for a period of 40 months, an average of 10 months over a period of four years. As with the sunspot program, recognition of the accomplishments of qualifying observers will be given at the time of the Fall meeting.

Nine observers have now met or exceeded the criterion. Their names are as follows:

Jerry Winkler (A50) United States
Danny Overbeek (A52; awarded posthumously) South Africa
Dominic Toldo (A52) South Africa
James Ellerbe (A63) Spain
Alex Panzer (A83) United States
Walter Moos (A84) Switzerland
Michael Hill (A87) United States
Michael King (A90) United Kingdom
Guglielmo DiFillipo (A93) Italy

Website Activity
Activity with respect to the website's solar pages continues high. A total of 74,670 downloads of the various pages in the solar section of the website were requested. This total includes requests for volumes 59 (no.s 10-12) and 60 (no.s 1-9) of the Solar Bulletin, which totaled 2,508 for the period

Software Development
New sunspot analysis software consistent with the latest Windows operating systems has been completed. The software includes several new diagnostic features that advise the user of such things as non-conforming data formats and file names, incorrect observer IDs, incorrect dates, and other reporting deficiencies that complicate the monthly task of preparing the sunspot portion of the Solar Bulletin.

Acknowledgements
The successful performance of the Committee's work is due to the dedication and active support of an international cadre of observers, the AAVSO's staff, and Arthur Ritchie, a volunteer who assists in the preparation of the monthly sunspot data at the AAVSO's headquarters. A grateful "Thank you" goes out to all those who have aided in the our work during the year.

Michael Hill, SID Analyst 114 Prospect St Marlborough, MA 01752 USA noatak@aol.com

Observer Code Station(s) monitored A Clerkin A29 NAA J Winkler A50 NAA NML NPM D Toldo A52 NAA NWC VTX J Ellerbe A63 ICV P King A80 FTA M Hill A87 NAA J Mandaville A90 NPM G DiFillipo A93 HWU T Poulos A95 NAA R Battaiola A96 HWU J Wallace A97 NAA M King A99 HWU P Campbell A100 NLK G Bressan A101 HWU F Steyn A102 NAA NWC L Observatory A107 DHO P Mortfield A108 NAA

The events listed above meet at least one of the following criteria Event reported by two or more observers within +/- 5 minutes Event matched to GOES-8 XRA event to within +/- 15 minutes and event time < 1000 UT Reported by observer with a high quality rating > 8 (scale 1-10)

Solar Events

October started off very slowly but ended with quite a bit of activity. This can be seen quite visually in the graph below and is evident in the number of SID events detected by observers. There were 60 correlated SID events this month. Many of them had a low importance rataing, with a few stronger events. There were 224 X-Ray flares detected by the GOES satellite. Of these, 9 were M-Class events and one, on the 30th of the month, was an X-Class event.

One of our members, Steve Hansen (A59) has a number of Rustrak strip chart recorders. Even though the AAVSO SID program does not promote the use of these for monitoring since it can no longer supply the paper rolls, some of you might still have an interest in these for experimenting or for spare parts. If you do, then I suggest you contact Steve and see what he has available. His email address is shansen(at)tiac.net (email address purposely modified)