AAVSO: High Energy Network

We are working to redesign and expand this website during 2009, and we invite your feedback on the site, and on the Network programs and activities. We are a world-wide collaboration between professional and amateur observers and astronomy educators, and we need your participation to continue to make the AAVSO HEN a success! Please join us!

For more information, please contact Dr. Matthew Templeton, AAVSO HEN Coordinator at (aavso at aavso.org).

Who we are

Light curve of GRB 071010B by its discoverer, A. Oksanen(eJAAVSO 75, 2008).

The AAVSO International High Energy Network is dedicated to the optical monitoring of high energy astrophysical phenomena in the universe. It is an expansion of the AAVSO International Gamma-Ray Burst Network which has had great success in discovering and observing the optical afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Observers around the world are able to respond in seconds or minutes to burst alerts sent by satellite, and are able to catch these rapidly evolving phenomena as quickly (if not more so) than professional observatories.

Today, the High Energy Network has expanded its reach beyond gamma-ray burst follow-ups to include observations of other astrophysical sources bright in gamma- and X-rays. These include Blazars and other Active Galactic Nuclei, and Galactic gamma-ray sources like AM Herculis stars, flare stars, and X-ray binaries. The AAVSO International High Energy Network is a truly international endeavor, with observers from around the world actively conducting GRB follow-ups and participating in HEN campaigns. We invite participation from amateur and professional/academic observers everywhere to join AAVSO HEN.

The AAVSO International High Energy Network is currently funded via the AAVSO Endowment Fund, and by the generous support of the Curry Foundation. We are grateful for the support of the Curry Foundation, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA Center for Space Science, Sonoma State University, and the many observers and AAVSO members world-wide.

Current High Energy Network activity

NEWS (2009 Jan 03): The blazar PKS0716+71 is at its faintest since 2007 December (m(vis)=14.4; G. Poyner, via BAAVSS Alert)
NEWS (2009 Jan 02): CSS 081231:071126+440405 -- a new eclipsing AM Her star?
NEWS (2009 Jan 02): GRB 090102 is declared a "burst of interest" by Swift: deep, late-time observations are encouraged
Latest GRB activity from GCN Notices (updated in real time)
Our Successes! -- recently published AAVSO GRB observations (updated 2008 Nov 09)
The AAVSO-HEN mailing list archive

About AAVSO HEN

Join the High Energy Network!

Sign up to receive real-time GCN Notices
Submit a GRB Observation Report
Become an AAVSO Observer! Request observer initials and submit observations

Targets of Interest

This page was last updated 2009 January 03.

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