The AAVSO has contributed to several projects in 2024. Below is a small sample of the interesting results featuring contributions of AAVSO observers.
RW Cephei Flares Up
A research paper authored by a team led by Narsireddy Anugu, a staff scientist at Georgia State University’s CHARA Array, cited the long-time recordkeeping of AAVSO observers. The observations were fundamental in distinguishing regular pulsations from more significant darkening events, like its Great Dimming in 2022. One observer cited—Wolfgang Vollmann—began observing RW Cep through serendipitous circumstances. He writes, “I observed W Cephei (triggered by an AAVSO request) and noted that RW Cephei was also on my DSLR images, so I decided to measure it too! I was very proud to be on their latest paper just doing what all variable star observers did for many decades—measuring stars to help understand them.”
Probing a Super-Outburst: GOTO065054+593624
Its name may be long, but this nova’s story is worth the extra characters. It was initially discovered during a dramatic super-outburst by citizen scientists within the Kilonova Seekers project.
However, its true impact was determined in the aftermath. Regular follow-up observations, carried out largely by dedicated AAVSO observers, began to immediately probe its behavior. Their observations provided critical data on how the superhump period evolves throughout the outburst, offering valuable insights into the conditions within the accretion disk and enabling key tests of theoretical models.
GOTO065054+593624 is a shining example of how citizen scientists and professional researchers can work together to push the boundaries of astrophysical understanding.
WASP-77 A b: A Stellar Example of Professional and Citizen Science Collaboration
Over the past several years the AAVSO has worked in collaboration with the Exoplanet Watch team to involve citizen scientists in observing and submitting to the AAVSO Exoplanet Database. In the case of WASP-77 A b this resulted in more than 30 observations which achieved remarkable results. When combined with TESS and radial velocity measurements this data were able to present an exceptionally complete picture of this exoplanetary system presented in a paper led by researcher Frederico Noguer.
Most impressively, the transit time precision improved by a factor of 2.3 compared to using TESS data alone. This achievement highlights the transformative role of AAVSO and other citizen science contributions in advancing exoplanet research. WASP-77 A b now stands as a testament to the power of collaboration between professionals and citizen scientists.
Exploration of the Sunspot Archives
In a groundbreaking effort to preserve and advance solar physics research, Brad Schaefer is spearheading a project to recover, compile, and publish an unprecedented archive of sunspot counts spanning 80 years, from 1944 to 2024 for the AAVSO Solar Database. This monumental endeavor, slated for release in a data paper in The Astrophysical Journal and as an online resource on the AAVSO website, will consolidate over half a million observations into a definitive long-term record.
Unlike the Zurich/Brussels counts, the AAVSO data benefit from contributions by multiple observers, averaging out individual variations to provide a superior dataset. This archive will also enable the calibration of a robust long-term sunspot index, addressing critical gaps in understanding solar activity and its climate impacts over decades.
The project involves recovering data from AAVSO archives, personal observer logbooks, and collaborations with other solar organizations like SILSO. Among the highlights are data from renowned observers, including Hisako Koyama, Herbert Luft, Thomas Cragg, and David Levy, whose meticulous records span decades and provide vital calibration anchors. Efforts are ongoing to fill remaining gaps through outreach to observers, institutions, and historical archives.
Once complete, this database promises to be an invaluable tool for researchers worldwide,
providing new insights into solar activity and its influence on our planet.
A New Milestone for AVSpec!
With over 15,500 unique observations, AVSpec—the AAVSO’s spectroscopy database—has achieved an incredible milestone, becoming the second-largest amateur spectroscopy database in the world. Launched in 2019, AVSpec has grown rapidly thanks to contributions from more than 85 dedicated observers.
And the future looks even brighter. The advent of 3D-printable spectrographs like LOWSPEC is making high-quality spectroscopic observations more accessible and affordable than ever, promising to expand this thriving database even further.
To leverage this growing trove of data, a major focus in the coming year will be to launch new, engaging projects. Stay tuned—exciting opportunities are just around the corner!
“New Stars” in Scorpio and Vulpecula
In their scrutiny of the night sky, variable star observers may find themselves discovering entirely “new stars.” AAVSO observers found not one, but two novae this past year. The first, V1723 Sco, was discovered by Andrew Pearce, adding another notch to his impressive total (he appears in the prior Annual Report). V615 Vul was discovered on 2024 July 29.832 UT at magnitude 11.2 by AAVSO observer Kirill Sokolovsky, along with S.
Korotkiy, N. Potapov, and S. Ostapenko, part of the “New Milky Way” survey from Nizhnii Arkhyz, Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia.
VSX Highlights
Despite automated surveys like Gaia and ATLAS dominating sky surveyance and publishing millions of new variable stars, the AAVSO still saw a 46% increase in submissions of new objects to VSX when compared to the previous three years. Most of these discoveries have come from an active group of members of the Variable Star Search Program at Xingming Observatory in Xinjiang, China.
We want to highlight the work of Shuming Wang, an amateur astronomer and college
student. Wang discovered three of the most interesting stars submitted to VSX this year,
ones that are not easy to classify and will be good objects for follow-up observations to
understand their true nature.
VSSP J005847.46+562749.9 is a typically constant star that underwent a deep fading event with several brightenings and fadings, and a total duration of 347 days. It might be a disc-occultation system like V1400 Cen. Gaia classified it as an O-type star, but that spectral type seems unlikely.
AISV-ID J138.624+24.879, an object that, despite having a spectral type of M1e, shows periodic variations, and is not a good candidate for a BY Draconis rotational red dwarf variable, due to its very large amplitude. It is likely a cataclysmic variable but with a particularly strange light curve and a long period of 1.04 days.
AISV-ID J107.240-17.465 has a normal F-type spectrum and shows a very slow sinusoidal change in magnitude over several years. It appears periodic, but the period is too long to be determined for now.
Shuming’s work is a good example of hard work, and we encourage the next generation of astronomers to follow his steps!