Analogous to the section newsletter that the SPP section has started to publish I want to try our hand at an LPV Newsletter. I would like to ask you LPV observers to let me know what topics you would like in the letter. My thoughts are to include in it a revival of the "LPV of the Month" (but perhaps not every month; I've done a couple of these in past years and I discovered it takes some time and effort to put each one together). I also want to give a listing of LPV-related journal papers as I find them from surveying the literature (there is an ancient listing of such papers in the LPV webpage. But, I have not kept this current seeing as how the AAVSO webpages will likely be undergoing big changes later this year - so I want to put the listing in the newsletter). Other things that can be included are: notifications of upcoming online meetings of the section and webinars, articles on aspects of LPV behavior and the physics behind it - perhaps presented by researchers in the field, and results of research projects being done by our observers. In addition the newsletter should include submissions of whatever sort about LPVs and your work in observing them, plus observing tips and techniques, equipment, etc. What do you folks think? Do you think a newsletter is useful? Would you participate? What should be in it, either in lieu of what I just described, or in addition? Your feedback is important!
Fri, 06/14/2024 - 04:29
I suppose, LPV newsletter is excellent idea!
It will be fun to get monthly statistics on AAVSO observations of LPVs, info on past and expected extremums, some recommendations and tips. I think, newsletter is not the best place for scientific articles, however short annotations with direct links will be useful.
Mikhail
Hello, Mikhail! Many thanks for your comments! I agree with you: a newsletter is not the best place to post scientific (journal) articles. I propose to simply give the article of interest its bibliographic information with possibly short abstract of why I think it's of interest. Other observers are welcome to do the same -- all they need to do is email me their input. At this point, I am not planning to try to start up the listing of LPV maxima and minima. In past years we did so, but it required a lot of staff work to keep it current. There are a lot of LPVs being observed and the list is very long of stars to track. Also, even the more "regular periodic" LPVs have periods that vary by days (even more) from cycle to cycle. So, a max/min bulletin is not often accurate. I suggest using the AAVSO Target Tool and the AAVSO Light Curve Generator to get the information you want. These are available online 24/7 and will give you the most complete and updated info on any given LPV's behaviour. Chao, Mike
Of course, I meant very short list for visual observers like BAA VSSC "Season miras", but not all LPV extremums, but it is not so important. More important to see examples of scientific valueability of AAVSO LPV observations.