MyNewsFlash: A System for Near Real-Time Varialbe Star Monitoring and Alerts

Volume 32 number 2 (2004)

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Aaron Price

Rebecca Turner

Kerriann Malatesta

AAVSO,

Michael A. Simonsen

C.

Abstract

MyNewsFlash is an automated and customizable system for distributing timely variable star data. It supplies near real-time reports to the user of the latest activity of a variable star or class of stars. The stars it monitors, the frequency of report delivery, the delivery format, and more features are all completely customizable so the reader receives only reports of information he or she wants and nothing more or less. In addition, manually-generated alerts called Special MyNewsFlashes are occasionally sent out with additional information on special or abnormal behavior of a variable star. MyNewsFlash evolved from the AAVSO News Flash, an electronic publication dedicated to outbursts of popular cataclysmic variable stars.