Epsilon Aurigae and Citizen Sky

It's back! The AAVSO podcast for 365 Days of Astronomy is here.

In this episode, I interview Rebecca Turner, project manager for Citizen Sky to find out all about the strange star epsilon Aurigae and the AAVSO�s citizen science project to study it. This will be the largest citizen science research project in history, and the goal is to understand one of the most enigmatic stars in the sky.

Impressions from the 215th AAS Meeting in Washington, DC

The American Astronomical Society held its 215th annual meeting in Washington DC January 3-7. Now with the talks all done, the posters taken down and the tables and chairs packed away, I thought I�d give a brief overview of my own impressions from the meeting.

I think everyone who went to the meeting was eagerly anticipating the first results from the Kepler mission. They did not disappoint. Five new exoplanets, a mysterious, possibly new type of object too hot to be a planet, but not a star, (or is it?), reports on the excellent performance of the detectors and space craft, and asteroseismological results, all from the first months of observations.

"Kepler is working so amazingly well," says Berkeley's Geoff Marcy, a member of the Kepler science team, "that the light curves look like they come from a textbook, not a real instrument."

What I found even more impressive was the immediate release of science papers by the team, with a dozen significant papers hitting the astro-ph server within hours of being announced at the AAS meeting. The mission scientists were ready and loaded for bear right out of the shoot. We are gong to be hearing about results from this exciting mission for years and years.

The Hubble Space Telescope is in good hands. Dr. John M. Grunsfeld was appointed Deputy Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md. on January 4th. STScI is the science operations center for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope planned for launch in 2014.

If John�s name sounds familiar it�s because he�s a veteran of five space flights, including three servicing missions to the Hubble. He�s logged over 835 hours in space, including eight space walks, totaling nearly 60 hours. He succeeds Dr. Michael Hauser, who stepped down in October.

There were plenty of new science results presented at AAS demonstrating that Hubble has been reborn again, and is in fact better than ever. Images of the earliest galaxies ever recorded were among the hot Hubble news this week. "We're just at the beginning of this story," said Grunsfeld. "It's incredibly thrilling to see these new instruments working and delivering results."

One of my favorite 2009-2010 stories is the enigmatic variable star epsilon Aurigae. Epsilon Aur made the news at AAS on several fronts. Talks from some of my colleagues on results from the Citizen Sky project were given on Tuesday, and results from observations in the far ultra-violet using the Spitzer Space Telescope were also big news.

Observations by Dr. Don Hoard and collaborators using Spitzer revealed the presence of a disk about 8 astronomical units in diameter, as expected. What was unexpected was that it consists of relatively large particles mostly the size of sand grains, not the usual microscopically fine space dust. Observations also indicate the presence of a smaller, very hot star at the center of the disk, probably spectral type B.

Hoard and his colleagues have proposed a new model to explain these observations. A key element is that the primary, a bright F supergiant, is much less massive than previously thought. In their model the primary started off at around 10 solar masses (as opposed to the 15 or 20 previously assumed) and has since blown off much of that via its stellar wind. The B star companion has only about 6 solar masses, and shines much dimmer. According to Hoard and colleagues, the dark disk is not that of a newborn star still accreting material. The disk is made of material that the B star gravitationally captured from the evolved primary�s wind.

"It was amazing how everything fell into place so neatly," said collaborator Steve Howell of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. "All the features of this system are interlinked, so if you tinker with one, you have to change another. It's been hard to get everything to fall together perfectly until now."

There is some controversy about this and still a lot to be learned. Arne Henden, director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, (and my boss), emphasizes that the mystery of epsilon Aurigae has not been solved yet. �We�re nearing the middle of the eclipse, and lots of interesting things will happen over the next year. There are still things about this system we don�t understand.�

The blogosphere was alive and kicking throughout the meeting. New media coverage of the fast breaking news was phenomenal. First and foremost, I have to thank and congratulate Pamela Gay and Fraser Cain for the excellent coverage of the press conferences and many of the invited talks on Astronomy Cast Live. I wasn�t able to attend the meeting, but thanks to the live coverage I feel like I got to see a lot of the events I would have wanted to cover if I was there in the flesh. I was able to watch new NASA Deputy Director, John Grunsfeld, live and share in the audience�s approval and excitement. The 21st century will see a lot more remote coverage of science news, and Astronomy Cast Live is showing the way.

Twitter was also abuzz with tweets coming directly from attendees. There was a wave of tweets rolling in as Charlie Bolden, the new NADSA administrator, gave the keynote address to a packed house. Every time he made an applause-worthy or controversial statement, Twitter lit up with quotes and comments from people in the conference room.

Bloggers from Universe Today and elsewhere covered all the big stories and had blogs posted by the end of the day on everything exciting and new.

The print press was also there in full force. I have to admit, Bob Naeye, the Editor in Chief of Sky and Telescope magazine impressed me at the press conferences with his knowledgeable and penetrating questions. He appeared well versed in what ever the topic of the moment was, from Gamma-Ray Bursts to stellar evolution to exoplanet searches and results. Bob was everywhere, asking multiple questions of numerous speakers at just about every press conference I witnessed.

By and large, scientists are doing better than ever at getting the word out about the scientific method, the universe we live in and the �secret lives of astronomers�. There are still those PhDs who can�t give a presentation, and should take a public speaking 101 course, but every discipline has people who just suck in front of a microphone. I give a big Simo-wag-of-the-finger to those astronomers who come ill prepared to give a talk or stammer through press conferences; you know who you are. Fortunately, they are the small minority.

I think the 3,000 people attending this meeting would agree that most of these astronomers are succeeding admirably informing the public and each other in entertaining and enlightening ways. The AAS is not a bunch of geeky nerds with pocket protectors in lab coats. They are real people doing real science in the real world, really well. Really!

Astronomy.FM Every Day-and Friday Night!

From modest beginnings, Astronomy.FM has begun to really gain traction in the online astronomy community. If you haven't heard the buzz you can tune in any time to see what is happening. Astronomy.FM Radio has astronomy related programming running 24 hours a day. Note: the Radio Schedule is in Universal Time.

Some well-known favorites are on the air each week- Astronomy Cast, 365 Days of Astronomy, Are We Alone?, Skepticality, The Naked Scientists, and if you haven't heard Space Pirate Radio! you are missing some real fun.

Friday night at 9PM EST (Sat 02:00UT) I will be on the air LIVE with Marty Kunz on the Event Horizon show. We'll be talking about the AAVSO, variable stars, cataclysmic variables, Citizen Sky, epsilon Aurigae, and whatever else we can squeeze into an hour show. If you miss the live show because you're on a hot date or out at the telescope, the taped show will run every four hours Saturday UT.

I'm looking forward to joining Marty, and I hope you tune it to check out the show. But you don't have to wait until Friday. There is something cool going on at Astronomy.FM all day, every day. Check it out!

Timothy Ferris Narrates Epsilon Aurigae Video

This is a new planetarium show trailer developed for the Citizen Sky project, narrated by Timothy Ferris and developed by the California Academies of Sciences Morrison Planetarium, directed by Ryan Wyatt.

The Workshop Continues

Aaron Price began his talk explaining the Citizen Sky website and how visual observers will upload their observations to the database. Once we got to the light curve display the talk turned into more of a town hall meeting. There were many, many, questions and comments about Julian Dates, light curves, the value of teaching the science ad making things simpler or more complicated. One thing is for sure, the audience is into it!

I'm pretty sure we missed out on a lot of material Aaron planned to present, but I think the points and questions raised will go a long way to making this whole project better.

Rebecca is introducing the 'team' concept behind some of the activities of Citizen Sky. The flagship team is the team currently developing VSTAR, the educational and analytical software being developed for Citizen Sky.

My talk with Aaron on Education and Outreach is after the next coffee break. This will be my last blog from Adler today.Tomorrow I am back on the road, driving to New York for the Astronomical League Convention.

Dr. Bob Stencel at Adler

'Dr. Bob' is explaining to the crowd here at Adler what is so interesting about epsilon Aurigae.

Thankfully, all these talks will be posted online at Citizen Sky. Dr. Bob's talk is going into a great deal of depth regarding the history and mystery of epsilon Aurigae. His overview of the evolution of the theories and models of eps Aur shows how the observations drove the theory. Lots of ideas fell by the wayside because they didn't match the observations.

Another interesting set of infrared data was taken during daylight! If you have the right equipment you don't have to stay up late or get up early to take data...cool. That should make a lot of people happy.

Epsilon Aurigae Workshp LIVE

Today we are at the Adler planetarium in Chicago, attending the Epsilon Aurigae/Citizen Sky workshop.

You can follow my Tweets on this workshop today at Simostronomy on Twitter.

The official welcome was handles by Dr. Arne Henden, Director of the AAVSO. Jennifer Borland explained how participants and their EPO activities will be evaluated. Evaluation is always an important part of the grant process. Since this project is funded by the National Science Foundation, everyone participating will be required to report their successes and results so that the impact of this project on science and education can be effectively evaluated.

Rebecca Turner (AAVSO) is now giving an overview of the Citizen Sky project.

Citizen Sky is the largest citizen science project ever attempted. 2009 happens to be the International Year of Astronomy, and it also happens to be the year that the mysterious star epsilon Aurigae will go into eclipse. An event that only happens every 27.1 years. There is a lot to learn about this mysterious star. For more information on epsilon Aurigae see http://www.citizensky.org/content/star-our-project.

Citizen scientists will be recruited and trained to observe, collect and analyze data, and ultimately publish their results as we try to understand this enigmatic object.
I'll report back ater some of the morning sessions have concluded.

Science Made Fun

In case you haven't seen this yet, you've got to see the Lite Brite video on the Citizen Sky website. It's a humorous and fun explanation of what the epsilon Aurigae eclipse and Citizen Sky are all about.

Two Eclipses, an Occultation and a Meteor Shower All At Once!

As many of you probably know, Wednesday, in the early morning hours before dawn is the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower. The meteors are dusty remnants of the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle that are trapped by Earth's gravity and burn up as the plunge through the atmosphere. The all appear to be coming from a point in the constellation Perseus, which is how they got their name.

You may also see occasional meteors from two lesser showers that are also active; the Delta Aquarids and Kappa Cygnids. These move noticeably slower than Perseids, and their paths seem to originate from different constellations, so you should be able to tell them apart.

Meteor watching doesn't require any equipment at all. It is the perfect naked eye astronomy activity. Find a spot with an open view of the sky, wrap up warmly in winter clothes or a sleeping bag, lie back in a lounge chair and watch whatever part of your sky is darkest.

Even though the Earth will be traveling through the thickest part of the comet debris on Wednesday morning, a few days either side of the predicted maximum will still yield higher than normal hourly counts of meteors.

This is a good thing, because on Friday morning in the hours before dawn several other interesting and bright astronomical phenomena are happening at the same time.

The Moon will be crossing the path of the Pleiades star cluster. Even though the Plieades is a naked eye cluster, this event will best be viewed with binoculars or a telescope with a wide field of view. As the morning hours turn to dawn you can witness the sunlit side of the Moon passing in front of several stars in the cluster as it moves across the sky, and you'll see stars reappearing on the other side as the Moon moves away from them. This is called an occultation. Its fascinating to be able to actually see the Moon's motion across the sky as stars get closer and closer to the edge of the Moon and then suddenly disappear from view.

As if the tail end of a meteor shower and an occultation of a star cluster weren't enough, you can also witness the eclipses of two famous eclipsing binary stars on this same morning. The first is Algol, also known as beta Persei and the Demon Star, in the constellation Perseus.

Algol fades and rebrightens like clockwork every 2.87 days. Its variations are obvious to the naked eye. In the middle of an eclipse it shines dimly at magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1. Algol will be at minimum at 3:30am EST (7:23 UT) also. Algol stays nearly that faint for two hours. It takes about four hours to fade to minimum, and again to brighten to maximum. So if you start observing Algol around midnite, you will be able to see it fade from maximum brightness to minimum in one night. Saturday night it will be back to maximum as if nothing had happened.

And finally, in the same part of the morning sky lies epsilon Aurigae. Epsilon Aurigae is an eclipsing binary also, but its eclipses happen very infrequently. In fact, they only occur once every 27.1 years! The entire eclipse takes about 600 days from start to finish, so you won't be able to watch the whole thing happen Friday morning, but you can make a mental note of where the star is and how bright it is, because the next time you look at it, in a week or month from now, it will not look the same.

The primary star is a giant F star orbited by what we think is a giant torus shaped cloud of dust and gases, that may or may not have one or two stars in its center. There is much we don't know about this spectacular enigma.

This absolutely awesome image of epsilon Aurigae was created by Brian Thieme.

Epsilon Aurigae is the subject of the largest citizen science project ever undertaken. To learn more about this mysterious, baffling star, and how you cna contribute to science by observing it, visit the Citizen Sky website.

With any luck, the skies overhead at your house will be clear this coming Friday morning, so you can watch astronomy happening in real time right before you eyes.

Reach For The Citizen Sky

The press release for Citizen Sky came out yesterday. It was picked up on right away by WIRED magazine. Here is the official version, complete with awesome illustrations.



This fall a bright star will begin a puzzling transformation that only happens every 27 years. To help study this event, astronomers have launched a new citizen science project called �CitizenSky� at www.citizensky.org.



Epsilon Aurigae is a bright star that can be seen with the unaided eye even in bright urban areas of the northern hemisphere from fall to spring. This Fall it is predicted to gradually lose half its brightness until early winter. It will remain faint during all of 2010 before slowly regaining its normal brightness by the summer of 2011.

--> An artistic representation by Citizen Sky participant Brian Thieme of the epsilon Aurigae system as seen at high inclination and from within the system. Image credit: www.citizensky.org and Brian Thieme


Since its discovery in 1821, the cause of this dip in brightness has remained a mystery to astronomers. But this time they have a powerful new resource to help study the upcoming event: thousands of citizen scientists.



�This star is too bright to be observed with the vast majority of professional telescopes, so this is another area where public help is needed,� said Dr. Arne Henden, director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO).



Supported by a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation, CitizenSky will recruit, train, and coordinate public participation in this project. What makes this project different from previous citizen science projects is its emphasis on participation in the full scientific method. Participants are not being asked simply to collect data. They will also be trained to analyze data, create and test their own hypotheses, and to write papers for publication in professional astronomy journals. Participants can work alone on all phases of the project or they can focus on one stage and team up with others.



�Citizen science can be much more than data collection. Participants often have real-world experience and/or advanced degrees in areas that can be applied to astronomy. Our goal is to introduce the public to authentic science and at the same time use this talent to help astronomers,� Henden said.



The lead astronomer for this project is Dr. Robert Stencel, the William Herschel Womble Professor of Astronomy at Denver University. Dr. Bob, as the amateur astronomy community knows him, studied the last event in 1982-84 while working at NASA. �This is truly an amazing star system. It contains both a supergiant star and a mysterious companion. If the supergiant was in our solar system, its diameter would extend to Earth, engulfing us,� Stencel said. �The companion only makes its presence known every 27 years and is a type of �dark matter� in that we indirectly detect its presence but don�t know what it is.



�To make things even more fun, we also have some evidence of a substantial mass, perhaps a large planet, spiraling into the mysterious dark companion object. Observations during the upcoming eclipse will be key to understanding this and predicting what will happen if the putative planet does eventually fall into the star,� Dr. Bob added.

--> An artistic representation by Citizen Sky participant Nico Comargo of the epsilon Aurigae system as seen at low inclination. Image credit: www.citizensky.org and Nico Comargo


CitizenSky is a collaboration of the AAVSO, Denver University, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Johns Hopkins University, and the California Academy of Sciences. The United Nations and the United States Congress have both endorsed 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). CitizenSky was developed as part of the coordinated United States� IYA effort.



The AAVSO (www.aavso.org) is one of the oldest citizen science organizations in the United States. It has been training and coordinating amateur astronomers since 1911. Their database of variable star brightness estimates includes over 18 million observations of over 8,000 stars. They currently have around 1,200 active observers located in 45 countries. They also publish the Journal of the AAVSO, a professionally-reviewed publication in which amateur astronomers can publish research papers.

Epsilon Aurigae the Beautiful

Monday an image was sent to the AAVSO email account and forwarded to the staff. It was a picture of epsilon Aurigae and the surrounding star field taken by John Chumack, an AAVSO member and as it turns out, a professional astrophotographer.

I was so impressed by the image I emailed John and asked him if he would grant me an interview so I could learn more about him, his connection to the AAVSO and his obvious love for the night sky.


As it turns out, John has been sharing his work with the AAVSO and the world for twenty years now. Shortly after embarking on his new career he got involved with AAVSO assisting with the educational program 'Hands On Astrophysics' in the 90�s.

� I was the astrophotographer for it. At the time (1993-1996) I worked with Dr. Janet Mattei on the project. I think there were 52 other astrophotographers that put in proposals, but out of all of those they chose me. That was my first grant, so that was awesome.

I started in �89, working on NASA�s Ulysses Project, which was to image comets to measure the comets� ion tail, and then correlate that data with the Ulysses spacecraft."

So how does one become a professional astrophotographer?

"It got started as a hobby, but I�ve been doing it for a living for the last twenty years. I designed my own 16-inch telescope, a big fork-mounted equatorial, and the drive system for it, using a tape measure and a 1-horsepower motor. I took that to Astrofest in Chicago, three days after I finished it, and won an award for the design. I took it home and the local newspaper did a write up on my award. I started shooting the night sky with the telescope after that.

I started sending in photographs to Astronomy magazine, getting published in Astronomy and Sky and Telescope as well. About a year after my start, a stock photography company out of New York contacted me, they saw my images in the magazine, and wanted to represent me here in the US. Now I have agents in 35 countries selling my work world-wide.�

I asked John what inspired him to do an image of epsilon Aurigae.

�Well I�ve done shots of that part of the sky before, constellation images of Auriga and that area. I�ve got over 35,000 images. I image the sky prolifically; I�m constantly out there. Now I have an entire observatory complex in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where I have multiple scopes running at the same time.

I remembered reading about this mysterious variable that�s been stumping astronomer since 1821 or something like that, so I thought let me go take a shot of this star. I know I have wide-field images of it, but I don�t have any close up shots of it. So I took about a total of 45 minutes exposures, several images stacked, they�re about 5 minutes apiece.

Once I had the picture I was looking at the field of view there and I noticed that the stars are evenly distributed across the entire field, except for the one quadrant. If you look at the image, from about 3 o�clock to 6 o�clock, it�s devoid of stars. So that tells me right there that there is a large dark molecular cloud blocking the light from background stars.

Anyway, I thought it�s a nice picture of the star and if the AAVSO is trying to encourage people to do observations of this thing, so we can figure out what�s going on with it, well, we need to get a pretty picture of it. I�ll send it to them, maybe they can use it.�

John�s excellent website is called Galactic Images.com. You can find examples of his work and a schedule of art fairs and shows he will be exhibiting at this year. After talking with John for a while, and looking at pictures of him at his observatory, I realized we�d met before at Arts, Beats and Eats in Pontiac, Michigan a few years ago. I remembered him telling me about his 16-inch telescope and ogling his fantastic images. Small world, eh?

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the science, we forget just how stunningly beautiful many of these subjects are. Thanks for the picture, and the reminder, John.

Simple, Exquisite Beauty

Making naked eye and observations for the Citizen Sky project has put me back in touch with the night sky on a level I didn�t realize I was missing.

Image credit: Rob Beaird http://robsreflections.wordpress.com/

On a typical clear night, I�ll spend anywhere from two to eight hours racing from one variable star field to another with the visual scope, under the protection of an observatory dome, or at the controls of my CCD telescope slewing and centering targets and watching images download on a computer screen from inside a warm room. I only see a small portion of the sky through the dome slot, eyepiece or on the monitor.

When a bright meteor flashes through the sky I rarely see it, unless I happen to be standing outside taking a break. I often don�t even know the weather is changing until the images in the eyepiece or on the screen start to deteriorate. Then I walk outside and look up to see if it�s a total wash out or just a passing cloud or two.

Now I find myself taking longer breaks from the telescope and spending some quiet time alone with the Universe. Just me and the night sky I fell in love with long ago. I�ve come to appreciate the simple majesty of those bright stars shining down on Earth just as they have for thousands of years. And over the course of the last year I�ve become familiar with several naked eye variables that I now keep track of.

I�ve followed an eclipse of Algol through the course of an evening. The first time I ever did it was at the AAVSO spring meeting in Nantucket, on the night we had the star party and tour of the Maria Mitchell Observatory. It was already halfway to minimum when I first noticed it, but I was able to follow it every half hour or so as it faded to minimum and then rose back to maximum. Clouds rolled in over the island in the early morning hours, so I didn�t get to see it back at full strength until the following night, but it made a lasting impression on me.

I�ve begun tracking the changes of delta and mu Cephei. Delta Cephei is the prototype of an entire class of astronomically significant variables. Cepheid variables are used to calibrate distances to far off stars and galaxies. Mu Cephei is also known as Herschel�s Garnet Star. It�s an orangish semi-regular variable that has been observed by variable star observers for over one hundred years.

As autumn approaches, the winter constellations are beginning to make their presence known again before dawn. I�ve spent a lot of time admiring the fiery bright winter constellations of Orion, Taurus, Gemini, and Auriga as they rise to fill the pre-dawn sky. I find myself fixing my gaze on eta Geminorum, Betelgeuse, Algol and epsilon Aurigae now, instead of racing from sideways �Y� of Taurus, through the Pleiades, up the curve of stars that is Perseus� lower branch through Auriga and on to Cassiopeia. Now I have little rest areas along the way.

A calmness and sense of satisfaction comes over me when life slows down and fills these moments with the perfect silence that is 5 o�clock in the morning. The sound of a hoot owl in a nearby tree reminds me I am not alone, and we share the view as dawn begins to break in the east. Swiftly and silently, a meteor streaks across the sky and I smile to myself, because I didn�t miss that one.

Avoiding Bias: Simonsen's Rules for Variable Star Observing

There has been some recent discussion on the Citizen Sky website about looking at the light curve or checking the quick look data of a star you are observing. The main concern revolves around observers having too much information, or a preconceived notion, before making an observation. We call this bias. The term biased is used to describe an action, judgment, or other outcome influenced by a prejudged perspective. In variable star observing, or any scientific investigation, bias is a bad thing.

Half the fun of variable star observing for me is precisely the fact that I don�t know what my favorite variable star is doing at any given moment for sure. It�s why I climb out of bed in the middle of the night in the winter to go observe them. I can�t wait to see what they are up to. If I already knew, or thought I knew, there would be no reason to lose sleep.

So the first part of my advice is simple- don�t look at the light curve or recent data on a variable star you plan to observe before you observe it. You risk biasing your observation, and you�re missing out on the fun. The science is usually the reason people start doing this, and the fun they discover along the way is why they keep doing it for years and years. To risk either is, well�stupid!

By all means, when you are done, and have reported your observation, go look at how it compares to other observers� data and see where it fits in the light curve. This is valuable feedback, you�re probably going to be quite happy with your result, and you can be proud of your contribution to science for the night.


If your observation looks different than other observers, don�t worry too much about that either. Don�t assume the other guy is a better, more experienced, more correct observer than you, even if he used a CCD or the Binford 9000 photometry device. He could be a half-blind, one-eyed village idiot for all you know. The other guy or gal might not even have been looking at the same star you were.

I was taught some basic rules for observing (a very long time ago) when I started out. These rules have been passed down from generation to generation, so they are not specifically mine, or necessarily original, but we shall hereby refer to them as �Simonsen�s Rules for Variable Star Observing.�

Rule #1- Be sure you are measuring the right star. Always be very conscientious when identifying the variable. There is nothing more useless than an observation of the wrong star!

Rule #2- Report exactly what you see, not what you think you should be seeing�period.

Rule #3- Bias is your enemy; avoid it. (see rule #2)

This may be difficult for some people, so here are some tips for overcoming your preconceived notions.

If you see the observations of some other observer(s) beforehand-
1. Assume they are lying to deceive you!
2. Know they are bad observers, so their opinion is worthless!
3. They could be, and probably are, completely crazy. How many variable star observers have you met? I rest my case.

If the bias is some personal belief, based on your own preconceived notion, realize that-
1. You are lying to yourself! (and now you are talking to yourself�hmm)
2. You are a bad observer (you should know!) and your opinion is worthless.
3. You are obviously schizophrenic � you are in fact crazy!

Rule #4- We never know for certain what a variable star will do from moment to moment. Therefore, you can never be certain what your star is doing at any given moment, that�s why we do this. This can be added to the reasons bias should be avoided.

Rule #5- Make every observation as if you are the only one looking at your star at this moment. You may not have to pretend. The number of variable star observers worldwide is so small this is often the case. You are special; don�t forget that.

Rule #6- Have fun.
For astronomers, the universe is our laboratory. It�s beautiful, mysterious, impressive, awe-inspiring, and humbling, and it�s ours. Enjoy it.