Advancing Variable Star Astronomy Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- PART I PIONEERS IN VARIABLE STAR ASTRONOMY PRIOR TO 1909
- PART II THE FOUNDING OF THE AAVSO – THE WILLIAM TYLER OLCOTT ERA
- PART III RECORDING AND CLASSIFICATION – THE LEON CAMPBELL ERA
- PART IV THE SERVICE BUREAU – THE MARGARET MAYALL ERA
- PART V ANALYSIS AND SCIENCE – THE JANET MATTEI ERA
- PART VI ACCELERATING OBSERVATIONAL SCIENCE – THE ARNE HENDEN ERA
- 21 Bridging the gap
- 22 Accelerating the science – the Henden era begins
- Epilogue: A new century
- Appendix A AAVSO historiographic notes
- Appendix B Top AAVSO observer totals
- Appendix C Variable star observing groups represented in the AAVSO International Database
- Appendix D AAVSO Awards
- Appendix E Officers of the AAVSO
- Appendix F AAVSO Council members
- Appendix G AAVSO Scientific committee, section, division, and program chairs
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Epilogue: A new century
from PART VI - ACCELERATING OBSERVATIONAL SCIENCE – THE ARNE HENDEN ERA
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 June 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- PART I PIONEERS IN VARIABLE STAR ASTRONOMY PRIOR TO 1909
- PART II THE FOUNDING OF THE AAVSO – THE WILLIAM TYLER OLCOTT ERA
- PART III RECORDING AND CLASSIFICATION – THE LEON CAMPBELL ERA
- PART IV THE SERVICE BUREAU – THE MARGARET MAYALL ERA
- PART V ANALYSIS AND SCIENCE – THE JANET MATTEI ERA
- PART VI ACCELERATING OBSERVATIONAL SCIENCE – THE ARNE HENDEN ERA
- 21 Bridging the gap
- 22 Accelerating the science – the Henden era begins
- Epilogue: A new century
- Appendix A AAVSO historiographic notes
- Appendix B Top AAVSO observer totals
- Appendix C Variable star observing groups represented in the AAVSO International Database
- Appendix D AAVSO Awards
- Appendix E Officers of the AAVSO
- Appendix F AAVSO Council members
- Appendix G AAVSO Scientific committee, section, division, and program chairs
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Each age spells its own advance, and the all-important present soon fades into the shadowy and forgotten past … but let us not ridicule past ages for their crude notions and quaint fancies, lest some of the cherished ideas of which we boast be transmuted by the touch of time into naught but idle visions.
– William Tyler Olcott, from Sun Lore of All Ages, 1914ADVANCING VARIABLE STAR ASTRONOMY – THE FUTURE?
In April 1911, a lawyer in Norwich, Connecticut, announced that he was founding the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) and invited others, both amateur and professional astronomers, to join him in this interesting scientific pursuit. By December of that same year, William Tyler Olcott was able to publish the first compilation of 198 observations of 69 stars from the earliest 7 members of this new organization. Since 1911, the AAVSO has grown to more than 1200 members scattered around the world and has archived well over 19 million observations for a list that has grown to include more than 10000 known variable stars, and the AAVSO is arguably the leading international organization of variable star observation. This signal record of achievement has been the work of many individuals over the century, so in this history we celebrate the contributions of members and observers, as well as the administrative leaders who contributed to that growth.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Advancing Variable Star AstronomyThe Centennial History of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, pp. 329 - 330Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011