Data Handling in the AAVSO: An Example from a Large Organization of Amateur Astronomers

Abstract

The American Association of Variable Stars (AAVSO) is an international organization that coordinates, collects, evaluates, and archives variable star observations, analyzes and publishes variable star data, and makes them available to the astronomical community. It has the world’s largest and longest-running electronic database of variable-star observations — the AAVSO International Database — of close to 10 million observations going back to 1.911. The observing programs of the AAVSO that contribute to this unique database and its contents and structure are described. The guidelines that were followed in establishing the database and that are recommended for archiving data, particularly variable star data, in astronomy are discussed.