[AAVSO-DIS] VSX UPDATE: New Data and Other Enhancements at VSX

Wed Apr 4 03:01:59 EDT 2007

Greetings all,

Over the last few weeks, a big push was made to import into the
International Variable Star Index (VSX) database all of the variable
star catalogs and sundry relevant ancillary data collections that have
been waiting "on deck" for upwards of a year.  From the sources listed
at the end of this post, thousands of new star records have been
created, and just as many revisions have been committed to existing
data.  This was a large and important data influx to VSX, as I'm sure
you'll see from looking at the list.  And there's more to come.

In addition, the interface for Detail Sheets has been updated to
provide clickable links for almost all of the literature references,
including the expansion of those references embedded by code into the
original remarks released with the GCVS.

It was determined that, in some cases, submitters of data to VSX were
not well-versed on the guidelines (and for certain things, the
requirements) for correctly submitting new variables and revisions to
VSX, and that VSX was a little lax in making those guidelines -- as
well as the details of the inward and outward workings of the system
-- perfectly clear.  So a new page was written that fairly well spells
everything out, and this text has been made available from the
"Guidelines" link found in the footer of every VSX page.  Because it
is important that all VSX users are made aware of this vital
information, the page is also automatically displayed the first time
the Submit area of the site is accessed by any logged-in user.  This
is a one-time only notice.  Once the user indicates that this page has
been read (by clicking a button), he/she is tagged as having done so,
and the page no longer appears automatically when submitting new data
to VSX.  It's quick, painless (and a darn good read, actually), and
only happens once.

Among the other recent changes, fixes, enhancements to VSX are:

- All of the VSX source code has been moved from CVSDude to a
Subversion repository hosted at the AAVSO headquarters
- Magnitude bandpass abbreviations now stored in database encoded (#362)
- The error when adding a new reference has been fixed (#363)
- The error that was preventing new stars from being submitted was fixed (#364)
- Title and Description fields on the Supporting Documentation page of
the New Star Wizard are now repopulated with the text typed into them
when advancing from the page and then returning (#365)
- The "Spot Check" link on the New Star Form and on the Coordinates
step of the New Star Wizard now searches the currently pending
submissions for position matches, as well as the public tables (#368,
#372)
- All floating-point value displays for which precision is stored
along with the values (magnitudes, periods, epochs, etc.) now display
a simple integral value when precision is zero or unspecified
- The New User Registration form has had several security measures
implemented to reduce or eliminate malicious bots posting to the form

And now, a full detailing of the recent imports of data...

2006A&A...455..659A
Dwarf novae in the Hamburg quasar survey: rarer than expected.
[5 new CVs]

1997AJ....114.2596B
RR Lyrae variables in a new galactic bulge window.
[Periods and epochs for 61 objects]

2004AJ....127.1158V
The QUEST RR Lyrae survey. I. The first catalog.
[498 new RR Lyrae stars]

1998AJ....115..296H
New variables in the sloan digital sky survey calibration fields.
[1,602 FASTT variables]

http://www.projectpluto.com/extras.htm#galactic_novae
[Discoverer added for 300 novae]

1997A&A...323L..49P
The Hipparcos Catalogue.
[Period, epoch (when available) and spectral type added]

http://www.konkoly.hu/ibvs/issues.html
IBVS 5401-5700
[466 new variables and 908 revisions]

1996AJ....112..742W
RR Lyrae variable stars in the CCD/transit instrument survey.
[Periods and epochs for 61 variables]

2006ApJ...651..197C
Catalog of fundamental-mode RR Lyrae stars in the Galactic Bulge from
the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment.
[1,888 bulge RR stars]

2003AcA....53..117K
The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. Population II Cepheids
in the Galactic Bulge.
[53 bulge Cepheids]

2003PASP..115..193C
Identification of new eruptive cataclysmic variables toward the
Galactic Bulge and Magellanic Clouds using the OGLE-II database.
[60 mostly bulge CV's]

2006MNRAS.368.1757W
A catalogue of RR Lyrae stars from the Northern Sky Variability Survey.
[200 new RR stars and 249 updates]

2006AJ....132.1202K
Analysis of RR Lyrae stars in the northern sky variability survey.
[473 new RR Lyrae variables]

2004AJ....128.1430H
Lick northern proper motion program. III. Lick NPM2 catalog.
[1,035 position improvements and 17 spectral types for NSV stars]

ftp://skydot.lanl.gov/pub/projects/skydot/nsvs/red_variables
[573 NSVS "unspecified" slow variables]

2002PASP..114..656E
Stellar variability in a survey of field stars.
[222 variables]

2002A&A...389..149D
Observation of periodic variable stars towards the Galactic spiral
arms by EROS. II.
[1,361 variables]

http://www.hao.ucar.edu/public/research/stare/lc_database.html
[280 variables from STARE]

http://www.tip.net.au/~vello/varstar2/index.htm
[200 variables from Vello Tabur]

1992AJ....103.1872B
RR Lyrae variables in a galactic bulge window.
[Periods and epochs for 121 objects]

http://mitglied.lycos.de/klausbernhard/
[79 new variables and 26 revisions from Klaus Bernhard]

2005PZ.....25....2K
New light elements for 100 variable stars.
[100 revisions]

http://var.astro.cz/pejcha/newvar/
[26 objects from Ondrej Pejcha]

2005AJ....130.1640W
CCD photometry of candidate RR Lyrae stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
[69 objects]

2005MNRAS.362..117K
Results from the Wide Angle Search for Planets Prototype (WASP0) - II.
Stellar variability in the Pegasus field.
[75 new variables]

http://www.astronet.ru/db/varstars/sect/300000356
[291 new objects and 17 revisions from PZP issues until vol. 7, N7]

2004yCat.3233....0S
General Catalogue of Stellar Spectral Classifications.
[7,000+ spectral types and improved positions (Nov 2006 version of data)]

2005ApJ...628..411D
Solutions for 10,000 eclipsing binaries in the bulge fields of OGLE II
using DEBiL.
[8,445 new objects]

2007AJ....133.1470D
The TAROT suspected variable star catalog.
[1,139 new objects, plue extra cross-ids]

2007astro.ph..2631N
New periodic variable stars coincident with ROSAT sources discovered
using SuperWASP.
[285 new objects, plus extra cross-ids and revisions]

2005AJ....130..825W
The GALEX ultraviolet variability catalog.
[62 new objects, plus extra cross-ids]

Peremennye Zvezdy 27, 2
Variable Stars in NSVS Database I. 86 New Variables in Andromeda.
[86 new objects, plus extra cross-ids/revisions]

That's all for now.  We continue to work to make VSX better and
better.  If you have any suggestions or comment, please contact me at
vsx at aavso.org or skygeex at gmail.com.

Christopher Watson
AAVSO
Principal Architect, VSX