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Re: Weighing the options > Perhaps such a thing could already be produced just using > the on-line AAVSO and vsnet databases, with dots for the locations of > stars observed in the previous 24h or whatever. I can assure you that > when the asteroid-survey sky-coverage maps were first made avaiable > it caused a sensation among all observers. Everyone knew the automated > surveys were covering lots of real estate, but seeing it graphically > really brought home how the business had been changed. Might a > variable-star coverage map be similarly revealing? Perhaps it is technically easily faesible, but not necessarily scientifically significant. There is enormous diversity in variable stars (even within dwarf novae, the outburst cycle lengths vary by a facter of more than 1000). It would be difficult to make this dynamic range rasily recognizable to eyes. Such kind of a coverage plot will be most useful for "area surveys" such as ASAS-3, rather than individual traditional observations. (No one knows if V1668 Cyg is sufficiently monitored when there are enough SS Cyg observations). The analogy with asteroid surveys thus seems to be more superficial than could be inferred from Brian's words. Regards, Taichi Kato
Return to the Powerful Daisaku Nogami
vsnet-adm@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp
