[vsnet-chart 430] New AAVSO Chart List & Plan

[Aaron Price <aaronp@shore.net>]

 In response to requests at the Town Hall meeting at the latest AAVSO
Spring Meeting, we have setup an e-mail list to announce new AAVSO charts
and news relating to the AAVSO chart program.

 To sign up for this list simple reply to this e-mail telling me you want
to join. You can also signup automatically by sending an e-mail to
majordomo@aavso.org with this in the body of the e-mail:

                subscribe charts-announce



 Also, Dr. Mattei posted the current plan regarding AAVSO charts and below
is a copy:


Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 19:18:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Janet A. Mattei <jmattei@aavso.org>
To: aavso-discussion@informer2.cis.McMaster.CA


                 PLAN ON AAVSO CHART ACTIVITIES

     At the 91st Spring Meeting in Hawaii we hosted a "Town Meeting"
style discussion of variable star charts. We have begun taking action
on many of the suggestions offered during the meeting. Below is a
summary of where we are in terms of various chart related items along
with announcements of some new initiatives.


Chart Announcement Mailing List

     It was suggested during the Town Meeting at the 91st Spring
Meeting that we establish a mailing list to announce chart updates. In
the past we had been posting updates to the web site and in Eyepiece
Views.  However, as chart activity increases it will help to have a
dedicated channel for issuing chart updates and news. So we have
created an electronic mailing list where we will post the publication
of new charts and general news involving the AAVSO chart program. To
sign up send an e-mail to charts@aavso.org or you can sign up
automatically by sending an e-mail to majordomo@aavso.org with this
line in the body of the e-mail:
                    subscribe charts-announce

New Charts

     After preparing and publishing over 1500 new/revised/reversed
charts since the start of 2002 we are going to be shifting our focus
on revising existing charts (more below). With that said, new charts
will be issued when circumstances warrant such as discovery of novae,
bright supernovae, and/or requests for observations from the
scientific community, etc.

Revising Charts

     Revising existing charts and comparison star magnitudes is a
difficult and detail-oriented process. It takes a long time to get it
right because you need to do research in numerous photometric catalogs
and/or websites, look at existing and historical charts and comparison
star magnitudes published by the AAVSO and other organizations, either
prepare a completely new chart(s) using the new format or make the
changes on the existing chart(s), and check everything multiple times.
However, the AAVSO recognizes the vital importance of updating charts
and comparison star magnitudes.

     We will commit to publishing updated charts every month - up to
ten stars per month, beginning Oct 1. Soon we will create a list of
the first 50 stars to be updated and we will post them to the charts
web site when the list is ready.  The goal is to increase the monthly
updates, as much as we can, after we have a sustained program underway
and can find areas where we can speed things up.

Variable Star Chart CDROM 2.0

     This update to the Variable Star Chart CDROM 1.0 will be
published before the Annual Meeting in October. We will send it to the
printer on September 1. It will likely be a 2-cd set and will come
with Windows software that acts like our Online Chart Search Engine
and allows you to print charts on only 1 sheet of paper using almost
any printer. It will include thousands of new/revised/reversed charts;
constellation charts; photoelectric photometry (PEP), eclipsing
binary, and RR Lyrae charts; in addition to the charts on the earlier
CD. The software will only run on Windows but the charts can be
accessed on any operating system. The directory structure will be a
mirror of the Charts FTP Site.

AAVSO Chart Activity Coordination

     These projects and goals will be worked on by several members of
the AAVSO Chart Committee with Aaron Price coordinating and working
on them from AAVSO Headquarters, under my direction. We are very
excited about these projects and look forward to providing observers
with the highest quality variable star charts possible.

     If you have any suggestions or comments please send them to:

	              charts@aavso.org

     Thank you!

     Good observing!
     Janet A. Mattei

***********************************************************************
Janet A. Mattei, Director
American Assoc. of Variable Star           Phone:        (617) 354-0484
               Observers (AAVSO)           fax  :        (617) 354-0665
25 Birch Street                           e-mail:     jmattei@aavso.org
Cambridge, MA  02138                                    aavso@aavso.org
USA                                       www   :  http://vsnet.aavso.org
***********************************************************************

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Aaron Price, Technical Assistant, Technology
American Association of Variable Star Observers
http://vsnet.aavso.org

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