Introduction to the Joint AAS-AAVSO Scientific Paper Sessions

Volume 40 number 1 (2012)

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Matthew R. Templeton

AAVSO, 49 Bay State Road, Cambridge, MA 02138; matthewt@aavso.org

Abstract

Preparations for the joint AAS-AAVSO meeting (May 2011) were well underway in 2010 when I began planning the joint sessions that would bring the AAS and AAVSO together. As someone with roots in both organizations, I wanted to plan science sessions that would bring the Amateur and Professional researchers and observers into the same room and provide an opportunity for each to learn about new science and new initiatives by the other. I worked closely with AAS Vice Presidents Lee Anne Willson and Christine Jones-Forman to schedule a day’s worth of sessions that would interest both of our communities. We settled on two special sessions that would highlight both the field of amateur observing and the astrophysics that we hope to gain from studying variable stars.