Research Breakthroughs From Pro-Am Collaborations (Abstract)

Volume 36 number 1 (2008)

David G. Turner

Abstract

(Abstract only) Professional-amateur collaborations are proving to be an exciting means of pursuing vital observing projects in areas where regular professional monitoring has declined or disappeared in recent decades. Such is the case for RT Aur, a bright Cepheid well established from a century of observation to exhibit a steady decrease in pulsation period. That is, until observations by AAVSO and Belarus observers revealed that it is actually undergoing a steady period increase superposed upon a sinusoidal trend! Or the case of a newly identified Cepheid variable with a smaller light amplitude than Polaris (!), studied with the aid of regular monitoring from RASC’er Dave Lane’s automated backyard observatory. Other examples include an eclipsing system that is not what it was long thought to be, and other cases of an ongoing nature. In an era where large-scale surveys are dominating fields once covered by dozens of individual observers, there is a growing need for links with keen observers of every stripe to fill the “discovery void” occasioned by the benign neglect of professionals.