[Aavso-photometry] Southern sequences added to comparison star database

[arne]

On February 17, 2009 we added 3932 stars from Mati Morel's
"Snapshot" project to the Variable Star Database (VSD).
This is the database that is used to overlay comparison
stars on VSP finding charts.

The new sequence stars are for many southern variable-star
fields that were on the RASNZ program, but not on the AAVSO
program.  These include fields like T Cha and RU Car.
There are another 200 stars that were left out because of
possible typos.  Mati recently reviewed these and made
changes where appropriate; they will be added in a week or so.
Another 800 stars are already in our database, but with
significantly different magnitudes.  These are being checked
before updating VSD with the different values, and will be
added in smaller increments over a longer period of time.

Many thanks go to Mati for reformatting the Snapshot sequences
into the file format that we need for batch uploading to VSD!

As a side note, Sara Beck is helping me convert the calibration
databases from SRO and NOFS into MySQL format, and writing a
Java application that will plot these calibrations, along
with outputting a file with interactively selected stars
into VSD format.  This program will be used by the Sequence Team
to create new sequences in an easy-to-use manner.  If you want
to join the sequence team and help us add new sequences and
modify old sequences, give Mike Simonsen an email and
get on the AAVSO-sequence mail-list.
Arne