Blogs

A few days ago I received an email containing pictures of an Iranian astronomy magazine cover and the article pages of an interview I gave several months ago. To be honest, I'd forgotten about the whole thing, so this was quite a surprise. The Night Sky cover and interior pages are very colorful. Unfortunately, I can't read Farsi, so I'm not sure what portions of the interview made it into print.

They asked questions about the AAVSO, variable stars and my own personal story. They were also interested in how much I knew about their science and astronomy culture and history. I hope I passed the 'Ugly American Test'!

It also dawned on me that this is probably why I've had a sudden surge in Facebook friend requests from the Middle East. It's good to know that in spite of our governments' differences, people can still communicate in the universal language of curiosity and the pursuit of scientific answers.

Assuming that most or all of the questions and answers exchanged in the interview made it into print, here is the text of the interview I returned to them. Continue Reading

On Saturday and Sunday April 28th and 29th, the Rockland Astronomy Club held its 21st Annual Northeast Astronomy Forum and Telescope Show in Suffern, New York. This was the first NEAF for my husband and me and we had a great time. The talks, solar observing, and raffles all added to the festive atmosphere. Continue Reading

A serendipitous discovery of perhaps the most famous member in AAVSO history... Continue Reading

The purpose of the staff blog is to give AAVSO participants a window into the everyday workings of the staff.  In the past I have regarded meeting planning as something that the general AAVSO population would not find very interesting, but today it occured to me that a look inside the process might not be as boring as it first sounds! Continue Reading

The AAVSO Centennial may have come and gone with 2011, and the epsilon Aurigae project may be wrapping up, but Headquarters hasn't closed the files yet on these very special events! Look forward to:

• the 100th Anniversary Edition of JAAVSO, due to be published in June, and
• a special edition of JAAVSO on epsilon Aurigae, to be published in December

We're working on them!
  Continue Reading

I never got the chance to get to know David as a councilor. He got elected the same year I left council, so I was glad he accepted my request for an interview for the staff blog in October, 2011. 

A simple search online will reveal David has had quite an illustrious career with honors such as the President’s Award for Excellence in Research from Saint Mary’s University, Service Award of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Founding Member Special Award of the Sudbury Astronomy Club, Distinguished Alumnus of the Year award by Renison College (University of Waterloo), and dozens of papers published in distinguished journals.

Asteroid 27810 was named Daveturner (= 1993 OC2) by Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy in his honor in November 2003. You know you've made it when they name a space rock after you!

I thought we should all get to know David a little better. So here is the interview- Continue Reading

The Variable Star Astronomy educational materials are about to get some attention at the national level. As the Lead Educator for the Chandra E/PO Office, I was asked by Ardis Herrold, the current president of the National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA) if Chandra would be willing to sponsor an issue of The Earth Scientist (TES) – the NESTA educator magazine that is published four times a year.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Donn and his wife Connie in their home in Indiana. I knew I was in the right place when I pulled up and saw the vanity plate on the car in the driveway, which reads “CEPHEID”. 

Continue Reading

I set aside a sizable fraction of my time per day for about a week in late January and early February to catch up on some long-term projects, especially on many digitization projects undertaken by volunteers for the AAVSO.  There's been quite a haul of archival data over the past several months, and we're getting close to making it all available to the community via the AID.  Importantly, we've begun implementing our new tracking fields in the AAVSO International Database that cover digitized archival data, providing the user with the identity of

A special membership application is uncovered in the AAVSO archives. (Updated at bottom) Continue Reading