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[vsnet-chat 6966] Observer programs-weighing the options



The sky looks like it is clearing here, and in anticipation of being able to
observe for an extended period tonight I find myself facing questions that
have been pestering me for some time now.

Which stars should I observe?

Should I take advantage of the dark time and go after as many CV
observations as I can muster in a night, maybe 150 or so?
Of course, the majority of these will be negative observations, but maybe
tonight PQ And will go off or something exciting will happen. I'm sure there
are many who consider making 135 negative observations a complete waste of
time, and I must admit I find it less than rewarding on nights that nothing
exciting does happen.

Is visual monitoring of CVs an important enough endeavor to keep up night
after night, to the exclusion of observing any other types of stars?

I know Taichi has lamented the loss of visual observers to CCD observing in
the past. But isn't it time I get a CCD and start contributing in some other
more 'scientifically useful' way? I know Tom Droege has asked me a number of
times why I would even make visual observations other than just for fun, but
if the errors in professional papers are as dreadful as Skiff noted recently
my visual observations are as good as most other observations.

Then again, I have several hundred LPVs that I find amusing to follow. At
least I get to actually make positive observations for the most part. Is
this a better use of my telescope time for now? Helping to fill in the gaps
in light curves, especially gaps in under-observed stars like the NMO stars
seems like a worthwhile thing. Stan Walker commented some time ago that he
didn't see the point in observing a bunch of obscure LPVs when there seemed
to be so much work yet to do on more familiar stars, or something to that
effect.

What's the feeling out there about this?

I've considered doing nothing but LPVs, but keep going back to the CVs for
two reasons.
1- I run out of LPVs to observe in a couple weeks if the sky is clear. By
mid-month I probably have over 500 observations on average (except in May
and December), so I need to observe some CVs because otherwise I am
over-observing the LPVs.
2- Most of the charts and/or sequences for LPVs are so dreadful it is more
like punishment than fun to observe them. At least the state of charts and
sequence for CVs is much better.

Or should I continue to straddle the fence and observe them all whenever I
can? Does this in some way dilute the effort of one or the other?

So many stars, so little time.

Help!

Mike


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