AAVSO Legacy Stars LPVS

We wanted to select stars for the AAVSO LPV Program while also creating a subset of stars we wished to encourage a diminishing number of observers to continue observing forever, no matter what - the Legacy LPVs. The Legacy LPVs are stars for which we have decades, some one hundred years or more, of data. These long-term light curves are one of the most valuable assets the AAVSO retains. Their continuation is deemed important to the future and mission of the organization.

To whittle down the list of stars in the Bulletin to a manageable number, based on some scientific criteria, Matt Templeton created spreadsheets listing the stars with the number of observations in the AID and the number of citations in the literature for each star. Our assumption being simply, if scientists were writing or reading about a star it was significant for some reason and if we had a lot of coverage the light curves could prove valuable to science. On the other hand, if we only have a smattering of data and nobody wants to know about it, the star is less likely to be of scientific importance.

(Side note: Interestingly, there are a number of stars that have a LOT of references in the literature but have none or almost no AAVSO data. Most of these turned out to be objects that are very bright in the infrared but almost imperceptible in the visual bands. Cool, huh? Get it?) 

Anyway...
A couple of natural selection cut-off points arose out of the investigation, so essentially, Program stars are those stars that have at least 5,000 observations in the AID and a significant number of citations in the literature. Legacy LPVs are those stars with 15,000 observations or more and also have numerous citations in the literature.

Because the current trend is for fewer observers reporting observations on fewer stars, we want to encourage observers to follow the Legacy stars as a first priority and the Program stars as a second priority. If you still have room for more stars, have a few old friends you've been observing for a long time, or want to follow your own path, that is fine, of course. But observers, including me, have been hollering for some time for guidance based on scientific criteria as to which stars to observe, so here they are.

If you want to observe "under-observed" stars or stars that are not in the program or Legacy lists, it behooves you and science for you to consider that you are likely the only person observing these targets, and you need to supply ample coverage to create light curves demonstrating the stars long term behavior or you are really wasting your time, that could be better spent on the program stars. 

For example, if you can observe an LPV with a 400 day period once a week for the next 5 years, you will have supplied the AAVSO with an interesting set of data, and you will get genuine satisfaction from being able to plot a light curve that looks like something. But that will require dedication and a long-term commitment. If you have ten sporadic observations of 20 different stars each year that only you are observing, you haven't done much more than practice skills better used on stars covered by more observers.

Hi Doug,

If you give us a list which newly discovered RCB stars need sequence, the AAVSO Sequence Team will be ready to create sequence to these stars (especially if they are already included in the VSX).

Clear skies,

Robert Fidrich (FRF)

[quote=wel]

It is certainly true that R CrB stars deserve such long-term attention. There are well-known examples which are receiving plenty of attention. However, there are also newly discovered and confirmed R CrB stars that need to have sequences defined and monitoring started! I need to work on getting some sequences defined for the brighter new discoveries. Patric Tisserand, Geoff Clayton and I will work on that in the coming weeks.

Cheers,

Doug

[/quote]

It is certainly true that R CrB stars deserve such long-term attention. There are well-known examples which are receiving plenty of attention. However, there are also newly discovered and confirmed R CrB stars that need to have sequences defined and monitoring started! I need to work on getting some sequences defined for the brighter new discoveries. Patric Tisserand, Geoff Clayton and I will work on that in the coming weeks.

Cheers,

Doug

[/quote]

Hey Doug,

Are those the stars found in this paper? http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012A%26A...539A..51T

I was thinking that monitoring of the fainter ones would be a perfect project for AAVSONet.  In my copious amounts of spare time (!!!) I was going to look through the catalog and pick out candidates but it sounds like you experts have it covered.

....Tim