One of the most rewarding aspects of the RFO Research Program is seeing students do genuine science — not simulations or textbook exercises, but original research that contributes to the broader astronomical community. This week, that became especially real: a group of students and their teacher at Buckingham Collegiate Charter Academy in Vacaville submitted a …
Tag: AAVSO
The American Association of Variable Star Observers
Annual Research Report 2025: A Transformed Research Program — Automation, Spectroscopy, and Record Science Output
The year 2025 marked a turning point for RFO’s research program. The Research Committee transformed the RC20 telescope from a capable but manually operated instrument into a fully automated research platform, expanded into two new scientific disciplines, and established formal structures that have made the program more productive, more accessible, and more capable of producing …
Annual Research Report 2024: First Exoplanet Transits, New Cameras, and a Variable Star in Decline
2024 was a year of firsts and dramatic moments for the RFO Research Committee. Theteam quadrupled its image output over 2023, capturing more than 3,000 science imagesacross 78 observing nights. New cameras went into service on the RC20, exoplanettransits were successfully observed for the first time, and in September a closely watchedvariable star began one …
Citizen Scientists Confirm the Infrared Signature of Rare R Coronae Borealis Stars
R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars are among the rarest objects in the sky. These hydrogen-deficient supergiant stars — fewer than 150 have been confirmed in our entire galaxy — experience dramatic and unpredictable brightness drops, sometimes fading by seven or eight magnitudes over just a few weeks. The cause is striking: clouds of carbon dust …
Annual Research Report 2023: Laying the Groundwork for Citizen Science at RFO
The RFO Research Committee was founded in the spring of 2021. By 2023, it had grown into a functioning research organization with regular observing sessions, active software development, new instrumentation, student research partnerships, and an in-progress publication. This report summarizes the work of the committee across 2023 — a year of building foundations. Observations and …