Aaron Price's blog posts

This week we updated the Spanish translation of our 10-Star Visual Observing Tutorial for southern hemisphere observers. We'd like to also remind new members of the 10-Star Tutorial - a great training tool for those with no background in variable star observation.

We also have a 5-Star tutorial for time series data analysis that uses our free VStar software. If anyone is interested in dipping their toes into the analysis waters, it's a great place to start.

The 10-Star Visual Observing Tutorials are linked from here.

The 5-Star Data Analysis tutorial is linked from here.

Thanks to Joan, Sebastian and the Southern Gems team for much of the translation work!

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The Southern Gems team does it again. This time they have published a Spanish translation of the southern hemisphere 10-Star Tutorial. Read more

This semester the Tufts University introduction to astronomy class observed epsilon Aurigae as their course lab. The class has around 250 students and they do not have access to equipment for a formal lab. So epsilon Aurigae was perfect since it is bright enough to be seen from campus with the unaided eye and happens to be emerging from the eclipse. They were tasked to observe once every two weeks and report their data to Citizen Sky.

(about light curves)

The above light curve includes all Citizen Sky data since February 1, 2011. The blue line is the 7 day mean curve based on data only from Tufts students. The red line is the 7d mean for visual observation from non-Tufts Citizen Sky participants and the green line is for photometric observations from Citizen Sky participants.Read more

Infrared photometry is yet another area where amateurs are encroaching on what used to be the sole domain of professionals. Two amateurs, in particular, have been collecting an amazing near-IR light curve of epsilon Aurigae.Read more

David Benn and the VStar team also continue to do great work. They have just released version 2.12 of VStar. A download link is here. Background info on VStar is here. Also, don't forget the plugin library which has some neat toys in it!

The Southern Gems team is at it again. This time they have released a Portugese translation of their  11-Star Tutorial for the Southern Hemisphere. Thanks to  Jonatas Ramos and Marcelo Souza, who did the translation. And also to team leader Joan for continuing their great work.

Download the tutorial by clicking here.Read more

We will be hosting a Citizen Sky online chat this Tuesday at 4pm eastern (+5UT). Dr. Bob, Brian, Rebecca, Aaron and other Citizen Sky and AAVSO staff will be on hand. Topics will include updates on epsilon Aurigae, the upcoming AAS meeting, and ideas for research teams. However, it will be a free chat so any Citizen Sky/VSO topic is welcomed. Hope to see you there!

Note: The chat transcript can now be downloaded from below.

Login here with a web browser:
http://www.aavso.org/cgi-bin/irc.cgi

(Note: The next chat will be scheduled for the first week in February...)Read more

As the new year rolls around, it's time to start the next phase of the project. Thus far we have focused on data collection, not it's time to focus on the rest of the scientific process...Read more

The awesome Southern Gems team has published their first product: a version of the 10-Star Tutorial for the southern hemisphere. It's a great example of complementary team work.Read more

We are ready to distribute the Timothy Ferris Citizen Sky 6-minute planetarium trailer to theaters interested in showing it. Click for more information.

Click here for background information on the show and to view it via YouTube. But remember that YouTube's small screen doesn't do it justice. The Cal Academies rendered a beautiful show that excels on the big screen.

Versions of the planetarium show have been sent to all of the major planetarium manufacturers and content distributors. You should be able to contact your vendor of choice for a copy. They should be free to use.

Please contact us if you plan to show the video!! It will help us greatly if we can give the National Science Foundation a  report of how many theaters are showing the video! Just e-mail info@citizensky.org or use this feedback form.Read more