October 1, 2007 - March 31, 2008
Annual (Adult): 50
Associate: 1
Sustaining: 2
Honorary: 1 (Tom Droege)
=======================Members from US: 34
Members from Canada: 6
Members from abroad: 14 (from 11 countries)
=======================
Total New Members: 54
New Member Summary
In Memoriam Members, Observers, Colleagues, and Friends of the AAVSO
Tom DroegeBatavia, ILTom Droege spent 25 years as a Fermilab engineer and is best known for “Droege Supplies," orange NIM high-voltage power supplies in use all over the world. Droege built and operated several CCD-based telescopesfrom an observatory that he built onto his house. He founded The Amateur Sky Survey, an international collaboration organized to record and analyze images of the night sky using a technique he invented and incorporated into his telescopes. He received honorary lifetime membership in the AAVSO for his work on TASS.
Walter R. MoosKoniz, SwitzerlandA devoted solar observer since 1997, Walter regularly contributed his sunspot observations to the AAVSO Solar Observing Program.
William Douglas Hodgson (HWD)Chidlow, Australia A longtime observer and Sustaining member of the Association since 1988, Doug contributed ____ observations to the AAVSO. An engineer by trade, Doug was a member of the AAVSO infrared photometry group. He also donated his time as part of the comp star database working group. Doug dabbled in nova hunting, too, spending several years as a proud member of the UK Nova Patrol. Many AAVSOers had the pleasure of meeting Doug in 2002 at the 91st Spring Meeting in Hawaii.
Upcoming Meetings
• Sept/Oct 2008: AAVSO HQ• May 2009: SAS Big Bear, CA• Oct 2009: MMO• April 2010: Argentina
Northwoods Resort
Northwoods pub
Northwoods meeting space
Grants
• John Menke $13K. Miscellaneous, Cohen observatory, Eggen GUI, BAA travel
• HST ~$15K remaining on two proposals• SWRI - $25K for Mt. John refurb• Spent rest of Validation extension
Submitted Grants
• NSF: SS Cyg analysis (Price, Henden)• NSF: Mt. John usage (Terrell, Henden)• NSF: IYA2009 Citizen Science• Mt. Cuba: telescope refurbishment• 2 more HST proposals
Robotic Observatories
• SRO– 168 nights used out of 203 (83%)– 2 nights lost due to mechanical failures– 25235 images specifically for AAVSO
($0.02/image)– BVRI calibration of LPV, RR Lyr, cepheid, novae,
GRB and other fields– Monitoring for Bill Dillon, Bart Staels, Jim Bedient– Personal research including novae monitoring
Sonoita Research Observatory
35cm robotic telescope
Used 300 nights/year
Southern Arizona
USD$30,000+
Z UMi - a circumpolar RCB
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. 15:02:01.3 +83:03:49
Z UMi in multiple colors
University of Canterbury Collaboration
• Begun August 2006 (IAU/Prague)• John Hearnshaw, Director MJUO• Refurbish Optical Craftsman 61cm
telescope• AAVSO gets 2/3 time for 10 years• Refurbishment under way; first visit in
March 2008
Mt. John University Observatory-43d59.2m south, 170d27.9m east, 1031m elevation
Lake Tekapo
MJUO Optical
Craftsman61cm
Installed in 1970
Refurbished 1979
Computerized 1991
f/16 Classical Cass
First trip
• Jerry Foote (Scopecraft) - motor control• Dirk Terrell (SWRI) - computers• Arne Henden - instruments• Nigel Frost (MJUO) mechanical• Steve Barlow (MJUO) IT/electronics• March 2007, basic telescope control
and inspection
Schedule
• Purchase remaining components to automate dome, focus
• Install cloud camera, engineering data (labjack)
• Replace CCD camera• Test (June?)• Available to membership in Fall 2008
Cohen-Menke Observatory
• Lou Cohen donated his 12” LX200, ST8, Pro-Dome
• John Menke (retired owner of Technical Innovations) donated funds to refurbish system, volunteered to get system working
• Sending to Doc Clay for refurbishment• Install somewhere at HQ for support, testing,
robotic access
Lowell 24-inch
• Donated to AAVSO• Need 40K to refurbish (submitting Mt.
Cuba grant)• Need site (negotiating with NMSU)• Need to move it from exhibit hall soon
In Steele Visitor’s Center
Ellijay Observatory
• Tim Puckett has given us access to his 5” f/5.2 wide-field telescope
• Apogee U9000 (3kx3k) CCD camera, gives 3.2x3.2 degree FOV
• BVRI filters• Fully robotic• Will be used for all-sky calibration
Upcoming
• GUI interface for observing proposals• Automated dispersal of images• GUI for retrieval of FITS images• Database of calibration photometry
Australia Trip March 2008
• Goals– Arrange for distribution of Doug Hodgson’s
telescopes and AAVSO SSP-4– Talk to amateur societies about citizen
science– Meet with observatory directors about
collaborations– Meet with AAVSO members
Distribution of Hodgson Equipment
• 12” LX200, ST4 guider, SSP3, etc. going to Deniliquin as public observatory (schools)
• 8” LX200, ETX125 going to ASWA to be given to young astronomers
• Books given to Perth Observatory library• SSP-4 at Tom Richard’s house; to be loaned
to another Australian amateur
Talks
• ASWA (Perth) Astrocamp star party• ASV (Melbourne) monthly meeting• Deniliquin club formation• NACAA Workshop (Sydney)• NACAA Plenary (Sydney)• NACAA Roundtable VS discussion
Tom/Lyn RichardsChris Stockdale
Peter Nelson
Peter Nelson 2
Rod Stubbings
Perth 60cm
Perth/Lowell 1m
Univ. Tasmania 1-meter
Cassegrain config
Coude room
New fiber fed spectrograph
Mt. Stromlo
Siding Springs
• 16-inch, 24-inch mothballed• 40-inch soon to be mothballed• 3.9m probably mothballed ~2012• UK Schmidt being used for RAVE, no plans
after this• Skymapper 1.3m (Bessell) under construction• All funds channeled towards Gemini, GMT,
space missions
Australia Notes
• Very active amateur scene, but not many people into variable stars
• NEED DIRECTION. No southern variable-star organization.
• Australia has been discovered. More educational groups, advanced northern deep sky enthusiasts, setting up robotic scopes
• Professionals involved in PLANET, microFUN followups when Bulge up (April-Sept); pretty open to collaboration otherwise
• Very little spectroscopic capability in Oz outside of AAO
Recent HQ News
• VSP released with Tycho/UCAC for bright fields (A-scale available)
• VSD updated with 22K reliable stars with photometry
• New standardized observing formats announced for both visual and CCD. Will be required in future; no ongoing support of vendor-specific formats
• Scion Journal issue shipped• Several-session Futures meeting with staff
VSD/CompDB
• Currently proofing new photometry update - will release to community around April 25. Includes discrepant stars, new SRO calibrations, transforms from CMC14, 2MASS, UCAC and SDSS
• May 1 admin tool for ease of updating VSD• June 1 revise photometry, some sequences, but then
freeze VSD; send out chart CDs to organizations• July 1 require use of new sequences and photometry• VSP updates for batch download, fix bugs by June 1
Zapper
• Simplified version of internal AAVSO tool to inspect database observations
• Observers will soon be able to highlight “bad” observations for staff inspection, helping us validate
• Java based• Note: observers do *not* change actual
database
House Renovation
• Slow progress. Building permit not issued until January. NSTAR still has not connected electricity. Expected finish end of May
• Changes: separate utilities, raised ceiling 2nd floor, doubled rafters, extra insulation
• Current expenses $160K; expected total around $200K
• No showstoppers
Upcoming Campaigns
• May - HST/SDSS• May, Dec - RS Pup• June - eta Aur• June - Supernova• Special project: comparing vendor
photometry
RS Pup41.4day period
6500 +/- 90 Ly
08:13:04.2 -34:34:43
Courtesy ESO/Kervella
Eps Aur27.1 year period, V=3.2
Next eclipse: 2009-2011
IYA2009 Citizen Science Target
05:01:58.1 +43:49:24
HOA2 == VSA
• Variable Star Astronomy• HOA manual converted to PDF, slides
scanned, videos digitized• On Web within a few weeks• Software in process of conversion to
modern language (Kate)
Wait, There’s More!
• Import of last 200K RASNZ obs• Negotiations with BAAVSS for use of its
database - Aaron to UK in June• Education webpage update, speaker’s bureau• IAU unpublished archives being scanned• Olin Eggen data online this summer• Annual report released
