Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Wed, 07/20/2016 - 16:02
As mentioned in a previous forum discussion, we will have a meet and greet for current and new AAVSO Observers and Members at this year's Stellafane Convention on Breezy Hill in Springfield, VT [www.stellafane.org]. I will be giving a talk on the Observing Programs of the AAVSO in the Pavillion on Saturday, August 6 at 4:30 PM. Directly after the talk we will linger (there is nothing else scheduled for the Pavillion directly afterwards) and socialize. You do have to be registered at the convention to attend. Please come and speak with me and other members and observers about the organization and help recruit new observers and members to our obsession :D
Match a face with that observer code!
Kris
Hi,
Kristine, thats a great idea. Looking foward to meeting fellow members and observers there.
John (ONJ)
Friends,
Other than our president (Kristine Larsen), two of the AAVSO staff, Elizabeth Waagen and Sara Beck will also be at Stellaphane and will be at the Pavillion during and after Kristine's talk. It will be a great opportunity for them to meet you in person, learn more about your interests on variable stars and how you think we should improve our association to better serve you.
Best wishes - clear skies,
Stella
I'm really looking forward to hearing Kris Larsen's talk on the AAVSO - and to seeing AAVSOers (and potential AAVSOers!) at Stellafane! This will be just my second Stellafane, so I am still a newbie, and am camping for the first time (last time I roughed it in a beautiful B+B). Do please come to Kris' talk if you can and stay to say hello afterwards!
See you there,
Elizabeth Waagen
I will be there, and I will bring my face :~) Makes me wonder ... does AAVSO have any bling/hats/t-shirts/pins that we might display? I've never looked for any of these things. Will be nice to meet some folks from AAVSO.
Clear skies,
Brad Vietje, VBPA
Newbury, VT
Yup -- here's the link for those who missed it before -- like ME!:
https://www.aavso.org/aavso-store
I'll be at the convention much of Saturday (it will be my 53rd consecutive Stellafane convention!), but unfortunately I plan on leaving for the long ride home right about 4 PM. However, if anyone should happen to encounter me before then I'd be only too pleased to talk variable star observing with them.
J.Bortle (BRJ)
Hi Great, look forward to seeing everyone. I have not made recent meetings because they all have been exactly at the same time as my council of science meetings at the AMA, sigh. I really want to attend them. I am also giving 2 talks, friday 4pm on LED lights based on recent AMA report I wrote, and saturday 1pm on WD1145, interesting transit star, see everyone there.
Mario Motta
I live not far from Springfield VT and I will be there Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There are a lot of good presentations on Saturday besides Kris' talk, which I am looking forward to attending. The weather looks a litlle iffy, but don't let that discourage you because we will probably have clear skies.
Cheers,
Bob Dudley
drob
I'll be there, but won't be able to make the 4:30 talk as I'll be up the hill at the McGregor giving a talk on astronomy with small telescopes. Part of that talk will cover variable stars, as I'll mention R Leo, RZ Cas, and SS Cyg. As soon as the talk is over, I'll stop by the Pavillion to say hello. Looking forward to it!
I wish I could attend, but I am picking my wife up at Providence Airport Saturday at 4 pm. Hello to fellow AAVSO'ers and hope you have a great time. Perhaps next year we can do this again.
Gary
You know, Gary, perhaps attempting to actually organize an informal annual meet & greet up at Stellafane might be a nice idea to look into. Way back when - probaby the 1970's now that I think about it - I sponsored an unoffical meeting of AAVSO members up there for several years running. We never drew a really large crowd, but did have some spirited conversations either under the big tent (in those days), or out in front of the Pink Clubhouse. There are still quite a few AAVSOers spread across New England and Stellafane draws other amateur astronomers from quite a range of eastern states outside that region, so the potential is there for having a nice little gathering if someone wishes to step in an institute such a event.
J.Bortle (BRJ)
You know, Gary, perhaps attempting to actually organize an informal annual meet & greet up at Stellafane might be a nice idea to look into. Way back when - probaby the 1970's now that I think about it - I sponsored an unoffical meeting of AAVSO members up there for several years running. We never drew a really large crowd, but did have some spirited conversations either under the big tent (in those days), or out in front of the Pink Clubhouse. There are still quite a few AAVSOers spread across New England and Stellafane draws other amateur astronomers from quite a range of eastern states outside that region, so the potential is there for having a nice little gathering if someone wishes to step in an institute such a event.
J.Bortle (BRJ)
I'd be interested to learn just how yesterday's 4:30PM Meet & Greet went at Stellafane. I had to leave around 4PM and thus missed the entire event. However, somewhat earlier in the afternoon I had a most pleasant round-robin exchange with John O'Neil, Sara, Elizabeth and Roger. I very much enjoyed John's presentation regarding the odd lack of really bright novae in a couple of generations now, as well.
J.Bortle (BRJ)
From my point of view as a staff member, the meet & greet after Kris's talk (which was terrific) went very well. We were able to answer questions from some fledgling variable star observers and hopefully give them some encouragement. It was also nice to be able to put faces to names for others.
It was great to see John (BRJ) and so many other AAVSOers at Stellafane. By my count, there were about 20 people who were either AAVSO members or observers or both, but there could have been more that I just didn't recognize. The meet & greet is a good way to gather as many of us as possible in one place.
I definitely think it would be worthwhile to do this again and maybe revive another Stellafane tradition.
-Sara (BSJ)
(This post was moved to a new topic)
Friends,
Thank you to all who came at the meet-and-greet! It is a great idea to have a reunion at Stellaphane, give the chance for AAVSOers to meet and for all to learn more about our work. I hope I'll make it in the near future. In the meantime ... does anyone have photos from this meeting or from Kris's talk? If so, please send them at aavso@aavso.org (subject: photos from Stellaphane). We would love to have them in our archive!
Best wishes - clear skies,
Stella.
Sorry - playing catch up after getting home from 4 nights on Breezy Hill :)
I think we convinced several new observers to start observing and reactivated some inactive observers as well (and hopefully encouraged a few new memberships!).
And on the plus side I bagged another 14 binocular variable observations towards my AL pin :D
Stella - I will search for pics and send them along.
KL