23 July 2004

Amateur solar observers

More than 100 amateur and professional astronomers on six continents collaborate in the solar observing program of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). This collaboration was begun in 1944, when AAVSO formed its Solar Committee.

Today the AAVSO solar observing program is considerably more sophisticated than when it was first begun. Because the committee has members stationed around the world, their observations of the Sun are nearly uninterrupted. Thus, they provide important links between the professional observatories dedicated to solar observations.

The AAVSO uses new, carefully devised statistical methods for accurately computing the number of sunspots. The new methods eliminate errors that can occur when sunspots are manually detected and counted (see Bradley E. Schaefer, Journal of the AAVSO 26, 40-46, 1997).

If you are interested in the possibility of becoming a serious solar observer, visit the solar observing web page of the AAVSO at www.aavso.org/observing/programs/solar/. You, too, can join an elite, four-century long project to monitor our star.

Forrest M. Mims III