2. Intended to be an easy-to-use variable star data visualization and analysis tool. A SourceForge project licensed under GPL. Downloadable via VStar Team page. Testers, developers, documentation writers still welcome.

3. VStar VStar AAVSO International Database VSX VSX (Variable Star Index) VSX VSX (Variable Star Index) CSV, TSV files

4. Become familiar with VStar by example, optionally trying some features, follow-up. Need Java 1.6 or higher installed. Click Download VStar Now button on this page: http://www.citizensky.org/teams/vstar-software- development http://www.citizensky.org/teams/vstar-software- development

5. Screenshots in slides to come are included to indicate key aspects of what attendees saw. VStars appearance has changed slightly since Citizen Sky 2, mostly with respect to background plot color and additional information on phase and mean plots. W Uma phase plots, eps Aur light curve, and omi Ceti polynomial fit show some of these changes.

6. https://sites.google.com/site/aavsocvsection/ Not U Sco, but another similar system: Artists rendition of recurrent nova RS Oph Image credit: David Hardy and PPARC Barbara Harris Shawn Dvorak

7. Load U Sco from file Observation details Plot, table link Zoom Change visible series Fainter-thans

8. 1979 1987 1999 2010

9. Jan 28 Jan 27 Feb 2

10. courtesy www.citizensky.org By Nico Camargo and courtesy www.citizensky.org By Brian Thieme and courtesy www.citizensky.org By Nico Camargo and courtesy www.citizensky.org

11. Load Epsilon Aurigae from AID Filter obscode (BDJB, MRV) Save, print Info Preferences Colors New group: alpha Ori, del Cep, lx Cyg, omi Cet, x Cyg Error bars Mean series change, anova Help (anyone interested in writing more docs?)

13. http://www.citizensky.org/forum/w-uma-another-eclipsing-binary-star

14. Load UMa from a file. Phase plot with period 0.33363749 Replot with period 0.333 shows how much getting the period right matters

17. Load X Cyg from file Period analysis Phase plot

18. Plug-ins: extend VStars functionality. http://www.citizensky.org/teams/vstar- software-development/example-vstar-plugins- jar-files-development-doc http://www.citizensky.org/teams/vstar- software-development/example-vstar-plugins- jar-files-development-doc Create vstar_plugins dir under: Windows: C:\Documents and Settings\user *nix: ~/user

19. Mira (omi Cet) Mean bins change Polynomial fit model try different degree values from 1..7

20. polynomial fit with degree 7

21. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhMeumI36BM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Cygni Mira type pulsating variable post-Asymptotic Giant Branch Star (late stage red giant) 5th to 13th magnitude period: ~407 days

24. http://www.citizensky.org/teams/vstar- software-development http://www.citizensky.org/teams/vstar- software-development https://sourceforge.net/projects/vstar/ http://www.citizensky.org/teams/vstar-software- development/vstar-citizen-sky-2-demo-data-files http://www.citizensky.org/teams/vstar-software- development/vstar-citizen-sky-2-demo-data-files http://www.citizensky.org/teams/vstar-software- development/example-vstar-plugins-jar-files- development-doc http://www.citizensky.org/teams/vstar-software- development/example-vstar-plugins-jar-files- development-doc