Annual: 31 Sustaining: 3 ======================== Members from US: 24 Members from Abroad: 10 (from 8 countries) ======================== TOTAL New Members: 34 New Member Summary October 1, 2005 – March 31, 2006

All Current AAVSO Members by Type Total Members: 1,161

AAVSO Members by Country in 44 Countries 1,161 Total ARGENTINA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA BELGIUM BRAZIL BULGARIA CANADA CAYMAN ISLANDS/BWI CHILE CHINA DENMARK EGYPT ENGLAND FINLAND FRANCE GERMANY GREECE HONG KONG HUNGARY INDIA IRELAND ISRAEL ITALY JAPAN MALTA NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND NORWAY POLAND PORTUGAL ROMANIA RUSSIA SCOTLAND SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH KOREA SPAIN SRI LANKA SWEDEN SWITZERLAND TAIWAN TURKEY UKRAINE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNITED STATES

Membership Status Changes October 1, 2005 – March 31, 2006 Annual to Sustaining: 0 Sustaining to Annual: 8 Resigned from Membership: 12

Deceased Members and Friends William B. Whiddon - San Pedro, CA Longtime AAVSO Member, founding member of SBAS - The South Bay Astronomical Society (Redondo Beach, CA). William passed away in October of 2005 due to complications from acute leukemia. He taught astronomy labs at the North Texas observatory before joining TRW (later acquired by Northrop Grumman Space Technology). He earned a graduate certificate in astronautical engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles and for most of his career worked as a systems engineer on satellite programs. At the time of his death he was chief engineer for the James Webb Space Telescope. With his wife, Nina Whiddon, he photographed total solar eclipses throughout the world, including the 2003 eclipse over Antarctica. They returned to Antarctica in 2005 with a meteorite search team and traveled to the South Pole. One of Whiddons photographs of Comet Hale-Bopp appears in Robert Burnhams book Great Comets.

April TSE

Fall 2006 Meeting Place: Newton, MA Date: October 27-28, 2006

Upcoming Meetings Spring 2007: Calgary, AB (RASC) Fall 2007: MMO Spring 2008: UK (BAA) Spring 2011: Boston (AAS)

AAVSO Semiannual Report October March 2006 Arne Henden May 6, 2006

Highlights - 1 Addition of Lennard Dahlmarks 19K observations to the ID Alpha version of the MySQL relational database version of the ID Beta version of the ACP Beta version of VSX Beta version of blue & gold

Highlights - 2 Responded to 891 requests for AAVSO data Processed PEP data and merged portions with ID Created DVDs of HEA3 Formed the E/PO committee More visual observing manual translations

Highlights - 3 Initiated many observing campaigns Published 1 issue of the JAAVSO Published newsletters, eyepiece views, CCD views, alert notices, solar bulletins, etc. Submitted several papers containing AAVSO data Visit to BAA/VSS

The most popular day for downloading charts: Saturday The most popular hour for downloading charts: 12pm EST About 51,724 Total Charts The 5 most popular stars (in order): TU Cas, X And, U Ori, Omi Cet, Delta Cep

Charts Downloaded October 1, 2005 – March 31, 2006

Light Curve Generator RS Oph, SS Cyg, NSV 21, TU Cas, R Leo Curves plotted from Oct 05 – Mar 06: 77,006 curves Plots per day: 423

Website Activity Recorded from 10/2005 to 03/2006 Total Web Pages Downloaded: 1,364,210 Average Pages Downloaded: 7,496 per day or ~1 every 10 sec Average Data Transferred per day: 1 GB Number of Unique Visitors: 152,579 Average Unique Visitors per day: 838 Most Active Day: Wednesday Most Active Time: 4 pm EST Most Inactive Day: Saturday Most Inactive Time: 1 am EST

Monthly Download Statistics

Top Ten Downloaded Pages (Excluding the Home Page)

Password protected section of website completed Members have gold access to ALL features. Observers have blue access to submit observations (only) WebObs WebObs in first stage of alpha testing Gold features coming soon: -- access to robotic telescope -- access member info db (opt in) -- access fast lcg

November 1983 through December 2005 Total Number of Observations26,739 Total Number of Observers 60 Total Number of Stars 72 PEP Data Archives

The Variable Star Index (VSX) Program by Chris Watson Search for variable stars near given coordinates (most available catalogs) Modify variable star info (period, type,…) Add new variable stars Links to other sites (images, light curves) Presentation at SAS/2006 Future!

Automated Chart Plotter Program by Michael Koppleman (Clockwork Active Media Systems) Beta release - now! Full interactive chart generation, multiple scales, orientation Easy to add new objects Will replace all of the web charts

Robotic Telescopes Membership benefit Will be part of upcoming members-only section of website Observation request form will be available shortly

Sonoita Ridge Observatory (SRO) Operated by John Gross; partners Dirk Terrell, Walt Cooney and AAVSO C14, Paramount, STL-1001E

SRO Results Campaign on W Vir Calibration of GRB fields Calibration of LPV fields Calibration of novae fields Monitoring for Bill Dillon, Michael Sallman, Dan Taylor

Elysa Hope (Oregon Episcopal School) - finalist for Intels Science Talent Search. Student of Rosa Hemphill, TOPS teacher; Janet suggested sunspot studies.

Science Fair Projects Wilhelm Richters (ASMSA) students Amna Malik - V371 Per, unusual RR Lyr Trey Pettit - TU Cas NFO (24 Cass Silver City NM)

Other Richter Students Heejun Woo: The Blazhko Effect of RR Gem (2nd place regional) Briac Riddle: Refining the Distance and Period of VX Persei (3rd place regional, 1st place junior) Malik, Petit projects being continued by new students

AAVSO Publications October 2005 – March 2006 Journal of the AAVSO Edited by Charles A. Whitney, with assistance from Elizabeth o. Waagen, Michael Saladyga, and Matthew Templeton Vol. 33, No. 2: Preprint nos and 24, 28, 30 eJAAVSO: Vol. 34, No. 1: Preprint nos. 18, 23, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35 Vol. 33, No. 2: Preprint nos. 20, 31, 36 AAVSO Bulletin 69: 2006: Predicted Dates of Maxima and Minima of 561 Long Period Variables Prepared by Elizabeth O. Waagen

AAVSO Special Notice, Nos. 1 – 9 Prepared by Aaron Price AAVSO Special MyNewsFlash: EX Hya appears to be in outburst Prepared by Elizabeth Waagen AAVSO Alert Notice, Nos. 327 – 338 Prepared by Elizabeth Waagen and Aaron Pricce, with assistance by Kerriann Malatesta AAVSO Publications October 2005 – March 2006

AAVSO Eyepiece Views, Nos. 311 – 313 Prepared by Gamze Menali with contributions from Aaron Price and Mike Simonsen. AAVSO Manual for Visual Observing of Variable Stars - French Edition, January 2006 Translated by Dominique Naillon, edited by Gamze Menali and Sara J. Beck AAVSO Variable Star of the Season (AAVSO website) Prepared by Kerriann Malatesta (Winter 2006) and Pamela Gay (Spring 2006) AAVSO Publications October 2005 – March 2006

Observed Minima Timings of Eclipsing Binaries, No. 10 Prepared by Marvin E. Baldwin and Gerry Samolyk AAVSO 2006 Ephemeris for Eclipsing Binaries Prepared by Marvin E. Baldwin and Gerry Samolyk AAVSO 2006 Ephemeris for RR Lyrae Stars Prepared by Marvin E. Baldwin and Gerry Samolyk AAVSO Publications October 2005 – March 2006

AAVSO Solar Bulletin, Vol. 61, Nos ; Vol. 62, Nos Prepared by Carl E. Feehrer; SID Reports by Michael Hill AAVSO Newsletter, No. 32 Edited by Travis Searle AAVSO Publications October 2005 – March 2006

Boyd, D., Oksanen A., and Henden, A., Measurement of the orbital and superhump periods of the eclipsing cataclysmic variable SDSS J , J. British Astronomical Association. (accepted). Green, D. W. E., Waagen, E. O., V1118 Orionis, IAU Circular 8626; Green, D. W. E., Waagen, E. O., Nova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, IAU Circular 8636; AAVSO Staff Publications October 2005 – March 2006

Green, D. W. E., Waagen, E. O., RS Ophiuchi, IAU Circular 8688; Henden, A. A, Pro-Am Collaboration and the AAVSO, Astrophysics of Variable Stars, ASP Conference Series, Vol. 999, C. Sterken and C. Aerts; Malatesta, K. H., Beck S. J., Menali G., Waagen E.O., The AAVSO Data Validation Project, eJAAVSO (accepted for publication, pre- print no.31). AAVSO Staff Publications October 2005 – March 2006

Price. A., et al., Planetary Transits of the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey Candidate TrES-1b, JAAVSO, Volume 34; Price, A., Allen, S. L., Fhima, A., Garcia, J., Mahabal, A., Seaman, R., Williams, R., The VOEvent Alert Messaging System, presented at the 2007th Meeting of the AAS, No Templeton, M. R. et al., The Recently Discovered Dwarf Nova System ASASJ : A New WZ Sagittae Star, PASP 118, 236. AAVSO Staff Publications October 2005 – March 2006

Templeton, M. R., and Price, A., Campaign 04: AAVSO Observing Campaigns in 2004, JAAVSO; 2006 (in press). Templeton, M. R., et al. Preliminary Results from the AAVSO Infrared Photometry Group, presented at the 207th Meeting of the AAS (AAS 207, ); AAVSO Staff Publications October 2005 – March 2006

Balman, S., Retter, A., and Bos, M., The Detection of a 3.5-h Period in the Classical Noval Velorum 1999 (V382 Vel) and the Long Term Behavior of the Nova Light Curve, AJ; (accepted). Neustroev V.V., Zharikov S. V., and Michel R., Simultaneous photometry and echelle-spectroscopy of the dwarf nova BZ Ursae Majoris during the 2005 January outburst, MNRAS. (accepted for publication). Publications with AAVSO Assistance October 2005 – March 2006

New AAVSO Brochure

- Sample Page - Translated by AAVSO member Jaime Garcia

Our Spanish translator, Jaime Garcia!

Manual for Visual Observing of Variable Stars

-Sample Pages - Translated by AAVSO member Georgios Koronis with assistance by Athanasios Douvris and Vagelis Tsamis

Georgios is the one with the olive green jacket

Manual for Visual Observing of Variable Stars

-Sample Pages - Translated by AAVSO member Seiji Tsuji

- Asakusa Temple - Image credit:

Manual for Visual Observing of Variable Stars

Upcoming travel Next week - Belgium VSS End of May - BAA/VSS June - RASNZ August - Hungarian amateurs (during IAU)

200,000 visual observations – 1 observer 150,000 visual observations – 4 observers 100,000 visual observations – 1 observer 50,000 visual observations – 1 observer 25,000 visual observations – 4 observers 10,000 visual observations – 4 observers 50,000 CCD/PEP observations – 4 observers 25,000 CCD/PEP observations – 4 observers 10,000 CCD/PEP observations – 6 observers 2,500 PEP observations – 1 observer 2006 AAVSO Observer Awards

200,000 visual observations Wayne M. Lowder USA ,439

2006 AAVSO Observer Awards 150,000 visual observations Marvin E. Baldwin USA ,481 John E. Bortle USA ,352 Edward G. Oravec USA ,552 Thomas A. Cragg Australia ,735

2006 AAVSO Observer Awards 100,000 visual observations Albert F. Jones New Zealand ,524

2006 AAVSO Observer Awards 50,000 visual observations Gunther Krisch Germany ,378

2006 AAVSO Observer Awards 25,000 visual observations Maciej Reszelski Poland ,751 William Goff USA ,028 Laurent Bichon France ,466 Robert H. Hays, Jr. USA ,428

2006 AAVSO Observer Awards 10,000 visual observations Stephen Kerr Australia ,833 Andrzej Markiewicz Poland ,737 Hiroshi Matsuyama Japan ,596 Hartmut Bretschneider Germany ,087

2006 AAVSO Observer Awards 50,000 CCD/PEP observations Robert A. James USA ,432 CCD Tonny Vanmunster Belgium ,317 CCD Vance Petriew Canada ,390 CCD Shawn W. Dvorak USA ,489 CCD

2006 AAVSO Observer Awards 25,000 CCD/PEP observations Neil D. Butterworth Australia ,358 CCD Richard J. Huziak Canada ,162 CCD Peter Nelson Australia ,830 CCD Donn R. Starkey USA ,833 CCD

2006 AAVSO Observer Awards 10,000 CCD/PEP observations Richard Miles England ,975 CCD David Boyd England ,539 CCD James L. Jones USA ,651 CCD Christopher W. Hesseltine USA ,392 CCD Timothy Crawford USA ,892 CCD Libert A.G. Monard South Africa ,398 CCD

2006 AAVSO Observer Awards 2,500 PEP observations Raymond W. Jones South Africa ,671 PEP

Thank you! All of our volunteers through the year Staff for just about everything Council for their guidance Observers, without whom our contribution to the community would be far less Members, one and all, for your support