Dear AAVSO Members, Observers, and Supporters,
The first quarter of 2025 marks the start of AAVSO’s new five-year Strategic Plan. As the plan progresses, we’ll start offering new and exciting ways for you to contribute to astronomical research. Behind the scenes we've been improving the AAVSO’s all-important digital infrastructure. These changes lay the groundwork to give you easier access to AAVSO tools and services, improve the scientific impact of our observations, engage a broader community, and sustain the AAVSO financially well into the future. As you read this quarterly report and want to know more feel free drop me an email at the address listed below.
2025 AAVSO Annual Meeting
We are more than pleased to invite you to this year's in-person 114th Annual Meeting. In-person attendees will gather at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon on November 1 and 2, 2025. If you cannot attend in person, please consider attending remotely. We would like this year's convention to be an especially big event to celebrate the new Strategic Plan. Dr. Peter Plavchan, the Principal Investigator of NASA's Landolt Mission, will deliver this year’s Landolt Lecture. For details, housing, and registration information for the AAVSO's 114th Annual Meeting, please visit aavso.org/114.
News
The GAIA mission has truly been one of the most impactful scientific projects in recent memory. During the last quarter, Sebastian Otero, Leo Ferning, and Alex Dumitriu, with strong support from Patrik Wils, imported the GAIA variable star catalog. This increased the number of known variables from 2.2 million to 10.8 million variable stars. Many of these new stars have ambiguous classifications, so your support is needed to observe these stars, reduce the data, categorize them, and submit updates to VSX. There are so many new variables that the chances that you are the only one observing them is quite high!
For the first time in many years, the AAVSO had a physical presence at the Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) and the Northeast Astro-Imaging Conference (NEAIC). Peter Bealo, Arne Henden, Dennis Conti, and I delivered presentations and staffed the AAVSO booth through the events. We were also grateful to have George Silvis and Gary Walker stop by and assist at various times. At NEAF, we engaged with more than 450 individuals, sharing information about AAVSO’s programs and scientific opportunities. At NEAIC, our presentations reached an audience of over 190 attendees, many of whom expressed interest in dedicating some of their telescope time to photometry or spectroscopy to support AAVSO projects.
I’d like to extend a heartfelt welcome to new leadership in two of our Special Interest Groups (SIG). Damien Lemay has taken over as head of the Eclipsing Binary (EB) SIG, succeeding Kevin Alton, while Jeffrey (Jeff) Edmonds is now leading the Long Period Variable (LPV) SIG, following Michael Soukup. We are grateful to Kevin and Michael for their service and look forward to the new perspectives Damien and Jeff will bring to these roles. In addition to these transitions, Dr. Dipankar Maitra has agreed to launch a new SIG focused on polarimetry—an exciting area of potential growth for the AAVSO. If you’re interested in participating, we encourage you to visit the “Groups” section on the AAVSO Forums and join the relevant group. The Polarimetry SIG has yet to be listed, but should become available soon.
Lastly, Dr. Brad Schaefer and Dr. Hisashi Hayakawa have nearly completed a major effort to recover raw solar observation data from before the year 2000. They intend to re-analyze all of the raw data and compare it to the data from the Royal Observatory of Belgium in a forthcoming paper.
Website Re-launch
As many of you know, the AAVSO has been engaged in a multi-year effort to modernize its technical infrastructure. I’m pleased to report that we are nearing the completion of this work. Over the past year, we’ve made significant progress:
- Released a new Julian Date Converter which now ranks #4 on Google Search results.
- Transitioned our observing campaign process from a Word document and email system to a unified online application, enabling both professional and amateur astronomers to easily request AAVSO resources and monitor progress on data collection activities.
- Replaced our login system with a single sign-on solution for easier access across our various applications.
- Deployed new forums that include a chat feature (called “channels”) to enhance community interaction.
- Released a global search tool makes it easier for professional astronomers to discover your data.
- Developed a replacement for WebObs that provides you with feedback regarding your data at the time of submission.
Behind the scenes, we’ve migrated nearly all of our applications to containerized environments, allowing us to scale more efficiently and significantly improve system reliability. We’ve also implemented monitoring tools to help us detect and address issues on these systems as they arise. In general, AAVSO’s core services have become faster and significantly more reliable. (VPhot and VSX are two notable exceptions, we haven’t gotten to them yet.)
With these efforts largely complete, our final major task is to replace the software that operates our main website. As previously mentioned, we plan to carry over only around 50 to 100 of the 60,000 pages currently on www.aavso.org. The remaining pages will remain accessible and will be migrated to the new website as needed based upon demand. We anticipate launching the new website by the end of May 2025.
2025-2029 Strategic Plan
At the 2024 Annual Meeting in Huntsville, AL, AAVSO President Richard Berry and I announced the AAVSO’s new five-year strategic plan, which outlines our vision, mission, and priorities through 2029. You can watch the announcement on our YouTube channel.
Our new vision is to become the leading platform where people of all ages learn about and participate in scientific astronomy.
Our new mission is to provide amateur astronomers and students with the opportunity to make real and direct contributions to astronomy.
These guiding statements reflect a broader strategic direction for the AAVSO—one that embraces the evolving landscape of citizen science, the changing needs of professional astronomers, and the growing interests of our community. In line with this shift, our outreach and marketing efforts now emphasize that the AAVSO actively supports four core scientific focus areas:
- Stellar Photometry – Our foundational activity, ongoing since 1911.
- Stellar Spectroscopy – Launched in April 2019, this program now hosts the second-largest collection of amateur astronomical spectra in the world.
- Exoplanet Photometry – Introduced in November 2018, this program supports NASA/JPL’s Exoplanet Watch initiative.
- Sunspot Counting – A long-standing program active since 1944.
Working together to realize our new vision and mission, the Board and I have developed a detailed five-year work plan. As we begin to execute the plan, we want to keep you fully informed at every stage. At this year’s Annual Meeting, we will discuss our progress. In subsequent blog posts, I’ll provide further information on our 2025 objectives, and a full progress report at the Annual Meeting.
Financial Overview
With recent changes in federal funding and ongoing market volatility, many AAVSO members have asked how the organization is doing financially. I want to take a moment to address this directly. The AAVSO operates on an annual budget of approximately $1.2 million. About 70% of our operating costs are covered by a sustainable 4% draw from our endowment. The remaining 30% comes from our annual campaign, individual donations, and federal grants. Currently, we receive $24,000 in federal funding, which is scheduled to expire by the end of 2026. Historically, NSF Astronomical Sciences (AST) grants have a 18% funding rate; however, proposed cuts to the federal budget are expected to reduce that figure substantially.
Thanks to prudent financial management, the AAVSO is well-positioned to weather periods of market downturn. However, continued support from our members and donors remains essential. Your contributions—large or small—directly sustain the programs, tools, and community that make the AAVSO a vital part of the astronomical landscape. Please consider donating today to help AAVSO continue its mission.
From the Board
The Board approved minor changes to the Executive Director evaluation process to better align its timing with the execution of the organization's strategic goals. In March, the Board introduced a new Commercial Engagement Policy. This policy is designed to guide how the AAVSO engages with for-profit companies in a way that supports our new vision and mission, ensures transparency, and preserves the integrity of the AAVSO. The policy was thoroughly debated, refined, and ultimately approved at the May 3, 2025 Board meeting. As a result of these changes, we believe that we will be better able to address frequently asked questions from the community – such as “Which filters should I buy?”
The Board is currently seeking nominations for the AAVSO Merit Award and the Leslie C. Peltier (Olcott) Award. A formal call for nominations will be published in an upcoming issue of AAVSO Communications.
Finally, the Board is placing renewed emphasis on fundraising. We are committed to ensuring that every donation—no matter the size—is acknowledged with sincere appreciation, and we are working to cultivate strong relationships with current and prospective donors who share our commitment to advancing variable star science.
Kind regards,
Dr. Brian Kloppenborg
Executive Director
American Association of Variable Star Observers
Email: bkloppenborg@aavso.org