Interested in learning how to detect a planet orbiting a distant star? And doing so from your own backyard telescope? This webinar will provide an overview of the instrumentation, software, and processes required to detect exoplanets using the transit method. For astro-imagers in particular, the transition to exoplanet observing offers an opportunity to use your […]
Join us as we hear from each of the candidates running in the AAVSO's FY25 Board election. Each candidate will discuss their own background, running platform, and thoughts on the future of the AAVSO.
Shishir Dholakia has been doing something exciting: using TESS light curves to accurately map the orbits of widely separated binaries. His secret? Pulsation Timing Variations, caused by the speed-of-light delay as each component swings through space. Join us on the cutting edge of research as Shishir offers an inside view into this novel project!
Bob King fell in love with the night sky when he was a kid, and he loves to share his passion with people of all ages through teaching and public observing. His long-time association with the AAVSO has seen him observe the most remote and exotic places in the universe—including “visits” to quasars, blazars and […]
Join us for a special webinar celebrating our stellar volunteers! The star of this webinar is our vibrant community. Join us to learn about our volunteers' valuable work, and the impressive impact of their observations and contributions. The discussion will touch on all aspects of the AAVSO, making this an ideal opportunity to learn more […]
Professor Dan Milisavljevic (Purdue University) will review and update plans for a coordinated global response to the next supernova in our Milky Way galaxy. The first alert that the "Big One" has happened will come from the Supernova Early Warning System (SNEWS), which is a network of neutrino detectors around the world. The neutrinos will […]
The discovery and characterization of exoplanet atmospheres is mired in the challenge of disentangling planetary characteristics from the complex signatures of stellar activity. For stars cooler than the Sun, spots on their surface can be cool enough that molecular absorption appears in the stellar spectrum and can be mistaken for absorption in a planetary atmosphere. […]
Last month, Dr. Waalkes gave a presentation on how stellar activity could drastically alter the interpretation of an exoplanet's atmospheric composition. This month, join Dr. Rob Zellem (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) as he talks about NASA's Pandora SmallSat mission, which is scheduled to launch no earlier than Fall 2025 and will monitor ≥20 transiting […]
This webinar will feature brief talks from three AAVSO Special Interest Groups: Exoplanet, Young Stellar Objects, and Solar Observing. The session will include a discussion of the AAVSO's SIGs, and ways to participate. Why should I register for this webinar? If you enjoy observing exoplanets or monitoring protostars, you'll be very interested to hear about […]
This webinar will feature brief talks from three AAVSO Special Interest Groups: Eclipsing Binaries, Instrumentation & Equipment, and Short Period Pulsating Variables. The session will include a discussion of the AAVSO's SIGs, and ways to participate. Why should I register for this webinar? If you enjoy observing variables due to stellar alignments or pulsations, you'll […]
With over a century of observations, this bright supergiant continues to surprise and challenge us . . . a Great Dimming and now the possibility of a companion hidden deep within its atmosphere. Dr. Andrea Dupree relates the history, puzzling behavior, and the unique contributions of the AAVSO as well as ongoing studies of Betelgeuse. […]
Dr. Karen Collins will provide an overview of the TFOP program, demonstrate the tools made available to coordinate and analyze observations by citizen, student, and professional astronomers from around the world, and explain how to apply to join the fun.
Join us as we hear from each of the candidates running in the AAVSO's FY26 Board election. Each candidate will discuss their own background, running platform, and thoughts on the future of the AAVSO. This year’s candidates are Isaac Ceballos, Rick Diz, Dipankar Maitra, Peter Bealo, Peter Craig, and Michael Rapp. Zoom | Register
This webinar will feature brief talks from three AAVSO Special Interest Groups: Spectroscopy, Cataclysmic Variables, and AAVSONet. The session will include a discussion of the AAVSO's SIGs, and ways to participate. Zoom | Register
By measuring changes in light output on many different timescales, we can detect and analyze a myriad of phenomena, from stellar rotation to the dynamics of nascent exoplanet systems. While most stars are too far away for us to “see” what is going on at or around their surfaces, time domain studies provide access to […]
