AAVSO The American Association of Variable Star Observers Annual Report 2015–2016 AAVSO Annual Report 2012 –2013 The American Association of Variable Star Observers AAVSO Annual Report 2015–2016 The American Association of Variable Star Observers 49 Bay State Road Cambridge, MA 02138-1203 USA Telephone: 617-354-0484 Fax: 617-354-0665 email:
[email protected] website: https://www.aavso.org Annual Report Website: https://www.aavso.org/annual-report On the cover... Ken Menzies, AAVSO Merit Award recipient, with AAVSO President Kristine Larsen and Director Stella Kafka. Donn Starkey, Olcott Award recipient, with AAVSO President Kristine Larsen. Attendees at the 2016 AAVSO Spring Meeting, St. Louis, Missouri. Picture credits In additon to images from the AAVSO and its archives, the editors gratefully acknowledge the following for their image contributions: Glenn Chaple, Michael Cook, Giorgio De Scala, Shawn Dvorak, Mary Glennon, Bill Goff, Barbara Harris,Carl Knight, Mario Motta, NASA, Gary Poyner, Msgr. Ronald Royer, the Mary Lea Shane Archives of the Lick Observatory, Chris Stephan, and Wheatley, et al. 2003, MNRAS, 345, 49. Thanks to Richard Berry and Roger Kolman for the meeting photos. Table of Contents 1. About the AAVSO Vision and Mission Statement 1 About the AAVSO 1 What We Do 2 What Are Variable Stars? 3 Why Observe Variable Stars? 3 The AAVSO International Database 4 Observing Variable Stars 6 Services to Astronomy 7 Education and Outreach 9 2. The Year in Review Introduction 11 Winter Council e-Meeting 11 Spring Council Meeting 12 Summer Council e-Meeting 12 Annual Council Meeting 13 The 105th AAVSO Spring Meeting, St.