AAVSO 89^th Annual Meeting Report

AAVSO met in Waltham, Massachusetts, from October 27-28, 2000, for its 89th Annual Meeting. Attendees enjoyed lingering fall foliage as temperatures dropped from a high of 80ø F to a more windy, autumnal level, ushering in the chilly observing season for New England. In addition to a slate of scientific presentations and a Town Meeting, members heard songs by David Levy, poetry by Jeremy Knowles, and Vice President Bill Dillon's hilarious introduction of the concept of "spousal permission units."

AAVSO 89th Annual Meeting group photo at the MMS Headquarters, Saturday October 28, 2000. Photo by Msgr. Ron Royer.

On Friday, members attended the morning session of the Centenary and enjoyed a box lunch at the Center for Astrophysics. They then left to commence the Annual Meeting in a state-of-the-art auditorium at the Massachusetts Medical Society in Waltham. Arne Henden opened the first of two scientific paper sessions with a presentation on the TASS Mark IV Photometric Survey. Following on the successful Mark III Survey (www.tass-survey.org), Tom Droege has created thirty Mark IV systems. Each system uses a pair of 10-cm cameras with Loral 2kx2k CCDs that do V- and I-band photometry down to V-magnitude 16. The Mark IV is capable of .01 to .03 magnitude photometric precision, and can observe 500,000 stars in 1000 square degrees of sky each night. Observers also can use the Mark IV for target-of-opportunity observations of gamma ray bursts, cataclysmic variable outbursts, and comets. Droege, whose has generously paid for the systems with his own money, is loaning them to observers with good locations who intend to take full advantage of them. His e-mail is tdroege@veriomail.com.

Mario Motta reported on his observations of CH Cygni. Using admittedly scant data and what turned out to be a suspected eclipsing binary as his comparison star, Motta reported that CH Cygni appears to show microvariability, including dampened variability at minimum. President Lee Anne Willson said the most likely cause of the microvariability is variation in mass transfer onto the hot star.

John Pazmino followed with a report on efforts in Manhattan to combat light pollution, or "illuminous graffiti," as he called it. Pazmino said that as of the winter holidays, Manhattan will have eradicated most of the trash lighting from its storefronts and replaced many tree floodlights with "constellated" lighting instead. Regina Jorgenson and Vladimir Strelnitski spoke about the complex variability of MWC349, so far the only known natural hydrogen maser and the only known natural laser in the universe. Jorgenson invited AAVSO members to join in the research by contributing observations of MWC349. Msgr. Ronald E. Royer followed with thoughts on the slow death of SN1999em, a supernova in NGC1637 that faded very slowly. Finding very little data on the decline of supernovae, Royer asked whether "instead of giving them last rites, we should create a hospice program to nurse them into the inner-inner sanctum." Janet Mattei said such data would be particularly valuable for Type I-a supernovae, and that she and Peter Garnavich are thinking about inviting CCD observers to engage in such research.

Frederick R. West finished the first paper session by presenting his predictions for observing transits of Gliese 876 by its extrasolar giant planet. Transits should dim the star by .2 magnitudes. The next windows of opportunity in 2001 are between the 6th and 16th of June, August, and October, with the latter presenting the most favorable conditions. Observations would help astronomers better determine the planet's radius, mass, and orbital elements.

After a coffee break, AAVSO reconvened for a Town Meeting. Hawaiian students Tiffany Llenos and Mark Daranciang opened by presenting Janet and Mike Mattei with colorful Hawaiian leis. Lew Cook then announced that he has created a light curve generator using Microsoft Excel. Observers may download it for free at www.lewcook.com.

For the remainder of the Town Meeting, Janet Mattei, Lee Anne Willson, Dan Kaiser, and Bill Dillon fielded questions and concerns from AAVSO members. Tom Cragg opened the discussion by asking headquarters to make the Stonyhurst disks available to solar observers. Janet Mattei reported that headquarters has eight Stonyhurst charts that it distributes in paper format. Alternatively, solar observers may download the file SPOTPLOT.EXE from AAVSO's website. Gary Walker then asked whether, except for the Stellafane Convention, organizations could make a better effort to schedule meetings around full moon. Janet Mattei said AAVSO will do what it can, but is restricted by the need to compile fiscal year-end information for the annual meeting.

Janet then addressed the issue of publication of the Journal. In the past year, the Journal has been late because the production editor left with papers well behind in the refereeing process. Today, Michael Saladyga is the new production editor and, within six months, there will be no more delays. After the upcoming spring meeting in 2001, each Journal will appear before AAVSO's next meeting. Janet apologized for the recent delays while asking members to understand that the situation was beyond AAVSO's control for a short time.

A member asked whether AAVSO plans to conduct any All Sky Monitoring. Janet Mattei said AAVSO does not yet have plans for a survey of its own, but wishes to be informed of and involved with the many surveys currently underway. Meanwhile, the AAVSO Council will hold a retreat after the Spring 2001 meeting to address the future of AAVSO's observing programs, including participation in surveys, satellite research, and other programs. In this regard, Janet said AAVSO is going to be part of NASA and NSF's planned national virtual observatory.

The Town Meeting concluded by addressing a question that came up a week earlier in AAVSO's online discussion forum, namely whether the era of visual observations is over. AAVSO officers and members agreed overwhelmingly that visual observations continue to be important and valuable for many scientific and social purposes. While surveys are discovering hundreds of thousands of variable stars, amateurs must make follow-up observations to create a high density of observations over long time periods. Visual observers are essential to the success of target-of-opportunity projects with satellites and ground-based professional telescopes. Without a solid database for long period variables, the photometry of current surveys such as Hipparcos would suffer greatly.

Socially, visual observing programs are important for attracting young people to astronomy. Indeed, there are plenty of adults without the time, money, or desire to tackle the technical aspect of CCD observing. And, many of the visual observers of today are the CCD astronomers of tomorrow. Abandoning visual programs would clearly have negative repercussions for astronomy.

In the end, then, almost everyone agreed that the challenge facing AAVSO is how best to make the visual, CCD, and survey programs complementary rather than competitive. After all, if CCD systems contain some of the finest photometers attached to temperamental computers, Lee Anne Willson said visual observers are "imprecise photometers attached to the best CPU ever developed."

Following a buffet dinner, members returned to the auditorium for a light-hearted evening of AAVSO Show & Tell. Mario Motta, a cardiologist for twenty-five years, shared similarities between light curves and echocardiograms. Reading Z Cam's light curve, Motta reported that the star needs a pacemaker! Motta's list of the top ten ways stars resemble people had everyone in stitches. Janet Mattei followed with a beautiful slide presentation comparing her two passions, stars and flowers. She quoted Clara L. Balfour as saying, "Stars are the flowers of the universe, and flowers are the stars of the earth."

AAVSO members David Levy and Dr. Mario Motta at the 89th Annual Meeting.

Bill Dillon followed with the story of how the Fort Bend Astronomy Club caught the afterglow of GRB000926 on the night of September 27. Bill reported that he might have been the one to take the images, except he already had used one of his two "spousal permission units" for the week and wanted to save the other for asteroid research. Joe Dellinger, the FBAC member who took the images, is single and so needs no permission to overindulge in his hobby. On the telephone after Show & Tell, Bill told his wife she had become a hero to the spouses in attendance. Meanwhile, members braced for the permission unit concept to spread to other clubs nationwide. By the way, Bill stacked the images Joe took and so enjoyed the moment of shock when the GRB showed up.

David Cowall and Dan Kennedy told the story of the night a tornado tore the roof off Kennedy's observatory, splitting the roof in half and dropping it into a tree, all without touching Cowall's observatory just five feet away! Tiffany Llenos and Mark Daranciang returned to the stage with a cute skit about amateur astronomers disturbing a stiff-necked park patron whom they mistake for an AAVSO member. Jeremy Knowles read some of his poems, celebrating the joys of observing while bemoaning "clouds, terrible sports, downsizing my monthly reports."

Ron Zissell spoke of Murphy's Law and spoiled CCD images, using overheads to prove that satellite trails never nab the corner, but always nail the primary comparison star. Mike Simonsen shared the tribulation of constructing his personal observatory, including leveling the pier while wearing boots with magnetic elements. Finally, David Levy closed Show and Tell by singing "Stars Go Nova" and then "Battle Hymn of the Astronomers," harmonizing as the audience sang the refrain of the latter song to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

Saturday morning, AAVSO reconvened for the Membership Meeting. Details will appear in the Director and Committee reports in the upcoming issue of the Journal. Interesting highlights included Kerri Malatesta's report on chart distribution, including the fact that 8 a.m. on Thursday is the most popular time to download charts from the website. Malatesta said, "I don't know about you, but I'm working when I'm at work at 8 a.m." Also interesting was Janet Mattei's announcement that Jerry Fishman and Chryssa Kouveliotou of NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center want to hold another High- Energy Astrophysics Workshop for Amateur Astronomers in connection with AAVSO's Hawaiian Spring Meeting in 2002.

After lunch, members enjoyed the second scientific paper session. President Lee Anne Willson told of her students' summer 2000 research on Mira variables using AAVSO light curves. Dr. Willson's students repeatedly expressed a desire for more Mira observations. David Williams identified GSC 3002-454 as a new Algol-type eclipsing binary and asked observers interested in EBs to contact Marv Baldwin. Shay Holmes and Nikolai Samus from the Maria Mitchell Observatory reported on UBVRI photometry of DE CVn. Janet Mattei took the opportunity to welcome the three Maria Mitchell students present and also to pay tribute to Dorrit Hoffleit, the former director at Maria Mitchell who attracted Janet Mattei there in 1969 and thus into her career with variable stars.

Kevin Marvel showed a "movie" created by Phil Diamond and Athol Kemball of silicon monoxide masers above the photosphere of TX Camelopardalis. Casper Hossfield reported that because of an error during World War II, today the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration publishes Wolf scale sunspot numbers using the wrong system of counting. Philip Dombroski, son and namesake of another AAVSO member, shared the results of a junior high school science project in which he speculated on how carbon clouds form to cause strange dips in the light curve of RCrB. Maria Mitchell students Courtney Peterson and Karyn Singer shared data on nine variables they recovered using photographic plate analysis.

Ron Zissell explained the S10 system for generating reliable visibility estimates for galaxies and other objects with extended areas. Tiffany Llenos and Mark Daranciang gave a talk entitled "Na Hoku O Mililani," or "The Stars of Mililani", in which they described how the TOPS Summer Program introduced them to the delights of variable star observing and inspired them to found a variable star club at their high school. Wayne Warren told attendees about recent enhancements of and future plans for the SKY2000 Star Catalog. New AAVSO Staff Astronomer George Hawkins spoke about chart making for the CCD program. Finally, David Turner shared his analysis of observational evidence concerning P Cygni, which might be a merged binary system nestled in two associated star clusters.

AAVSO members closed the 89th Annual Meeting with a banquet at the Best Western Hotel in Waltham. After dinner and an awards presentation, David Latham of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics was the featured speaker. Latham spoke of a new era in extrasolar planetary transit research, in which techniques allow professional astronomers to study the physics of these systems. In fact, Latham invited software savvy amateurs with CCDs capable of follow-up photometry for dips of just a few millimags to contact him for research opportunities.

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