Dan Caselden visiting the BDNYC group at the AMNH

Pro-Am Collaboration

Citizen Scientist Wins Prestigious AAS Award

The American Astronomical Society recognized Dan Caselden’s contributions to science at their recent winter meeting.

Totality in black-and-white shows smokey swirls of corona outside of the Moon's disk

Citizen Science: Projects & Collaboration

The DEB Initiative: How Citizen Scientists Can Help Broadcast Eclipses

A citizen-science project aims to broadcast the eclipses coming up this year and next.

HL Tau by ALMA

Citizen Science: Projects & Collaboration

Citizen Scientists Detect Dusty Disks

Disk Detective, a citizen science project dedicated identifying planet-forming disks around young stars, reports their latest results.

Artist's impression of a Y-dwarf star

Stellar Science

Taking Stock of Backyard Worlds

Scientists have used the Spitzer Space Telescope to confirm seventy-five new substars uncovered by the citizen science project Backyard Worlds: Planet 9.

New Horizon

Space Missions

New Horizons' "Alien View" from the Outer Solar System

NASA's New Horizons mission deep in the Kuiper Belt has measured the parallax to two nearby stars with the help of Earth-based observers.

Transit comparison

Celestial News & Events

Citizen Science with the Transit of Mercury

If you're planning on watching the November 11th transit of Mercury, try kicking it up a notch — watch with a friend and calculate the distance between Earth and the Sun!

Pro-Am Collaboration

The Eclipse as Seen by Citizen Scientists

Some academic and citizen-science groups came up with neat initiatives for eclipse day. Let’s find out how they did.

Brown dwarf discovered in Backyard Worlds

Citizen Science: Projects & Collaboration

Citizens Spot Cold World 100 Light-years Away

Citizen scientists have discovered a brown dwarf 100 light-years from the Sun, and more finds are sure to come from the Backyard Worlds citizen-science project.

Exoplanets

Find New Worlds, Film an Eclipse & Do Some Citizen Science!

Hankering to discover new solar systems or understand our own? These citizen science projects and public data troves will help you fill your free time.

Space warp

Science-based Q&A

The Kavli Foundation Q&A: How Does Citizen Science Drive Discovery?

Crowd-sourcing the universe: Thanks to online portals, legions of volunteer astronomers are turning their eyes to the sky and doing extraordinary science. Three scientists discuss the future of citizen astronomy.

Yellowballs

Milky Way

Yellowballs: A New View of Star Formation

Thanks to the help of the general public, astronomers have discovered a new signature marking a hidden phase of star formation.

Exoplanets

Exploring Exoplanet Origin Stories

Citizen scientists are exploring exoplanets’ birthplaces, classifying more than 1 million infrared sources and finding 37 disk candidates (so far) for follow-up study.

InOMN logo

Celestial News & Events

A Worldwide Night of Moonwatching

International Observe the Moon Night is an event that encourages people to "look up" and enjoy our nearest neighbor. This year's InOMN is Saturday, September 6th. Here's a quiz: What astronomical object looks amazing no matter what the magnification, never looks exactly the same no matter how often you view…

Citizen Science: Projects & Collaboration

Become a Citizen Scientist

Join astronomers in two new citizen science projects, Space Warps and Planet Four, that will have you investigating the warped light from faraway galaxies and the ever-changing Martian landscape.

Citizen Science: Projects & Collaboration

List of Citizen-Science Projects

dr.puya / S&T Online Photo Gallery The internet has become a priceless tool for the citizen-science movement, in which private citizens all over the world can make meaningful contributions to science. With as little as a computer and some curiosity, you can help scientists determine targets for space telescopes, or…

Celestial News & Events

Citizen Sky Wants You!

Backyard astronomers of all types and experience levels can participate in a real-world science project — and help solve a mystery involving the star Epsilon Aurigae that's puzzled astronomers since 1821.