Date: March 7, 2009
Title: All About the AAVSO
Podcaster: Travis Searle, Rebecca Turner and Mike Simonsen.
Organization: AAVSO http://www.aavso.org
Description: The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) is an international non-profit organization whose mission is: to observe and analyze variable stars; to collect and archive observations for worldwide access; to forge strong collaborations between amateur and professional astronomers; and to promote scientific research and education using variable star data. Membership in the AAVSO is open to anyone interested in variable stars and in contributing to the support of valuable research.
Bio: The AAVSO was founded in 1911 at Harvard College Observatory to coordinate variable star observations made largely by amateur astronomers. In 1954, the AAVSO became an independent, private research organization headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Today, with members in 45 countries and over 15.5 million observations, the AAVSO is the world’s largest association of variable star observers. Membership in the AAVSO is open to anyone — professionals, amateurs, and educators alike — interested in variable stars and in contributing to the support of valuable research.
Today’s Sponsor: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), celebrating five decades of training young scientists through summer programs. Explore the hidden Universe at in radio www.nrao.edu
Transcript:
Hello and welcome to ‘Restless Universe’, the podcast of the American Association of Variable Star Observers. You can find us on the web at www.aavso.org. I’m your host Travis Searle, and with me are Rebecca Turner and Mike Simonsen.
In this episode we’re going to discuss the AAVSO, its mission, its members, and the exciting way that amateurs and professional astronomers are teaming up to do real science with backyard telescopes.
The American Association of Variable Star Observers is a worldwide, non-profit, scientific and educational organization of amateur and professional astronomers who are interested in variable stars. Our headquarters is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but our members and observers come from over 40 countries worldwide. From its humble beginnings in 1911, the AAVSO has grown to be the largest variable star organization in the world.
In the late 1800’s there were only a handful of astronomers observing variable stars in America, even though professional astronomers were becoming increasingly interested in variables. Just the fact that there were so many variable stars was unexpected, and the list of known variables was growing into the thousands, more than professional observatories could keep track of.
In 1882, Harvard College Observatory Director, Edward Pickering, proposed enlisting the help of volunteer observers. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, Pickering, and others, made appeals to amateur astronomers, to take up variable star observing, and either publish their observations or contribute them to Harvard or other observatories for further study.
As these early observations began to pour in by the thousands, and the ability to create standardized comparisons sequence charts grew, it became apparent it was time to organize this astounding effort into a more organized system of training new observers and collecting and archiving this data for scientists to use.
It was amateur astronomer William Tyler Olcott who took up the challenge and offered his services to Pickering to help collect these observations, distribute charts and give advice to other interested amateurs. In 1911 Olcott created the AAVSO.
Now, fast forward to December 2006. After thirty years in our headquarters on Birch Street, boxes are being loaded onto trucks and unloaded just around the corner as we move into our new, much larger headquarters, the former offices of Sky and Telescope magazine.
I remember it all too well. That was a lot of work!
Yea, but that move doubled the AAVSO’s available square footage, providing space for the association to grow. The AAVSO turns 100 years old in 2011, and this new building forms the foundation of our plans for growth into the next second century of operations.
In a lot of ways, what we do today is very similar to the old days. For example, the data that is collected is still essentially the same. Observers report the name of the star, the date and time of the observation, the magnitude of the star, the comparison stars and the chart they used to make the measurement. On the other hand, there are some things the AAVSO does now that couldn’t even have been dreamed of in 1911.
Yes, but now instead of observations being mailed in on paper forms, and then entered into the database manually, the vast majority of observations are submitted electronically, online, and then added to the database in near real time, automatically. You can upload your observations and within minutes see your observation turned into a data point in a light curve of the star you just observed.
The online light curve generator is something observers and researchers would have killed for even twenty years ago! (http://www.aavso.org/data/lcg/)
Not only that, but all the data for a star, sometimes going back 100 years, is available free of charge to scientists, educators, students and amateur astronomers by simply filling out a request form online. The AAVSO has over 16 million observations in its database on thousands of variable stars.
Obtaining the special comparison sequence charts to observe variables with is a lot different these days too. Up until a few years ago, all the charts were on paper, and you had to request the charts you needed to observe your stars. Someone at headquarters had to fill that request and mail you the charts before you could observe those stars.
Now observers use an online tool called VSP, the Variable Star Plotter. (http://www.aavso.org/observing/charts/vsp/) With this tool you can specify any variable star you want to observe and create a chart where you specify the field of view, limiting magnitude and a host of other parameters to design a custom chart for your telescope or binoculars. You can download the chart you create and go out and observe that star the same night.
AAVSO has a long tradition of mentoring its new observers. Since the earliest days of the AAVSO, experienced observers have helped new observers by corresponding, answering questions and even providing personal guidance at the telescope. This tradition continues to this day, although some things have changed with the times and technology.
Absolutely. The mentor program is alive and well. We take in requests from new observers for instruction and they get assigned to one of our mentors right away. Most of the time the instruction is done by phone or through email, and its not just visual observers we assist. We have mentors who can get you started observing with photoelectric photometers and CCDs too. Just having someone you can ask questions of when they arise can save you hours of frustration trying to learn the ropes of variable star observing on your own.
Some of the objects AAVSO observers report on these days would seem pretty far out to observers of the early 20th century. Magnetic cataclysmic variables, supernovae, blazars, gamma-ray bursts, black hole binaries and transiting exoplanets weren’t even in the scientific vocabulary when the AAVSO was created. Now we have talented, enthusiastic amateur astronomers submitting observations of these objects all the time.
There weren’t any space telescopes in 1911 either. Now AAVSO observers work in collaboration with professional astronomers to monitor stars that space telescopes are looking at. Sometimes they work in conjunction with the satellite observations, and sometimes its as simple as making sure a target star is still faint enough to point a multi-million dollar space telescope at without burning up the detector
Yea, nobody wants to be known as the astronomer who blew up the Hubble Space telescope! So an observation of a cataclysmic variable they want to observe before they point the telescope at it can be pretty important.
You’d think with all the tools astronomers have at their disposal these days, the role of amateur astronomers would be greatly diminished. I mean, with space telescopes and giant telescopes on remote mountain sights peering further out into the universe than ever before, and with all sky surveys coming online that will observe the whole sky every night in the near future, what role can amateurs play in contributing to science?
Strange as it may seem, it’s precisely this gushing fountain of new information that will benefit the amateurs. There is going to be so much data produced from these surveys the professionals won’t have time to follow up on all of the interesting new objects they’ll find. They’re going to be trying to drink from a fire hose! There will be all kinds of new objects and behaviors to observe and analyze. And just like in the days when the AAVSO began, professional astronomers will need help watching over these strange new phenomena.
Anyone interested in observing or studying variable stars can become a member of the AAVSO. In fact, you don’t even need to own a telescope to observe variable stars. There are now telescopes you can operate remotely that will collect data while you sleep warm in your bed. Some members may even spend all their observing time examining data from future surveys to discover new objects and report their findings to the AAVSO.
It is the vision of the AAVSO to remain the world leader in information and data on variable stars. So whether you are an amateur or professional astronomer, and whether want to observe variable stars or just learn about them, the AAVSO has something to offer all of you. Check us out on the web at www.aavso.org
That’s all we have time for today. From all of us at the AAVSO, thank you for listening and clear skies to you all.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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