The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) and the British Astronomical Association Variable Star Section (BAAVSS) are pleased to announce that the variable star observation archive of the BAAVSS is now available through the website of the AAVSO. The BAAVSS archives comprise over 2.5 million variable star observations made mostly by amateur astronomers world-wide over the past 150 years. These data now join the archives of the AAVSO in the AAVSO International Database, which consists of over 25 million variable star observations made by observers of the AAVSO and several other international organizations including the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand (RASNZ) and the Association Française des Observateurs d'Étoiles Variables (AFOEV).
The BAAVSS is the oldest organization of variable star observers in the world. Since its founding in 1890, it has served as a repository of its observers' data, with contributors from all over the globe. While it continues to maintain its own archive of contributed observations, the BAAVSS is now also sharing these data through the AAVSO International Database. The inclusion of BAAVSS data in the AAVSO archives will make this important data set more readily available to the larger community of astronomical researchers.
The AAVSO, which recently celebrated its own Centennial in 2011, has become an important resource for the variable star research community, and its archives are accessed by thousands of research astronomers, educators, students, and observers every year. By making the BAAVSS archives available, the AAVSO will provide the research community with a more complete data resource, and will help the BAAVSS community make a greater impact on variable star science.
The initial import of BAAVSS data occurred on December 2, 2014, and included more than 2 million observations, 80 percent of the BAAVSS archive. The AAVSO will continue working with BAAVSS volunteers over the coming months to finish reconciling the remaining half million records, making the full archive available through the AAVSO website.
The AAVSO is pleased to make the BAAVSS archive available to the community, and we encourage everyone to make use of this wonderful new resource. The AAVSO International Database is freely available, and may be accessed from the AAVSO website:
Information about the BAAVSS may be found at its website:
Arne Henden, Director
Sara Beck, Technical Assistant, Special Projects
Matthew Templeton, Science Director
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Roger Pickard, Director
Andrew Wilson, Database Secretary
British Astronomical Association Variable Star Section (BAAVSS)
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