Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Tue, 04/30/2013 - 10:19

A new version of VStar (2.15.1) has just been released (attached is the Change Log). Along with many bug fixes, this release also includes a new plugin for computing the distance to a Cepheid variable based on the Period-Luminosity Relation. You can get this new plugin from the VStar Plugin Library.

If you experience any problems or need help using VStar, please post your comments or queries on this forum.

Many thanks to David Benn for all his great work with VStar!

File Upload
Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
Thanks Sara.

As Sara said,

Thanks Sara.

As Sara said, 2.15.1 is largely a bug fix release, a key one being the model equation bug fix. Thanks to Avon and Matt for their help with that one.

I hope you have fun with the period-luminosity relationship distance calculator. Right now it only handles pulsating variables of type DCEP (see this paper by Turner; thanks to Brad Walter for the recent pointer). 

It would be nice to extend it to handle RR Lyr and Type II Cepheids, for example. If you'd like to help with that, e.g. finding the relationships for these other variables, that would be fantastic.

So, what's next? I want to spend time on a few things before starting on the next release:

Want to get involved in any of this or any other part of VStar development? There's still plenty to be done!

There are some cool features coming. When I've thought more about priorities, I'll post with another update.

David 

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
VStar 2.15.2 released!

Thanks to more hard work on the part of David Benn, another new version of VStar has just been released.

Among other things, this version addresses the localization bug discussed in this thread: http://www.aavso.org/vstar-and-apassbsm-plugins

It also includes a new plugin that will alow you to open files in the All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) format. Please visit the VStar Plugin Library to read more about it and download the plugin.

The complete Change Log is attached.

As always, your feedback is appreciated.

Many thanks, David!

-Sara

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
update

Thanks to Sara for her help in getting version 2.15.2 and the ASAS plug in to work on my computer! Dave and Sara are the best at giving one-on-one aid when needed!

 

KL