Uploaded July 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Originally broadcast on July 10, 2021. Dr. Sanlyn Buxner is a Senior Research Scientist and Senior Education and Communications Specialist at the Planetary Science Institute, and is a professor at the University of Arizona.
Astronomy continues to capture the imagination of individuals across the world. Public engagement is supported and facilitated by a large community of amateur astronomers who not only engage in their personal interests, but provide outreach and engage in important research activities. Dr. Buxner highlights the importance of the work done by volunteers of the AAVSO and other organizations, through interviews with 53 individuals from across the spectrum of amateur astronomy. The findings reveal the complexity of how amateur astronomers engage as independent explorers, outreach agents, and researchers. Dr. Buxner also discusses how the field is working to enhance diversity, and innovations that occurred as a result of the worldwide lockdown due to COVID.
Explore AAVSO and how YOU can make a valuable contribution to science by visiting us at aavso.org
Originally broadcast on July 10, 2021. Dr. Sanlyn Buxner is a Senior Research Scientist and Senior Education and Communications Specialist at the Planetary Science Institute, and is a professor at the University of Arizona.
Astronomy continues to capture the imagination of individuals across the world. Public engagement is supported and facilitated by a large community of amateur astronomers who not only engage in their personal interests, but provide outreach and engage in important research activities. Dr. Buxner highlights the importance of the work done by volunteers of the AAVSO and other organizations, through interviews with 53 individuals from across the spectrum of amateur astronomy. The findings reveal the complexity of how amateur astronomers engage as independent explorers, outreach agents, and researchers. Dr. Buxner also discusses how the field is working to enhance diversity, and innovations that occurred as a result of the worldwide lockdown due to COVID.
Explore AAVSO and how YOU can make a valuable contribution to science by visiting us at aavso.org
![AAVSO How to [Observe Optical Counterparts of High Energy Astronomical Transients]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bQfXWKMjWkc/mqdefault.jpg "AAVSO How to [Observe Optical Counterparts of High Energy Astronomical Transients]
Originally broadcast Feb. 5, 2022. In AAVSOs first How-to Hour of 2022, Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein leads us. He is an AAVSO observer and co-lead of AAVSOs High Energy Network Observing Section.
Heinz-Bernd focuses on discussing the observation of three of the most energetic and interesting phenomena in the universe: the Gamma-Ray-Burst (GRB) and its optical afterglow, the Binary Neutron Star (BNS) Merger resulting in a “kilonova,” and the Core-Collapse Supernova (and here specifically the next such event in our own galaxy).
At first glance, none of these three event classes seem to be well suited for the amateur astronomer because their first signals reaching us can only be seen by professional observatories: the Earth’s atmosphere shields us against gamma rays, so Gamma Ray Bursts are typically detected by satellites like FERMI and SWIFT. Binary Neutron Star Mergers so far can only be detected with high confidence by huge gravitational wave observatories. And, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the very first signal of the next galactic core collapse supernova will actually be a burst of neutrinos, minutes to hours before the optical supernova signal can be seen.
However, in all three cases, professional astronomers broadcast “alerts” of such events through channels that are now available to the public, some more well known than others. We discuss how amateurs can use these channels and join professional-amateur collaboration projects to make meaningful observations of these most fascinating events. While observing these transients remains challenging for various reasons, being prepared for “target of opportunity” observations should be a skill that can be rewarded by outstanding and important amateur observations.
Interested in AAVSO? visit aavso.org
Interested in our HEN observing section? aavso.org/aavso-international-high-energy-network")
