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Hunting for previously uncatalogued variable stars pre-supposes that it is simple to distinguish between the catalogued and the uncatalogued - however enthusiasts looking for a reliable, comprehensive and up-to-date listing of all known variable stars are in for a surprise - it doesn't quite exist, yet. By far the nearest approach is the International Variable Star Index and a good description of the strengths and weaknesses of the current arrangements can be found here.
It is the most comprehensive of the alternatives but one key issue that is yet to be resolved is that any astronomer wanting to check out a lot of "suspected" variable stars in order to see if they have already been reported has to enter the positional information for each star separately. This can be very time consuming.
Until August 2006 the Open European Journal on Variable Stars was, to quote its website - ".. (a) non-refereed journal and all received papers are published "as is"." In my experience this claim was not entirely correct and a certain amount of editorial input did take place. In August 2006 an Editorial Board was established and only papers with more than 75% positive votes will now be accepted. My most recent OEJV publication (#102) can be accessed here.
The Information Bulletin on Variable Starss is a refereed journal. The, recently modified, scope of what IBVS will or will not publish is clearly explained on the web site. It is my impression that it is now rather more difficult for amateurs to get their work accepted here than was the case in the past.
Peremennye Zvezdy is also a refereed journal and although it specifically welcomes contributions from amateur astronomers it requires submissions to be made using the LaTeX software - the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents. I wonder how many amateur astronomers have experience of this software?
The Journal of the American Association Of Variable Star Observers is a refereed journal and to the credit of all concerned the AAVSO publish detailed guidance notes for both authors and referees. However non-members are charged $15.00 per page to have material published. It is also possible to have material published in the International Variable Star Index. My most recent AAVSO article can be read here.
In the nicest possible way may I suggest to readers that they do not get involved in publishing their results if they are sensitive to criticism - criticism that which will range from sensitive, well-meaning and valid right through to "attack dog mentality", malicious and ill informed.
Although I made a few variable star discoveries in 2005 - as reported in IBVS and a slightly larger number in the first half of 2006 - as reported in OEJV - I tended to drift between the different sub-sections of the hobby in a rather unstructured manner.
I have consistently spend more time on astronomical data mining than on practical observing and I have had varying degrees of success in the work I have done. A short note from Northampton based John Greaves suggested a technique for discovering red variable stars and I have used his approach, with various modifications, throughout my work and I have managed to find 1350 previously unreported variable stars in the archives of the Northern Sky Variability Survey. All my new discoveries have been through a moderation process and are now listed in the Variable Star Index maintained by the American Association of Variable Star Observers.
Martin Nicholson - Daventry, United Kingdom.
This page was last updated on April 25th 2009.