AAVSO: Visual Observing Program

Visual observations of variable stars make up the largest component of the AAVSO International Database. There are approximately 4,000 variables in the AAVSO visual observing program. These stars are primarily large-amplitude (visual range greater than one magnitude). The types of variables include pulsating (Mira, semiregular, RV Tauri, R Coronae Borealis, Cepheid, symbiotic), eruptive or cataclysmic (dwarf nova, nova, recurrent nova, novalike, supernova), nebular (T Tauri, flare), irregular, and suspected variables. With a few exceptions like eclipsing cataclysmic variables, they do not include eclipsing binaries or RR Lyrae stars; these stars require special observational procedures and are covered under separate observing programs.

The visual observing program also receives some observations of program stars made using techniques other than visual. Observations used with a charge-coupled device (CCD) or photoelectric photometry (PEP) instrumentation complement the visual program very well. These observations have been reduced by an observer to a photoelectric (V), CCD (V), or unfiltered CCD magnitude, are processed and archived with the visual observations, and in the archives are tagged as PEP, CCD, or CCDV.

For a thorough description of just about everything there is to know about the AAVSO visual observing program, please visit the AAVSO Manual for Visual Observing of Variable Stars page. This manual is available for download or free-or-charge if you join the AAVSO. Otherwise you may order a copy from our secure server. The cover of the manual is shown below:

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