The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) is an organization that collects observations of variable stars by amateur astronomers and uses them to establish light curves for each star's variation in brightness over time.
Since professional astronomers do not have the time or the resources to monitor every variable star, astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can make genuine contributions to scientific research.
The director of the AAVSO for many decades was Janet Mattei, who died in March 2004 of leukemia.
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