Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 12:21:55 -0500
From: arne <arne

Derek C Breit wrote:
> To the best of my knowledge HQ doesn't assign anyone stars for any
> purpose these days. In fact the only resources for suggested targets are
> buried in the web pages under 'needs more observations' in the Bulletin,
> 'easy to observe stars' and the targets on the campaign page. I can't
> think of any others.
> 
> 
> I wish someone would!
> 
> As a very rank amateur, I wish someone was around to say, " Ok with this
> setup you are using, try this star, and tell me what mag you get and
> why.."
> 
> After answering that, the seasoned observer would either say," That is
> way off.. Try again " or "Very Good, let's submit that observation and
> try this star that is a little bit tougher."
> 
> I would also like to see "program" of 5 or 10 stars of each type or
> class that are "easy" "moderate" "advanced" to observe..
> 
> I am such a newbie to Variables this email may not even make much sense.
> Hopefully someone has an idea of what I mean..
> 
The overwhelming sentiment from observers is that, especially at
the beginning, they would like a set of stars or at least some
direction as to what to observe.  I think a base set of objects is
reasonable; in fact, David Levy's book does a nice job of laying out
such programs, and the BAA has done this for years as well.

My first concern is that we want to ensure people understand any such list
is just a starting point, and you should hit those stars frequently but
also observe other objects.  At the same time, don't neglect your
favorite object, but don't observe it in exclusion of everything else either.

The second necessity is deciding what stars to include, and I'd like
to do that based on a large set of parameters: ease (or difficulty!)
of observing, scientific importance, etc.  So I've been talking with
researchers over the last year, and will continue to do so for a while
longer, before I suggest any program.  However, be rest assured that we
will give some guidance sometime in the near future.
Arne
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