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authortoma <toma@283d02a7-25f6-0310-bc7c-ecb5cbfe19da>2009-11-25 17:56:58 +0000
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+<sect1 id="tool-aavso">
+
+<sect1info>
+<author>
+<firstname>Aaron</firstname>
+<surname>Price</surname>
+<affiliation><address>
+<email>aavso@aavso.org</email>
+</address></affiliation>
+</author>
+</sect1info>
+
+<title>AAVSO Light Curves</title>
+<indexterm><primary>Tools</primary>
+<secondary>AAVSO Lightcurve Generator</secondary>
+</indexterm>
+
+<screenshot>
+<screeninfo>
+The AAVSO Lightcurves Tool
+</screeninfo>
+<mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="aavso.png" format="PNG"/>
+ </imageobject>
+ <textobject>
+ <phrase>AAVSO Lightcurves</phrase>
+ </textobject>
+</mediaobject>
+</screenshot>
+
+<sect2 id="aavso-intro">
+<title>Introduction</title>
+<para>
+&kstars; can display light curves for variable stars from the observing
+program of the <ulink url="http://www.aavso.org">American Association
+of Variable Star Observers</ulink> (<abbrev>AAVSO</abbrev>). This
+program monitors over 6,000 variable stars and consists of 10 million
+observations going back almost a century. &kstars; downloads the very
+latest data directly from the <abbrev>AAVSO</abbrev> database via the
+Internet, so a network connection is required to use this tool.
+</para>
+<para>
+To use the tool, select a variable star either by
+<firstterm>designation</firstterm> or name in the left panel, and
+set the start and end dates to be plotted. In the right panel,
+select the type of data that should be plotted (see below). When you have
+made you selections, press the <guibutton>Retrieve Curve</guibutton>
+button. &kstars; will automatically connect to the AAVSO server,
+which will generate the lightcurve plot and send it to your computer for
+display. A sample lightcurve plot is shown below:
+</para>
+
+<screenshot>
+<screeninfo>
+A Sample Lightcurve
+</screeninfo>
+<mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="lightcurve.png" format="PNG"/>
+ </imageobject>
+ <textobject>
+ <phrase>Sample Lightcurve</phrase>
+ </textobject>
+</mediaobject>
+</screenshot>
+
+<para>
+Please not these light curves should <emphasis>NEVER</emphasis> be used
+in research, papers, presentations, publications, &etc;. They are only
+meant to be used as a source of info for &kstars;. They have not been
+validated and passed the <abbrev>AAVSO</abbrev>'s strict quality control
+measures. We will be glad to give you good raw data simply by requesting
+it at <ulink url="http://www.aavso.org/adata/onlinedata/">http://www.aavso.org/adata/onlinedata/</ulink>.
+</para>
+<para>
+Specific questions about the data in the light curves can be sent to
+<email>aavso@aavso.org</email>.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="aavso-about">
+<title>About Variable Stars</title>
+<para>
+<firstterm>Variable stars</firstterm> are stars that change in
+brightness. A <firstterm>light curve</firstterm> is a plot of a
+variable star's brightness over time. By looking at a light curve you
+can see how the star has behaved in the past and try to predict how it
+will behave in the future. Astronomers also use this data to model
+astrophysical processes in the star. This important to help us
+understand how stars work.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="aavso-data">
+<title>The Data</title>
+
+<para>
+Here is a summary of the various types of data available in the light
+curves:
+
+<itemizedlist>
+<listitem><para><firstterm>Visual Observation</firstterm>:
+This is an observation of a variable star by an observer with a
+regular telescope. It means that an observer saw the star at Y
+brightness on X date and time.</para></listitem>
+
+<listitem><para><firstterm>Fainter than</firstterm>:
+Sometimes the star is too faint to be seen by the observer. When that
+happens, the observer reports the faintest star seen in the field.
+These are called <quote>fainter thans</quote> because the variable star
+was fainter than the brightness reported.</para></listitem>
+
+<listitem><para><firstterm>Average</firstterm>:
+This is a computed running average of all the data reported. The
+<firstterm>bin</firstterm> number tells the computer how many days to
+use in each average calculation. This will need to be adjusted based on
+the frequency of observations. The error bars represent the 1 sigma
+standard deviation of error.</para></listitem>
+
+<listitem><para><firstterm>CCDV</firstterm>:
+These are observations reported using a <abbrev>CCD</abbrev> with a
+Johnson <abbrev>V</abbrev> filter. <abbrev>CCDV</abbrev> observations
+tend to be more accurate than visual (but not
+always).</para></listitem>
+
+<listitem><para><firstterm>CCDB</firstterm>:
+<abbrev>CCD</abbrev> observations with a Johnson <abbrev>B</abbrev>
+filter.</para></listitem>
+
+<listitem><para><firstterm>CCDI</firstterm>:
+<abbrev>CCD</abbrev> observations with a Cousins <abbrev>Ic</abbrev>
+filter.</para></listitem>
+
+<listitem><para><firstterm>CCDR</firstterm>:
+<abbrev>CCD</abbrev> observations with a Cousins <abbrev>R</abbrev>
+filter.</para></listitem>
+
+<listitem><para><firstterm>Discrepant Data</firstterm>:
+This is data that has been flagged by an <abbrev>AAVSO</abbrev> staff
+member as being discrepant following <abbrev>HQ</abbrev> rules for
+data validation. Contact <email>aavso@aavso.org</email> for more
+information.</para></listitem>
+
+<listitem><para><firstterm>Dates</firstterm>:
+The observational database the light curves are based on is updated
+every 10 minutes so you can get data in near real-time. Right now
+light curve data is only available back to 1961, but this will likely
+be expanded further back in time in the future.</para></listitem>
+
+</itemizedlist>
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="aavso-update">
+<title>Updating your local copy of Variable Stars</title>
+<para>
+The <abbrev>AAVSO</abbrev> publishes the
+<ulink url="http://www.aavso.org/valnam.txt">full list of variable
+stars</ulink> in their monitoring program. This file is updated
+monthly with newly discovered variable stars. To sync the list that
+&kstars; uses with the <abbrev>AAVSO</abbrev> master list, click
+on the <guibutton>Update List</guibutton> button in the
+<abbrev>AAVSO</abbrev> dialog. &kstars; will then attempt to
+connect to the <abbrev>AAVSO</abbrev> database and download the
+latest list.
+</para>
+<note>
+<para>
+The customized data stream provided by the AAVSO was implemented for
+&kstars; by Aaron Price. Thank you, Aaron!
+</para>
+</note>
+</sect2>
+</sect1>
+