American Association of Variable Star Observers

Since its founding in 1911, the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) has coordinated, collected, evaluated, analyzed, published, and archived variable star observations made largely by amateur astronomers and makes the records available to professional astronomers, researchers, and educators. These records establish light curves depicting the variation in brightness of a star over time.

Related Topics:
Variable star - Amateur astronomers

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Since professional astronomers do not have the time or the resources to monitor every variable star, astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can make genuine contributions to scientific research.

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The director of the AAVSO for many decades was Janet Mattei, who died in March 2004 of leukemia.

Related Topics:
Janet Mattei - 2004 - Leukemia

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