AAVSO 2001 Spring Meeting Report

The observatory at Yerkes. The dome was opened exclusively for the AAVSO.

Attendees started arriving at the Madison Crowne Plaza on Thursday, May 3. By the time the evening started well over 20 people had arrived and taken control of the lobby away from the hotel. After a couple of quick calls, these early birds took flight to Ken’s Steakhouse a couple of blocks away for dinner. Kudos to the restaurant staff for preparing a special dish for this vegetarian not to mention handling around 25 people with only 5 minutes of notice. By all accounts the food and service was excellent. However, it didn’t match the level of discourse among the attendees.

It is a well known fact, dating back from the Clint Ford days, that the most enjoyable and productive times at AAVSO meetings is during and after dinner. It is then that the real business of the meetings gets done. That is, the business of comparing VSO war stories, meeting new people, clowning around, and generally having a good time.

This night was no exception. After the meeting we once again took over the hotel lobby as small groups of old friends gathered to catch up. I’m sure the hotel staff was a little nervous at first as Mike Simonsen produced a few bags of leaves that various attendees proceeded to sniff and trade. Rest assured, as an expert gardener Mike knew exactly what he was doing as he presented free samples of Monarda, Physostegia, Koreanspice viburnum, and sandcherry to Janet Mattei and Arne Henden. The plants had a terrific aroma and I wish their new owners well in growing them. Perhaps the AAVSO can bottle the aroma into a lotion and sell it as a fundraiser? “Clear Skies: An Elegant Body Lotion From the AAVSO”

Roche Lobes & Dandelions
Friday morning the AAVSO meeting began in earnest. By then most of the attendees had arrived and after some coffee, bread, and juice everyone was ready for the workshop on eclipsing binaries to begin.

Dr. Dirk Terrell of the Southwest Research Institute came to the meeting armed with a terrific presentation about binary star systems. From 9-3, with a few breaks for lunch and snacks, he held the crowd captive with an informative and thoroughly enjoyable presentation. After the background presentation he held a hands-on workshop where he showed attendees how they can plot their own light curves and calculate their own system characteristics from their observations. It was so enjoyable that through the rest of the AAVSO Spring Meeting a background roar consisting of “We need to get him to do another one!” was heard whenever a group of observers got together. That’s what you get for being a success, everyone wants more! We do look forward to follow up workshops with Dr. Terrell.

Janet Mattei with Yerkes' famous 40-inch refractor

If you ever have a chance to visit Yerkes in the spring time, I highly recommend it. The faded maroon color of the stone collaborates very well with the surrounding green forest to give you a sense of something special. The building was much larger than I had anticipated and I was shocked to find out that only around 20-30 people work there!

The new Director of the Yerkes Observatory, Kyle Cudworth, gave us a personal tour of the famous 40 inch refractor, which is used mainly for astrometry these days. Interesting notes:

1. A finder scope must be used simply to read the setting circles!
2. When slewed it seemed to be quieter than the gears on my 10" LX-200.
3. They still use photographic plates that must be ordered off the Internet. Alas, clouds prevented us from seeing through Hale’s artistic achievement.

Bratwurst & Dogfish
After the tour, the Milwaukee Astronomical Society (led by Gerry Samolyk and Bob Maske) grilled up Wisconsin sausages. The weather was cool and nice, the food was tasty and hot, and everyone felt at home sitting at any table and making new friends. Afterward, people spent about an hour and a half wandering around the Yerkes campus and discussing VSO with fellow observers.

These culinary masters of Wisconsin cuisine cooked up a terrific meal at the cookout following the Yerkes Tour.

On the bus ride back it was dark so we were not allowed a second dosage of wonderful landscapes. So instead the talk turned to what we all love about the night: stars! In the crowd around me, Tim Hager, Gary Billings, and Dirk Terrell shared stories and observing tips. We decided that you know you are addicted when you try to align your scope on the Moon during the daytime in order to shave 10 minutes off your alignment time at night . (I believe this was Gary’s idea but I could be wrong - it was dark after all!) After all, those ten minutes can be observing minutes!

Once again, that evening many attendees convened in the lobby. After scaring away the resident jazz trio, we took over the tables and chairs and discussed VSO into the wee hours under the influence of cheese quesadillas, ice cream, and MGD.

Minor Planets & Papers
The next day began with a surprise presentation for Janet. This year she and her husband (longtime AAVSO Clerk Mike Mattei) were honored by the IAU with a minor planet named after them. Some members of the AAVSO worked together to get an image of the asteroid, which was framed and presented to her as an early morning surprise.

AAVSO Members Bill Dillon and David Williams inspect a telescope at the Yerkes Observatory.

On a note both trimphant and sad, longtime PEP Committee Chairman Howard Landis announced his retirement as chairman and gave his last PEP report. The membership gave him a standing ovation for his 25 years of dedication and hard work for this very productive and important committee.

After the committee reports and a short break, Janet presented her Director’s Report on AAVSO activity (which is reprinted in the JAAVSO). The focus of work at HQ over the past six months has been the chart CDROM, the new observing manual, the new method of submitting electronic data to the AAVSO, and bringing publication of the JAAVSO up to date.

The scientific paper session began with an enjoyable description of Arne Henden’s discovery of the optical transient to GRB010222. One thing we learned is that GRBs will occur at the worst timing possible, just as you end an all night shift and are getting ready for bed. Murphy would be proud.

John Percy presented a paper on the pulsation of small-amplitude red variables (SARVs) using AAVSO PEP data going back more than 10 years. He explained the mathematical analysis used to derive periods from the data and called for more observations of these unique red stars.

Paul Groot of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics talked about spiral shock waves in outburst CVs. He had an interesting display of the scale of these outbursts by projecting an image of the sun over a modeled system. Later, he presented a paper on eclipse changes in nova-like CVs. In particular, he highlighted how AAVSO data is vital to understanding the short 15-45 minute eclipses. His description of the astrophysics behind the CV behavior was enjoyable enough that this observer wondered when would HE hold a workshop on this subject! He called for continuous monitoring of 12-18 CVs in particular with short 5 minute integrations. He will give AAVSO HQ a list of stars to monitor along with some guidelines on how to observe these events.

PEP Committee Chairman Howard Landis and his wife Dee.

John Good, working on the National Virtual Observatory at CalTech, talked about including AAVSO data in their project. He displayed some visualization techniques of AAVSO data including an all-sky map of program stars and detailed ways that AAVSO data can be used with those of other large databases run by organizations such as NASA and NSF.

Lee Ann Wilson finished up with a fascinating paper on the possibility of an orbiting Jovian planet being the cause of short hot flashes on Miras. A history of the discovery (and early denial) of these hot flashes was given along with a call for observations of these Miras. A more formal observing plan will be presented later on the AAVSO web site along with appropriate observing methods for detecting the hot flashes.

Movers & SALT Shakers
After some time to clean up and rest, the banquet got underway around 7:30 on Saturday. “Thank-you” gifts were presented by Janet Mattei on behalf of the council and membership to AAVSO staff members who attended the meeting. Then some major observer awards were given, including Gene Hanson who was given the 50,000 observation award. Other award receipients are listed elsewhere in this newsletter.

Enjoying the EB Workshop in Madison.

When the banquet was completed Lee Ann Wilson closed the meeting. I think everyone went home with quite a lot to think about. Two things struck me about this meeting. One, the number of new observers who were there. There were many and they all made comments about how enjoyable the meeting was and that they did not know what to expect before coming. I noticed how most of them seemed to have benefited from the AAVSO Mentoring Program. This just goes to show how important it is to have a real human to guide you through the early stages of variable star observing.

Second, there seemed to be quite a few new observing programs in gestation at this meeting. Terrell’s workshop will likely stir interest in binary CVs and eclipsing binaries. Groot’s talk will likely start a new observing program of peculiar CVs. Finally, the number of papers on small amplitude red variables and Wilson’s paper will stir interest in LPVs and Miras, stars many people consider as being already understood and well-covered. This just goes to show that when you think you understand something, nature reminds us that we really don’t know much at all, only enough to ask more questions.

The attendees at the 90th Spring Meeting in front of the Yerkes Observatory.

These are great examples of how the AAVSO continues to serve a purpose. To amateurs, the AAVSO provides a terrific opportunity to make new friends and enjoy a hobby. To professionals, the membership of the AAVSO is a tremendous resource that is not only proficient, but flexible enough to take on many projects of different types. This is a great time to be a member of the AAVSO.

Finally, meetings like these are where good memories are made. And you can’t “remember” without the “member.” The AAVSO is nothing without the membership.

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