Annual: 66

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New Member SummaryOctober 1, 2006 - June 1, 2007
Annual 66
Associate 2 Sustaining
2 Members from
US 57 Members from Abroad 13 (from 9
countries) TOTAL
New Members 70
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AAVSO Members by Country
1,257 Total
ARGENTINA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA BELGIUM BRAZIL BANGLED
ESH BULGARIA CANADA CAYMAN ISLANDS/BWI CHILE CHINA
DENMARK EGYPT ENGLAND FINLAND FRANCE GERMANY GREE
CE HONG KONG HUNGARY INDIA IRELAND ISRAEL ITALY JA
PAN
MALTA MEXICO NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND NORWAY POLAND
PORTUGAL ROMANIA RUSSIA SCOTLAND SOUTH
AFRICA SOUTH KOREA SPAIN SRI LANKA SWEDEN SWITZERL
AND TAIWAN TURKEY UKRAINE UNITED ARAB
EMIRATES UNITED STATES
in 46 Countries
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AAVSO Members by Type(as of June 1, 2007)
Total Members 1,257 D. Hoffleit and F. Bateson
were the last Honorary Members on the rolls.
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Dorrit Hoffleit - New Haven, CTDorrit
Hoffleit's 77-year friendship with the AAVSO
began in 1930. She was then just 23 years old,
and listed her astronomical experience on her
AAVSO application as "examining photographic
plates to find and determine periods for
variable stars."From the beginning of her
involvement with variable stars and the AAVSO,
and as her career turned through its very
different phases over the decades, Dorrit was
present at nearly every AAVSO annual meeting and
many spring meetings. She visited AAVSO
Headquarters at every opportunity.Dorrit
served 8 two-year terms on the AAVSO Council
(1943-1945, 1954-1958, 1972-1974, 1977-1981, and
1989-1993) She also served an additional 7 years
as an officer 2nd Vice President 1958-1960, 1st
Vice President 1960-1961, President 1961-1963,
and Past President 1963-1965. Thus, she gave 23
years to the AAVSO in an official position of
leadership. Over the years, she was often
approached for her thoughts on a broad range of
subject affecting the AAVSO, and she was a
trusted advisor and mentor to many who were
responsible for the AAVSO's well-being,
particularly Janet Mattei.Dorrit's support of
the AAVSO and its goals was also repeatedly
demonstrated by her financial support (often
anonymous). Numerous projects would not have been
as successful as they were -- or even possible --
without her great generosity.Her beaming smile
and her wonderfully infectious laughter lightened
the gloomiest day, her stories were fascinating,
her breadth and depth of historical astronomical
knowledge (and related fields such as
astronomical politics) legendary, her wise
counsel never ponderous or pompous. The example
she set through the life she lived as her
gracious, kind, practical self -- often in the
face of enormous adversity -- was inspiring and
enriching.
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Frank Bateson - Tauranga, New ZealandFrank
Bateson organized variable star observing in New
Zealand,providing leadership to the field in the
Southern Hemisphere for 78 years.In 1927, at the
age of 18, he founded the Variable Star Section
(VSS) of the Royal Astronomical Society of New
Zealand. He remained as Director of the VSS
until 2004.Under his leadership the VSS
observed variable stars and collated reports
onstars from both professional and amateur
observers throughout the world. He and his wife,
Doris, formed a non-profit organization called
Astronomical Research Ltd. which administers the
over 1,000,000 observations which have been
delivered to the VSS since the start of the
program.An Honorary Member of the AAVSO, Frank
maintained a close working relationship with the
Association. One of his most valuable
contributions to the organization was his
willingness to share information on countless
numbers of Southern Hemisphere variables, in the
form of sequences and charts that he prepared for
the RASNZ. Over his long career, Bateson won
several major prizes and awards. He was elected
to full membership in the International
Astronomical Union and served as the first NZ
representative. He also received the
Jackson-Gwilt Medal and Prize of the Royal
Astronomical Society in 1960 and an honorary
doctorate from the University of Waikato in 1979.
He was awarded the Order of the British Empire
(OBE) in 1970 for services to astronomy and the
Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical
Society of the Pacific in 1980. The asteroid 2434
Bateson was named in his honor. His
autobiography Paradise Beckons was published in
1989.
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Bohdan Paczynski - Princeton, NJBorn in
Vilnius, Lithuania, Paczynski was a leading
scientist in the study of the evolution of
stars. Educated at the Warsaw University, he
moved to the US in 1981 where he later became
The Lyman Spitzer Jr. Professorof Astrophysics
at Princeton University.Paczynski initiated the
Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment(OGLE,
led by Andrzej Udalski of Warsaw University
Observatory) and All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS,
created together with GrzegorzPojmanski). His
new methods of discovering cosmic objects and
measuring their mass by using gravitational
lenses gained him international recognition, and
he is acknowledged for coining the
termmicrolensing. He was also an early
proponent of the idea that gamma-ray bursts are
at cosmological distances. In January 2006 he
was awarded Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of
the American Astronomical Society.
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AAVSO upcoming meetings

• November 2-3 2007 - AAVSO HQ
• April 2008 - BAA/Cambridge
• October 2008 - MMO/Nantucket
• May 2009 - SAS/Big Bear
• June 2011 - AAS/Boston

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Semiannual ReportNov 2006 - Jun 2007

• Arne Henden
• Director, AAVSO
• arne_at_aavso.org

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The Passing of an Era
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Sale of 25 Birch Street
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Purchase of 49 Bay State Road
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The New AAVSO Headquarters
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Moving to the new HQ - 1
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Moving to the new HQ - 2
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Moving to the new HQ - 3
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Moving to the new HQ - 4
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Moving to the new HQ - 5
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Moving the sign
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Unpacking - 1
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Unpacking - 2
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Fundraising

• Replenish AAVSO income-producing funds
• Repair and remodel building and grounds
• Each member should consider donating to the
  Bulding Fund to support the organization
• Can handle monthly MC/Visa contributions
• More information on webpage

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Observation totals
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New Web Features
Count total observations Download all
observations
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PEP News

• Online raw data input
• 36K observations reprocessed, now online
• P Cyg campaign
• More campaigns next Fall

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New online input form
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The Eggen Legacy
Olin J. Eggen 1919-1998 50 year-career Moving
groups, Stellar populations, Lots of variable
stars Kept results on 75,000 index cards Only
portion ever published Stored at CTIO last 10
years Cards loaned to AAVSO for
scanning/digitizing
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Arrival at AAVSO HQ - 400 pounds!
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Sara sorting
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Sorted and Filed
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Typical card
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Variable Star Highlights

• Bright maximum of Mira
• 6 new novae (last V390 Nor)
• Eclipsing cepheid
• Transiting exoplanets
• Unusual activity (GW Lib, P Cygni)
• Eclipse of V838 Mon
• Initial data release from CoRoT

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Brightest maximum of Mira in many years
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V2467 Cyg
Note the eclipses. Next one should occur in
about a week
March 16, 2007 Rapid evolution to nebular
spectrum
7.7
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V2362 Cyg
April 3, 2006 Nishimura (Japan) 15th mag
companion now brighter than variable
Peak7.8
ANS data
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V5558 Sgr
Rapid recent rise - where will it end? Note
improved visual measures after photometric
sequence announced
Sakurai April 15, 2007
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Eclipsing Cepheid
Antipin et al. 0705.0605
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Modulation by binary eclipses obvious (primary on
left and secondary about JD 265)
SRO data
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GW Lib
Peaked around V8.3 mid-April Quiescence is
V17 Last outburst 1983
Still not back to quiescence keep monitoring
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Robotic Telescope News

• Sonoita Research Observatory C14 performing well
  (currently calibrating LPV fields)
• 24-inch at Mount John University Observatory
  (MJUO, NZ) coming online end of year
• 24-inch Lowell Morgan telescope coming online
  next year
• Web interface delayed due to VSP, but just ask me
  if you want something observed (member benefit)

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Sonoita Research Observatory (SRO)

• Operated by John Gross partners Dirk Terrell,
  Walt Cooney and AAVSO
• C14, Paramount, STL-1001E

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Real value of SRO is for long-term monitoring of
many fields. Note near complete BVRI coverage
(dropouts due to summer monsoon) of this
circumpolar object
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Much of quiescent photometry from Bill Dillon
using SRO
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Mt. John University Observatory (MJUO)
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VSP News

• VSP Variable Star Plotter
• Beta release available now through homepage chart
  link
• Three caveats some sequence stars missing if
  suspected variables some labels changed if
  different between different scales not all CCD
  table information available yet.
• Many improved sequences, especially for Miras,
  available later in the summer
• Kudos to Vance, Aaron, Chris, MikeK and the Teams!

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Mayall Assistant - David Coit
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Other HQ Highlights

• Release of Turkish and Japanese translations of
  the Visual Observing Manual
• Validation back on track, now that JavaZAP
  available
• Beginnings of the Centenary Book (100yrs of AAVSO
  History) by Williams Saladyga
• Ticketing system for correspondence
• Many campaigns (Blazars, P Cygni, Blazars,
  exoplanets, etc.)
• Dont forget Arnes Stars http//www.aavso.org/tm
  p2/projects

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Travel and Meetings

• AAS (Seattle, Jan7-11). 5 AAVSO posters from
  Matt, Travis, Aaron, Rebecca and Arne
• 1st Annual Cambridge Festival of Science
  (lectures on 2 Saturdays at HQ)
• This summer Aaron to Puerto Rico for
  BioAstronomy 2007 Matt to Tennessee for Cool
  Stars Arne to Turkey for 2nd Annual
  Amateur-Professional Symposium

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Argentina Star PartyApril 13-15, 2007
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SAS/Big BearMay 23-24, 2007
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SASBig Bear II
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RTMCMay 25-27, 2007
Thanks, Kate Hutton!
Upcoming ALCON (thanks, Tim Crawford)
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Chambliss Amateur Achievement Award

• Achievement in astronomical research, resulting
  in scientific advancement
• Person must be an amateur (unpaid)
• Nominations gratefully accepted deadline about
  October. Contact John Graham, AAS secretary, for
  info (aassec_at_aas.org)
• Medal, plus monetary prize
• First one to Brian D. Warner

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Palmer Divide Observatory
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Observer Awards

• Visual
• 150K1
• 50K 2
• 25K 2
• 10K 6
• CCD
• 100K 4
• 50K 1
• 25K 5
• 10K 9
• 2.5K 1

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Future?

• Improved LPV bulletin
• Recommended stars to observe
• Improved photometric sequences
• Standardized submission formats for visual and
  CCD data
• Access to all SRO and NOFS CCD images
• Improved relations with other international
  organizations
• ByLaws revision for Fall meeting

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Thanks!

• Thanks to everyone - observers, volunteers, staff
  - for making this a very enjoyable and productive
  year!