October 1, 2012 - March 31, 2013

In Memoriam:
Members, Observers, Colleagues
Robert Buchler
Longtime AAVSO
supporter and user of LPV
data
Sir Patrick Moore (MOP)
Contributed 2,177 visual observations to the AID
between 1954 and 1972
Appeared weekly on “Sky at Night” TV program
Knighted in recognition of his contributions to public
understanding and appreciation of science
Professor of physics and
astronomy at University of
Florida
Specialized in pulsating
stars and fluid dynamics
In Memoriam:
Members, Observers, Colleagues
Bill Shawcross
Longtime friend to the
AAVSO
35 year career with Sky &
Telescope
Positions included
publisher, company
president, and managing
editor
Dale R. Kinne
Father of HQ staff member
Richard “Doc” Kinne
Educator and real estate
broker in Rome, NY
Jorge Sahade
Astrophysicist and
researcher of binary
systems and massive stars
Co-discoverer of StruveSahade effect in doublelined spectroscopic
binaries
Former president of IAU
Central figure in
Argentinian astronomy,
outreach, and education
In Memoriam:
Members, Observers, Colleagues
Giovanni Sostero
(SUG)
Former AAVSO member
and observer
Passion for comet search,
discovery, and imaging
Former president of
Associazione Friulana di
Astronomia e Meteorologia
Leonard B. Abbey,
Jr. (ABL)
Contributed 249 visual
observations to AID
Volunteer programmer
for the AAVSO
Lifetime member of the
Atlanta Astronomy Club
Martha Stahr Carpenter
(SME)
Former three-term president
of the AAVSO during transition
to independence
First female faculty member
and radio astronomer at
Cornell University
Contributed 396 visual
observations to AID
In Memoriam:
Members, Observers, Colleagues
Douglas S. Hall (HLL)
Former professor of
physics and astronomy and
Director of Dyer
Observatory at Vanderbilt
Founder and leader of
International AmateurProfessional Photoelectric
Photometry Group
Samuel H.
Hellenbrand
Frederick E. Ellis, Sr.
Former complimentary
AAVSO member
1996-2003
Lifetime AAVSO member
and amateur astronomer
Former Pickering Assistant
at Harvard College
Observatory
Dedicated environmentalist
Lawyer specializing in real
estate law, particularly in
connection with railroads
Circumstances of AAVSO
membership are unclear;
please contact the AAVSO
with any information
In Memoriam:
Members, Observers, Colleagues
Edwin Hubert Morris
(MRE)
Arline Otto Waagen
Mother of AAVSO staff
member Elizabeth
Waagen
Frequent attendee of
AAVSO meetings and HQ
celebrations
Career in hospital- and
school-based social work
AAVSO member/observer
1970-2010
Contributed 445 visual
observations to the AID
Electrical engineer
New Member Summary
October 1, 2012 - March 31, 2013
New Members: 72
=======================
Members from US: 49
Members from abroad: 23
(from 12 countries)
New Member Summary
Past year New Member data
Membership Summary
As of March 31, 2013
Total Members: 1141
Grants applied for
•  NSF AAG: APASS (Henden)
•  NSF AAG: Miras/AAVSOnet
(Templeton)
•  NSF TUES: online tools (VPHOT)
(Rector)
•  NSF AISL: CHOICE (Henden)
•  NSF MRI: 2GSS (Henden)
Sequestration
•  NSF: Notice 133 Feb 27; NSF reduced by 5% for FY2013,
which effectively means 10% for remainder of year.
Protect workforce, protect STEM programs, protect
existing awards. New research grants reduced by 1000.
Declines given immediately; awards delayed until at least
June
•  NASA: E/PO consolidation to DOE, NSF, Smithsonian
•  Doesn’t affect Donna – she is on mission funded EPO,
which is left alone. What is cut is NASA education (direct
EPO). Does affect programs like ROSES (Pamela Gay).
•  Continuing resolution – no budget for FY2014 (or even
FY2013)
Upcoming meeting
•  Fall Membership Meeting
•  October 11-12, 2013
•  Council meeting preceding this (October
10+)
•  Woburn Hilton
Hilton Hotel, Woburn, MA
$125/night
free parking
Free wifi
Lots of HQ events
nearby restaurants
Logan express bus to airport
CCD School
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July 8-12, 2013 at AAVSO HQ
$625 members ($500 + costs)
Twenty 1.5hr lectures over 5 days
All aspects of CCD photometry, from
basic sensors, calibration, astrophysics,
statistics, observing practices
•  Will be an annual affair
•  http://www.aavso.org/aavso-ccd-school
CCD School attendees
Director’s Report to Council
May 16, 2013
Arne Henden
Director, AAVSO
[email protected]
Upfront notes
•  AAVSO is healthy and relevant. Good
response from membership and research
community. Everything is functional. Staff
moral is adequate but concerned.
•  Following report gives insight into day-to-day
activities, concerns, action items, things I am
paying attention to, etc. Please do not view
this negatively. Sensitive items, especially
staffing; not to leave this room.
Publications
Publication dates
•  JAAVSO (due 06/15 and 12/15, Saladyga)
–  2009 37.1 06/03 -12d
–  2009 37.2 12/04 -13d
–  2010 38.1 06/14 -01d
–  2010 38.2 12/14 -01d
–  2011 39.1 06/07 -11d
–  2011 39.2 11/18 -28d
–  2012 40.1 08/20 +60d (centennial issue)
–  2012 40.2 12/21 +06d (eps aur issue)
Publication dates
•  Annual Report (1/15 informal due date; staff)
–  2008 FY2007 04/22 +03mo
–  2009 FY2008 09/09 +08mo
–  2010 FY2009 02/17 +01mo
–  2011 FY2010 06/01 +05mo
–  2012 FY2011 10/05 +09mo
–  2013 FY2012 04/17 +03mo
•  Newsletter (quarterly, EOW) averages 10
days late
Publication Notes
•  Journal on-time. Formally putting last year behind
paywall. Expected formatting changes for eJAAVSO;
considering other Arlo suggestions
•  Newsletter not meeting schedule. EOW not good
task master. Revisiting entire setup.
•  Annual report often delayed, mostly due to late
contributions and rewrites. Will meet strict 1/15
schedule next 2 years.
•  Pubs handled by MikeSal, Elizabeth, Matt, Sara on
HQ side; volunteers like John Percy
Variable Star Index (VSX)
•  Was holding off improvements, as Chris
Watson was going to release V2.0
•  Highly integrated into our tools, yet
Chris has not formally donated VSX to
the AAVSO
•  Originally proposed as replacement for
the very late GCVS
Variable Star Index (VSX)
•  Has gained community acceptance
•  Basically maintained by Patrick Wils as volunteer,
and moderated by Sebastian Otero as contract
employee
•  Means of “publishing” new discoveries (considering
JAAVSO articles)
•  Only thoroughly studied objects included; some
publications ignored
•  Now falling behind survey discovery rate
•  No solution to extragalactic objects
Variable Star Index (VSX)
•  Will be major focus of my time over next few
months
–  Discussion with Chris for obtaining rights
–  Discussion with Samus about GCVS-VSX
relationship; object naming
–  Patrick, Sebastian, Chris about extragalactic
objects
–  Patrick, Sebastian, Chris about next generation
product
–  McMain, Matt about AID needs
Variable Star Photometry (VPHOT)
•  Written by Geir Klingenberg, originally for the GRAS
robotic telescope network, supported by Kran
•  Offered to the AAVSO in 2009; integrated into
AAVSOnet; workshops given
•  Moved to the Amazon cloud 2009
•  Written into Travis Rector’s TUES grant
•  Geir feels he has limited time to continue work on
VPHOT; wants to bring another programmer up to
speed
•  Will bring Geir to HQ in Sept to discuss
Light Curve Generator (LCG)
•  Written by Aaron Price about a decade ago, basically
scripts around gnuplot
•  Currently maintained by Doc Kinne
•  Falling behind times (new filters); not maintainable;
no phase plotting or other features
•  Discussions with David Benn to write new version
(now that he is basically done with Vstar). Likely
Java or Python
•  Sara will be staff contact (learning Perl/Python)
Other tools
•  K-factor calculator for solar observers (algorithm by
Howe/Templeton; programming by Beck)
•  New observer finder, to help identify and welcome
new observers (Beck)
•  Statistics on observations of LPV and CV legacy
stars for newsletter publication (Beck)
•  Transform script soon (George Silvis, volunteer)
Other HQ tasks - 1
•  Creation of AAVSOnet proposal system with TAC
notification (Will)
•  Integrated WebObs search with Quicklook (Will)
•  New HQ database and admin tool (Will)
•  Moved IP space to Comcast, switched to cable
modem (Doc)
•  Replace firewall computer, failing disk drives (Doc)
•  Presented VAO poster at AAS meeting (Doc)
•  Working with George Silvas on Eggen cards (Doc)
Other HQ tasks - 2
•  10,000 observations from 30 observers processed
(non-web)
•  Streamlined and wrote new scripts for monthly data
processing (MikeSal)
•  Working on long-term data quality problems (JM)
•  Annual totals automation (MikeSal)
•  35 requests for archival materials and historical
queries (MikeSal, Matt)
•  Cragg, Williams, Mattei collections arranged and
catalogued (MikeSal)
Other HQ tasks - 3
•  Removal of redundant and unimportant materials
(MikeSal)
•  Updated archive of meeting photos, including adding
identification keys (MikeSal)
•  MOST, Mira, b
•  Per, etc. research (Matt) Includes Science article,
embargoed until May 23
•  Improving AAVSOnet pipeline, adding new
telescopes, adding rsync to sites (Matt, Doc)
•  Running many campaigns, including HST (Elizabeth)
Henden upcoming travels
•  May 2013
–  SAS. Meet with Rick Hedrick (Planewave)
and get tour of factory; Dave Rowe about
astrographs. Bob Denny about ACP
issues. Bill Goff/W30. SAS board meeting.
Combined with current trip
–  Michigan State University. Retirement
conference for Horace Smith. Paper on
Ray White RR Lyrs.
Henden upcoming travels
•  June 2013
–  AAS. Combined with MSU trip. LSST advisory
board meeting (pays for registration). AAVSOLSST role. Look for potential postdoc (if grants
awarded)
–  Southwest. Tucson (John Gross/SRO); Las
Cruces (Bill Stein/BSM, Jon Holtzman/TMO61);
DRO (Tom Smith/Morgan, pick up PME); Flagstaff
(Levine/2GSS, W28). Paid out of 2GSS funds
Henden upcoming travels
•  July 2013
–  Stellar Giants meeting/CA. Workshop on
amateur contributions. Meet with Wayne
Rosing/Las Cumbres. Paid out of 2GSS
•  No other trips planned this year
APASS update
•  DR7 released (southern only) in May;
previous release nearly a year ago
•  DR8 (north) to be released in June
•  Periodic data releases are necessary to know
sky coverage
•  270 north nights, 80K images
•  520 south nights, 240K images
•  About 90% complete with survey data
collection
•  Starting transition talks
APASS update
•  Used heavily by community; example, recent
requests from Skymapper and ASAS-SN
•  Internal use for charts by Chart Team:
–  2009 268
–  2010 437
–  2011 655
–  2012 860
–  2013 377 to date
•  Otero also using it for VSX checks
APASS in Prompt6 clamshell
APASS DR6
APASS DR7
nd
2
AAVSO
Generation
Synoptic Sky Survey (2GSS)
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Follow-on to APASS; funding from Ayers
Simultaneous 2-color, 5<V<17
RH300 f/3.0 + Lumicon 80/3.7,i’
APM305 f/2.8 + Lumicon 80/3.7,g’
Lowell Observatory Anderson Mesa
1200 fields/night, 6800 sq deg; 60GB
compressed; 100M detections/night
2GSS prototype building, Anderson Mesa, Lowell
2GSS update - 1
•  RH300 tested at diCicco’s observatory,
performing adequately
•  APM305 next in testing queue
•  Footings to be poured by end of May
•  Telescopes to be shipped by end of
May
•  Installation 3rd week June (Dirk,
Stephen, Arne, Ayers)
2GSS update - 2
•  Upgrade of APASS cameras July
•  Installation APASS-south in LCGOTN
enclosure October
•  APASS-south reconfigured as southern
node of 2GSS
AAVSOnet update
•  5 telescopes commissioned:
BSM_South, W30, OC61, TMO61,
SRO50
•  Small details at each site before fully
automated
•  Summer: BSM_NM, BSM_Berry,
Bareket
AAVSOnet update
•  Volunteer sites make timelines impossible.
Things I thought would be online months ago are
not.
•  Limited funding means no master plan possible.
•  At same time, members are using iTelescope
instead of AAVSOnet. Need to build confidence,
think about non-proposal imaging.
•  Concentrating on “large” aperture and
spectroscopy
Schiaparelli Observatory
•  Varese, IT
•  Directed by Paolo Valisa, in
collaboration with Ulisse Munari
•  We will get 5% of observing time, plus
any collaborative time
•  Imaging starting soon; spectroscopy in
about a month
•  website: www.astrogeo.va.it/astronomia/astronomia.php
Observatory dome (Monte Rosa 4634m in background)
32-inch mirror
32-inch mirror
32-inch mirror
telescope
CHOICE Certification Courses
•  9 offered so far (Simo, Aaron, Matt)
•  Popular with membership, but staff time
intensive (development of new courses,
maintaining forums, finding volunteers)
•  NSF Grant submitted to pay for expansion
into Adult Learning (if awarded, will use 70%
of Simonsen’s time)
CCD class
Staffing - 1
•  9 full-time staff (Henden, Templeton,
Turner, Waagen, Saladyga, McMain,
Kinne, Simonsen, Beck)
•  1 full-time soft money (Young, on grant
with Chandra)
•  1 contract employee (Otero)
•  3 part-time staff (Vnek, Rosenbaum,
Ortiz-Cruz)
Staffing - 2
•  Kinne out much of summer (dental late
May, open heart mid-June aortal and tricuspid valve replacement)
•  Rosenbaum graduates; most likely
taking full-time position elsewhere
•  Waagen back to normal hours after
mother’s passing
•  Henden retires ~Feb 2015
Staffing - 3
•  Two Margaret Mayall summer students
–  Anisha Sharma, working on AAVSOnet
–  Shouvik Bhattacharya, APASS
•  Ulisse Munari returns as JAM Fellow;
helping with CCD School, working on
spectroscopy section; helping on
APASS; collaborative research on
novae and symbiotic stars
Surveys (Present and Future)
•  Need to stay aware of these and make sure that they
don’t make the AAVSO irrelevant
BRight Target Expolorer
(BRITE) Constellation
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2 sats launched Feb; 6 sats total
KAI-11000 4008x2672x9micron
24arcsec pix, 25x19.8 degree FOV
All stars brighter than V=3.75 (400), but maybe
extending to 6th
0.1% photometry, degrading to 0.01 at 6th
5 exp/min for 15min, per 101min orbit; 180-200day
continuous
2-4months commission; Mission > 2yrs (up to 10)
Each nanosatellite single filter (B,R now)
BRITE satellite
PanSTARRS
Gigapixel Camera
1.8m aperture
Undergoing commissioning
Saturates around 17th magnitude
Few times per month
Data release 2013
DASCH
•  46K plates scanned out of
500K
•  2.9B magnitudes
•  Data release 1
•  Using APASS for calib
•  http://
dasch.rc.fas.harvard.edu/
lightcurve.php
Mobile Astronomical System of
Telescope Robots (MASTER)
•  2x40cm 8sqdeg FOV,
2x7cm, 42deg,
unfiltered
•  Announce transients
in ATEL; no access to
whole catalog
CRTS
•  Running about 7 years
•  Avoids galactic plane
b<15
•  500M sources, 40B
unfiltered
measurements, 33K
square degrees in DR2
•  CSS north, SSS south
Kepler
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Launched March 2009
Mission extended through FY2016
9-16mag stars, 100 square degrees
Monitor ~100K stars for years
Single bandpass, R-like
Concentrating on stellar variability now
Possible connection on SR, other AGB
GAIA Mission
•  Launch October 2013
•  Mission 5 years
•  Each object imaged 70 times over
mission, 5.7 < V < 20
•  Photometry from two low-dispersion
prisms 330-1050nm
•  Spectroscopy 847-874nm, V>17
•  Astrometry 5.7-20; 7uas at V=10
GAIA
spacecraft
Transiting Exoplanet Survey
Satellite (TESS)
•  Led by MIT (PI: Ricker)
•  4 wide angle telescopes, 192 Mpix
•  Focus on G- and K-type stars brighter
than V=12, including 1000 close red
dwarfs
•  Input catalog will likely use APASS
•  Launch 2017, 2yr mission ($200M)
TESS spacecraft
LSST
•  President’s FY2014 budget includes
$27.5M for start of LSST construction
•  That would mean real construction
starts summer 2014; first light 2019;
science operations 2021
•  LSST tagging onto “planetary defense”
LSST
- bright limit = 17mag
- Start of construction in 2014
- Dedicated survey cadence
- $390M to build
LSST Detectors
Survey notes
•  AAVSO in danger of being irrelevant
•  Need to have strong ties with upcoming
surveys (funding? Citizen Science?)
•  Need to gain data-mining expertise
•  Need to tie survey epoch photometry
databases into LCG, etc.
•  Need to define future programs to utilize
amateur capabilities in doing science